Ordination

Quote from Letter 4,26 to Januarius, bishop of Cagliari. May 594.

Tt has also come to our attention that some who have lapsed from sacred orders are being recalled to the office of their ministry, either after doing penance, or before it. We have totally forbidden this, and in this matter the most sacred canons also declare against this practice.
Therefore, whoever has received a sacred order and has lapsed in carnal sin, must forfeit his sacred order so as to never again approach the ministry of the altar. But so that those who have been ordained should never be lost to the Church, care should be taken as to what sort of people are ordained, so that the first consideration is whether their life was continent over a great many years, and whether they had a passion for prayer and bible reading and a love of almsgiving. An enquiry should also be made in case one of them was perhaps married twice. Care should also be taken that he is not illiterate, and that he is not liable to state service, and forced to return to public employment after taking orders.
And so let your Fraternity carefully inquire into all of these matters.

Cited from: The Letters of Gregory the Great, trans. John R.C. Martyn (Toronto: PIMS, 2004), I: 307