Letter 7084

From: Gregory the Great, Pope, in Rome To: Dominica [a religious woman] Date: ~597 AD Context: Gregory congratulates Dominica on having returned to church unity. Gregory to Dominica. I have heard that you have returned to the unity of the Catholic church, and I congratulate you with genuine joy. This is not a small thing. To recognize that one has been in error and to make the decision to return — this requires a kind of courage that deserves respect. Welcome home. The church receives you as the father in the parable received the prodigal son: not with recrimination, but with joy. What you do from here is what matters. The past is past; the future is open. Gregory

AD DOMINICAM. C Quod ad Ecclesic unitatem redierit congaudet, Hor- talur ut Romam ad virum suum veniat. Gregorius Dominicze uxori Joannis. Lze1tos nos ve+«trze nimis epistolz reddiderunt, quod vos unilati Ecclesiz $ociatas Deo protegente cogno- vimus. Et quidem, $icut ct ips# seribitis, ante hoc ſacere debuistis, quia talis viri conjugem, nec ad modicum esse decuit a communionis unitate disjun- ctam. Considerare enim debuistis, gloriosa filia, - quanta multitudo fidelium in matris Ecclesiaz $inu consistat, quantisque virtutibus. sacerdo!es, qui in ista tide defuncti sunt, coruscarunt, vel * quania ad corpora Sua miracula faciant, atque eos nos non di- judicare, $ed plus tantis viris ac sacerdotibus quam tibi credere debuisti. Inter hxc tamen omnipotenti D Deo gratias agimus, quia ita cordi veslro ſumen $uz verilatis infudit, ut, erroris $ui pulsa caligine, re- clam vobis viam, quam sequi et lenere debeatis, exhibent Mss. ſere omnes. An eadem est Aurelia fe qua hic, et ista Aureliana? An pro Aurelie legendum Aurelio ? Certe lib. x1, epist. 75, inscribitur Aurelio, quem $anctus Gregorius de morte fratris Dynamil, ut conjicit Gussanvilleus, consolatur. Conjecture Gussanvillzi Suffragatur Air. Vales. Rerum Franci- carum lib. x1, p. 137. Attamen in laudata epist. 75 Dynamii nomen dissimulatur; et ſortasse legendum Aurelie, non Aurelio. Verum ne nodum hunec $v1va- mus obs1at Mss. Codieum penuria, nam in svlv pene Vatic, A epistola hc nobis occurrit. Eeisr. XXX VII [Al. 34]. — * Ed. recent., vel quanta adnuc, > GY 0 = Wwe - TW © > ay 897 © EPISTOLARUM LB. VII. — INDICT. XV. — EPIST. XL. 898 os1enderet.” Gloriosum autem conjugem vestrum A rum © intentio a mutua, quod absit, charita'e dis- quousque vivimus a nobis dimittere nolumus , et ideo eum ad vos reverti nullatenus conlidatis. Et qJuidem ipse ad vos venire desiderat, sed postquam in civitate Romana est, non potest, non ei licet, quia amoris nostri omnino tenetur vinculis alliga- tus. Melius est ergo ut vos ad eum venire modis omnibus ſestinetis, quia caput suum potius membra et Sequi debent, et Þ quocunque ſuerit comitari.