On Brotherhood

Quote from Letter 5,50 to Fortunatus, bishop of Naples. 6 June 595

We thought it proper to encourage your Beloved with the words of this letter to put all differences aside, and go to the aforesaid place, when the abbot asks, and to apply the solemnities of a venerable dedication, so that when it is necessary, the revered sacrifices of masses may  be celebrated by priests of your church serving in that holy place. This may be done so that in that monastery, neither your Fraternity nor the priests cause any trouble contrary to the demands of discipline, and if some suitable occasion arises there for the offerings of various things, the monks should think themselves indicated. For whatever should happen to be offered by the faithful should benefit the monks who are serving God in the same  place.

Cited from: The Letters of Gregory the Great, trans. John R.C. Martyn (Toronto: PIMS, 2004), II, 376