Letter 9139: The resignation of Castorius from the episcopate has left your community without its shepherd, and I write to urge...

Gregory the Great (Wisigothic)Unknown|c. 596 AD|Pope Gregory the Great|AI-assisted
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Pastoral care constrains us to attend with solicitous consideration to churches deprived of priestly governance. And therefore, since your church has long been deprived of pastoral governance on account of the bodily infirmity of its own bishop — as you yourselves know — moved by your prayers, we have not ceased to admonish that same bishop that if he felt himself recovered from that infirmity, he ought to return to the ministry of the priesthood he had taken up. Having been warned by us once and often, he has now by letter, under the pressure of that same infirmity, renounced the office he held. Your church must therefore proceed promptly to elect a successor.

AI-assisted translation — This translation was produced with AI assistance and has not been peer-reviewed. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek below for scholarly use.

Latin / Greek Original

Paatoralis nus cura coastringit ccclcsiii) Haccrdotia moderaminc dcstitutis sollicita
considerationo concurrere. Et ideo quiii' ccclesia vestra diu sacerdotis proprii corporia

u qua nostis impedicnte molestia pastorali est regiminc destituta, vestris precilius permoti
eundvm episcopum non destitimus ammonere, ut, si cx eadem molcatia ae mclioratum
essc sentirct'', ad suscepti sacerdotii debuisset ministcrium remcare. Qui scmel a nobis
saepiusvc commonitus cadem urguente'' molcstia nunc scriptis nobis supplicatiunc por-
recta noacitur intimassc nullatcnus se ad rcgimcn eiusdem ecclesiue vel'' susceptum

v> oflicium impedientc molcstia adsurgero posse. Qua pcrsonae eius" dcspcraljonc com-
pulsi nocossarium duximus de ordinationc nos vcstrae ecciesiae cogitaro. Hortamur
crgo, ut uno omncs eodemque consensu rcmoto' atrepitu talem vobis pracficicQdum
cligatis auxilianto Domino sacerdotcm, qui et a vcncrandis canonibus nullatcnus rcBpuatur
ot tanto ministerio dignus valeat rcppcriri. Qui dum fuerit postulatus cum soUemnitatc

» decrcti omnium subscriptionibus roborati ct visitatoris pagioa pruscquonte ad nos veniat
ordinandus, quatcnus ccclcsia vcstra disponcnte Bomino proprium habcre valcat sacer-
dotem. Volumus autem, ut cum qucm unanimitasB vcstra clcgerit ad fratrem ct co-
epiacopum nostrum Marinianum Uavennac sinc dilationc aliqua pcrducatis, ut ab oo
suptilitcr inquisitus atque perspcctus ipsius quoquc ad nos vonione tostimonio roborctur.

< t) ipsa codd. n. ') cHule q* 1. ■) eplatice p*i. '') ita q* 3. 3; muuUt Rt. q' l. <=) kie

in nutrg. add.: \A eit i»i in iiullij mGmbrurum debililsluB fuerit q' 3. *') ta ventr» e' i. ') addita

ora. Q*li abditit Jl 1. f) cuimecmrclur if* I. s) antiititeB Jtl.

IX, 13ti ia lituio: cuiiHinleiili om. K* 1 — Arimin oUr. q* 1. 4; Arimiiiine q* '2.3; ArimineiiBe R I;
Arimineusi R* 1. *) quia um. eodd. u. *■) et add. Q* I. ^) srguente eodd. ». '^) velut R I.

•) eiuB Sl; eiuadem q*. premolo Rl. B) uQiainilaB Q* I.

3) Nota efedwm epwwpuffl Arimiiu, urlii» in Pentapoli nitae, ab epiacopo Bavetm. txaminari, Romae
a papa amsecrari, epiicopam Fori Qtmelii, iirovinciae AemUiae, cuius me^opoli» tam tunc Ravenna eral,
ab epiecvpo Sartnn. conaeerari: cf. ep. VII, 30 (n. 1); Loemng, 1. 1. I p. 443 s». Sed aliaa neque eituh
Modi examinatio per ep. Bavennatem comtnenoraliw (ef. ep. I, 55 ». II, 28.)

IX, I3ii. Cf. rp. in-aeced. et neq. alque de formula tp. 1, 76. VI, 31 et ep. II, 40 n.

Heo. anKa. U. 18

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