Letter 8004: Brother, the monastery that you wish to consecrate may be consecrated.

Gregory to Venantius, bishop of Luni. Brother, the monastery that you wish to consecrate may be consecrated. I grant you the authority to proceed. Carry out the consecration with the proper ceremony and with care for the spiritual character of the occasion. A monastery's consecration is the beginning of its life as a community dedicated to God; what happens on that day sets the tone for what the community will become. Make sure everything is properly in order — the community constituted, the building ready, the necessary endowments secured — and then proceed with my blessing. Gregory

AD VENANTIUM EPISCOPUM. Ut monasterium consecret concedit. Gregorius Venantio episcopo Lunensi. Fraternitatis vestre insinuatione didicimus, que habetur in subditis, intra civitaten Lunensem in do- mo te propria monasterium ancillarum Dei pro ve- Stra devotione fundasse, quod in honore beati Petri apostolorum principis , et 8anctorum martyrum Joannis et Pauli, atque Herma et'Sebastiani, deside- * Ita quinque Yatic., Norm. omnes, Colb., etc., D dict. 2, Januario Caralitano, et refertur causa 43, quibus consentit vet. Ed. Receutiores habent guid enim debet. diet, 1. Eersr. WI (AL. 4], — © Ia Vatic., Norm., elc., dissentientibus Excusis, ubi legitur, et ipsi nostis. © Male plerisque in E-xcusis, {abulam. Erat fibula aurea magni pretii, munus quod imperatores largic- bantur, wt observat Gu<s:anvilleus, « [ta restituimus ex Yatic., Norm., Anglic., Rhem., Corb., Cotb. Consentiunt vet. Edit. in quibus tamen A fllicitam anfiquam consuetudinem; quod eliam exhibet Vatic. Þ. In recent. legimus : quamvis cum 8&+ cundum nostrum insfitutum noveris nos illicitam. * lifra jdem prohbibetur epiztola 56, nnnc 5, in- canone 12, ubi vide tres sequentes canones, el extra. de sepulturis, c. Abolende, ex Innocentio II, de &- monia, C. 2. Plura videsis apud Thomassinum, part. 1, hb. 1, capp. 65, 65, 67, 68. EeisT. IV | AL. 6]. —* Hee epist. desideratur 18 Mss. Anglic., Norm., Corb. et plur. Exslat tn Riew. Reg., Colbert. vet. et quinque Valic. * TI A IS + OI I Ss Po POSE A Tn Ol. 7 Ry pe ——_ — mating! _w *— v4 >09 EPISTOLARUM LJB, VII, — INDICT. I. = EPIST. VI. ras consecrari. Et ideo, ſrater charissime, » 8i nul- A clesiz propere suscipiendi non gun, quia dum in 'um corpus ibidem conslat humatuw, data primilus 2 ſraternitale tua donatione legitima, id est calicem argenleum unum habentem uncias Sex, © palenain irgenieam habenlem libras duas , syndones duas, cooperlorium GYg 5super 2allare unumw, lectg slrala aumero decery, in #ramenlis * capila vigiali, in ſer- ramentis Capita trigiata, in cxspile ſundum Fabo- rianum, et Lumbricata in integro conslitutum in ter- ritorio Lunensi milliario ab urbe eadem plus minus Secundo, juxta © fluvium Macram, cum servis duc- bus, id est Mauro et Joanne, f et boum paria duo tantum, geslisque municipalibus alligatis, predicti monasterii oratorium absque missis publicis solem- niter consecrabis, et c@tera secundum morem. Mense Novembrio, indictione prima.