From: Venantius Fortunatus, poet, in Poitiers
To: Gregory of Tours, Bishop of Tours
Date: ~583 AD
Context: A verse letter to Gregory about some unspecified scandal or crisis at Radegund's monastery, asking for his intervention.
What a crime has crept into the holy enclosure of the assembly!
Reckless grief, you forbid me to break into words:
something that has not happened before these open eyes,
something that should not be spoken aloud in the world —
I will not describe it in detail. You will hear the particulars
from those more directly involved.
What I will say is this: the situation requires your attention,
and there is no one whose attention I would rather it have.
You know the monastery. You know the women there.
You know — better than most bishops — the difference between
a genuine crisis and a tempest in a chalice.
This, I believe, is a genuine crisis.
Or at least it has the shape of one.
Come when you can. Listen before you judge.
And then judge with the wisdom I have always seen in you —
which is considerable, and which is why I am writing to you
rather than anyone else.
Your Fortunatus
XII
Ad eundem pro causa abbatissae
Repsit quale nefas intra pia saepta synaxi!
inconsulte dolor, rumpere verba vetas:
quale nec ante oculos patulas neque polluit aures
nec facerent, vitio qui sua fana colunt.
tu tamen, alme pater, pietatis amore labora
ut sacer antistes, culmina cuius habes,
unde repraesentes Martinum in tempore sacrum,
cursibus atque fide dando salutis opem.
a Epistula pro eadem re
Commendans humilitatem meam copiosissimae vestrae dulcedini et mitissimae do-
minationi suggero, ut (causa universalis ecclesiae talem vos habens basidem, ut nullus
ventorum turbo succlinans, nulla procellarum propellens congeries possit illic invenire
quod quatiat, aut quod labefactet reperiat) in causa, qua conservus meus presbyter,
praesentium portitor, ad vos pro singulari praesidio confidens occurrit (sicut ipse sin-
gula poterit explicare), memores commendationis beatae dominae meae, filiae vel iam
matris vestrae, domnae Radegundis, pro loci sui vel personae totiusque regulae sta-
bilitate quod petiit et verborum vel viscerum supplicatione commisit, ita praecipiatis
infatigabiliter laborare qualiter ipse vobis in retributione sempiterna restituat qui
videt, pro auxilio indigentibus in causa iustitiae vester apostolatus pastoraliter
quod desudat.
◆
From:Venantius Fortunatus, poet, in Poitiers
To:Gregory of Tours, Bishop of Tours
Date:~583 AD
Context:A verse letter to Gregory about some unspecified scandal or crisis at Radegund's monastery, asking for his intervention.
What a crime has crept into the holy enclosure of the assembly! Reckless grief, you forbid me to break into words: something that has not happened before these open eyes, something that should not be spoken aloud in the world —
I will not describe it in detail. You will hear the particulars from those more directly involved. What I will say is this: the situation requires your attention, and there is no one whose attention I would rather it have.
You know the monastery. You know the women there. You know — better than most bishops — the difference between a genuine crisis and a tempest in a chalice.
This, I believe, is a genuine crisis. Or at least it has the shape of one. Come when you can. Listen before you judge. And then judge with the wisdom I have always seen in you — which is considerable, and which is why I am writing to you rather than anyone else.
Your Fortunatus
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.