Quote from Letter 9.48 to Romanus, defender. October-November 598
The rule of Law may not permit those things that come under Church control to be alienated, and yet the severity of a strict decision should at times be tempered, when a respect for pity asks for it. This is especially so when the sum involved is of such size that it does not burden the giver, but is large enough to alleviate the poverty of the recipient to a fair degree.
Thus Stephania, the lady bearing this letter, and her dear little son, Callixenus, whom she asserts is her child by Peter, her late husband, asserts that she is suffering from excessive poverty. She came here and demanded from us, with constant prayers and tears, a house owned by her in the city of Catana. Now Mammonia, her former mother-in-law, and grandmother of the aforesaid Callixenus, had offered the house to our Church under the title of a donation. Stephania wanted us to have it resorted to that Callixenus, asserting that the above-mentioned Mammonia did not have the right to alienate the house, but that it belonged entirely to her son, the aforesaid Callixenus.
The rule of Law may not permit those things that come under Church control to be alienated, and yet the severity of a strict decision should at times be tempered, when a respect for pity asks for it. This is especially so when the sum involved is of such size that it does not burden the giver, but is large enough to alleviate the poverty of the recipient to a fair degree.
Thus Stephania, the lady bearing this letter, and her dear little son, Callixenus, whom she asserts is her child by Peter, her late husband, asserts that she is suffering from excessive poverty. She came here and demanded from us, with constant prayers and tears, a house owned by her in the city of Catana. Now Mammonia, her former mother-in-law, and grandmother of the aforesaid Callixenus, had offered the house to our Church under the title of a donation. Stephania wanted us to have it resorted to that Callixenus, asserting that the above-mentioned Mammonia did not have the right to alienate the house, but that it belonged entirely to her son, the aforesaid Callixenus.
Cited from: The Letters of Gregory the Great, trans. John R.C. Martyn (Toronto: PIMS, 2004), II, 574
No comments:
Post a Comment