Quote from Letter 8.33 to Leontius, ex-consul. August 598
I know, good sir, that you act with a gentle spirit, while involved in earthly activities, and guard the citadel of humility in all things, attribute to individuals what is just.
For many report such good things about your Glory that I should like not just to hear about them, but see them.
Yet the good reputation of him whom I am not allowed to see gives me nourishment. But the woman who poured the alabaster bod holding an image of the Holy Church, that is, all of the elect, filled the house with her ointment. And when we hear something about good acts, we draw in a breath of sweetness through our nostrils, as it were. And when Paul the apostle said 'we are a sweet aroma of Christ', one should clearly understand that the apostle was nog portraying himself as a taste, indeed, for those present, but as an aroma for those absent.
I know, good sir, that you act with a gentle spirit, while involved in earthly activities, and guard the citadel of humility in all things, attribute to individuals what is just.
For many report such good things about your Glory that I should like not just to hear about them, but see them.
Yet the good reputation of him whom I am not allowed to see gives me nourishment. But the woman who poured the alabaster bod holding an image of the Holy Church, that is, all of the elect, filled the house with her ointment. And when we hear something about good acts, we draw in a breath of sweetness through our nostrils, as it were. And when Paul the apostle said 'we are a sweet aroma of Christ', one should clearly understand that the apostle was nog portraying himself as a taste, indeed, for those present, but as an aroma for those absent.
Cited from: The Letters of Gregory the Great, trans. John R.C. Martyn (Toronto: PIMS, 2004), II, 528
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