Letter 6007: To the Lord Bishop Fonteius.

To the Lord Bishop Fonteius. If the established friendships of our elders give any advantage to their descendants in forming new connections, then I too come to a fuller acquaintance with your apostolic office carrying the credentials of family intimacy. For I remember that you were always a most powerful patron in Christ of my family, so that I consider your friendship not something to be sought for the first time but to be renewed. To this I must add that the undeserved title of bishop placed upon me compels me to take refuge in the shelter of your prayers, so that the still-raw and gaping wounds of my ulcerated conscience may at last be healed — if only by your intercession. Therefore, commending myself and my people and apologizing for this overdue letter, I earnestly beg that by your customary intercession — in whose power you are immensely strong — you protect the stumbling first steps of my clerical apprenticeship. So that if God's unchangeable mercy deigns to change anything in my corrupt character, we may owe it entirely to the patronage of your prayers. Be mindful of us, my lord bishop.

EPISTULA VII Sidonius domino papae Fonteio salutem. 1. Si aliquid ad inchoandam gratiam compendii posteris tribuit necessitudo praemissa seniorum, ego quoque ad apostolatus tui notitiam pleniorem cum praerogativa domesticae familiaritatis accedo. nam sic te familiae meae validissimum in Christo semper patronum fuisse reminiscor, ut amicitias tuas non tam expetendas mihi quam repetendas putem. his adicitur, quod indignissimo mihi impositum sacerdotalis nomen officii confugere me ad precum vestrarum praesidia compellit, ut adhuc ulcerosae conscientiae nimis hiulca vulnera vestro saltim cicatricentur oratu. 2. quapropter me meosque commendans et excusans litteras seriores granditer obsecro, ut intercessione consueta, cuius viribus immane polletis, clericalis tirocinii in nobis reptantia rudimenta tueamini, ut, si quid dignabitur de morum pravitate nostrorum immutabilis dei mutare clementia, totum id suffragiorum vestrorum patrocinio debeamus. memor nostri esse dignare, domine papa.