Against Neglect

Letter 4,18 - to Maurus, abbot of Saint Pancras. March 594

(But) we have learnt that the church of Saint Pancras [in Rome], which was entrusted to priests, has frequently suffered from neglect, to the extent that when people came on a Sunday to celebrate solemn Mass, they found no priest, and returned home muttering.
And so, after due deliberation, we have settled on this decision. We should remove the priests and establish a community of monks in the monastery adjacent to the same church, by the grace of Christ, so that the abbot in charge there should have total control and concern for the aforesaid church.
We have also decided that you, Maurus, should be put in charge, as abbot of the monastery. And we make it a condition that the lands of the aforesaid Church, and whatever has entered there or has accrued from tis financial returns, ought to be directed to the aforesaid monastery of yours, and should apply there without any reduction.

Cited from: The Letters of Gregory the Great, trans. John R.C. Martyn (Toronto: PIMS, 2004), I: 301