Letter 15: I write to report and to commend myself to your pastoral care, as I try to do regularly when the press of other...

King Sigismund to Pope Symmachus — dictated by Bishop Avitus in the name of the lord King Sigismund, addressed to Pope Symmachus of Rome. Through the deacon Julian, King Sigismund requests sacred relics from Pope Symmachus, having already received others previously. 1. Since the sacred pledges of relics, with which through me you enriched Gaul with spiritual remuneration — relics I had already received previously from your holiness — have been deposited with great reverence in the churches of our kingdom, I am emboldened to ask again for similar gifts. The churches which continue to be built in our territories and consecrated to the service of Almighty God require the patronage of the holy apostles and martyrs, whose relics bring both the protection of heaven and the devotion of the faithful. I therefore send the deacon Julian, our trusted servant, to request from your apostolic generosity whatever relics of the blessed apostles and martyrs you may see fit to bestow upon us.

Sigismundi regis ad Symmachum papam seu ^ Ab Avito episcopo dietata sub nomine domni Sigismundi regiB ad Symmaohiun papam UrbiB« Per Julianiim diaconum gacras reliquias Sigismundus rex a Symmacko papa p. If peiit , a quo alias Jam pridem acceperat. 1. Dum sacra reliquiarum pignora, quibus per me Galliam vestram spiritali remuueratione ditastis, negare petentibus non prae- sumo, me quoque sanctorum patrocinia postulare al> irriguo vestri apostolatus foute necesse est. Quamquam etsi est adhuc apud nos de dono vestro, quod catholicae religionis debeat studio celebrari, etiam illud tamen convenit justae devotionis intelligi^ ut directis litterarii sermonis officiis alloquia illa captemus, quibus me ponti- ficatus vester vel praesentem monitLs docuit vel absentem interce^ sionibus acquisivit. Nec nunc paginae praesentis obsequium reperta opportunitas complectitur; sed destinato ad vos diacono portitore, viro venerabili Juliano, ad universalis *) Ecclesiae praesulem spiritn repraesentante concurrimus. Crescit quippe benefieiorum recorda- tione desiderium: nec unquam meis elui sensibus possunt, quae nobis apud Italiam vestram vel pontificalis benignitas vel civilitas^) re- galis impendit, quum post familiaritatem totius munificentiae commo- dis praeferendam, quia istic liberius laxavit reditum^ illiuc tenacius vinxit aiFectum. 2. Attentior pro vestris^), quod superest, incumbat oratio. In augmento namque oviuni crescit custodia pastoralis. Sacris nos apostolorum liminibus commemoratione assidua praesentantes , spe- ciali dum vixero praedicatori *) vestro, ubi obtinuistis initium, im- petrate profectum. Litteris nos, in quantum possibilitas patitur ani misda. Quamvis ratio exigai ut fratemitati tuae nastri sacerdotii primitias musy tamen Dei beneficia tacere. Deindc sequitur epistola Felicis ad Caeea- rium (c^'). ') Variis in libellis actioni 3 concilii Calchedoncnsis ineertiB Leo um^ersaHi archiepiscopus nuncupatur. Scd licct illi apostolicae sedis praesuli datam nt houorificum illud nomen, obtestatur tamen Gregorius lib. al. 8 Ind. 1 episl 30; ne sibi tribuatur, ac lib. al. 5. Ind. 13 epist. 20, decessores sqos ea modestiA fuisse testatur, ut nulius eorum unquam hoc singtdaritatis nomine mii eotuenserit. V \ \ EPISTOLAE 17 — 19. 73U— libertas^ quibus nobis doctrina et incolumitas vestra floreat, fre- quentate. Et ut supra speravimus, ambieuda nobis venerabilium reliquiarum conferte praesidia : quorum cultu et beatissimum Petrum in virtute, et vos semper habere mereamur in munere.