About Conversion

Letter 1,45 - to Virgil of Arles, and to Theodore, bishop of Marseilles, in Gaul. June 591.

"(In fact) a lot of the Jewish faith who reside in that province [of Gaul], and often travel in parts of Marseilles on various business, have brought to our notice that many of the Jews living in that district have been brought to the baptismal font more by force than by preaching.
For it is my opinion that the intent of this sort is certainly praiseworthy, and I acknowledge that it derives from a love of our Lord. Yet unless this same intention is accompanied by a suitable display of Holy Scripture, I am afraid that either no reward may come from there, or else losses may follow in terms of some of the souls ('God forbid!'), which we want to be saved.
For when anyone approaches the baptismal font not due to the sweetness of preaching, but under constraint, he returns to his former superstition from where he seemed to be reborn, and dies in a worse state.
Therefore, let your Fraternity call people of this sort to God with frequent preaching, so that they desire to change their old way of life more due to sweetness of their teacher. For thus what we intended is correctly accomplished, and the soul of the convert does not revert again to its former vomit."

Cited from: The Letters of Gregory the Great, trans. John R.C. Martyn (Toronto: PIMS, 2004), I: 171.