Letter 4,19 - to Leo, acolyte. March 594
(Thus) the church of Saint Agatha, situated in Subura, that was once a cave of heretical depravity, has been brought back to the worship of the Catholic faith, by the grace of God. For that reason, armed with the direction of this authority, continue to collect each year the taxes on all the houses built in this city that the aforesaid church is agreed to have hand in the time of the Goths.
However much is necessary for repairing buildings or for lamps, and for other restoration of that church, you must be keen to pay in full. But whatever might be left over, we order you to credit it honestly to the Church accounts.
Cited from: The Letters of Gregory the Great, trans. John R.C. Martyn (Toronto: PIMS, 2004), I: 301
Showing posts with label account. Show all posts
Showing posts with label account. Show all posts
Monday, 16 January 2012
Tuesday, 22 February 2011
Serious Matters And A Touch Of Irony
Letter 2,50 - to Peter, sub-deacon of Sicily, about various cases. July-August 592.
"But when you come, bring with you the money and jewels from the inheritance of Antoninus. Also bring with them any rents obtained by you from the ninth and tenth indictions, and all the accounts. Make an effort to cross the sea, if it pleases God, before the nativity of Saint Cyprian, in case some danger might eventuate (Heaven forbid!) from the sigh that is always a threat at that time.
Besides this, you should know that I severely rebukes Pretiosus, a monk, over a slight fault, and I sent him from my presence, a sad and embittered man. As a result, I am deeply distressed in my thoughts. And I wrote to the lord bishop, that he should send him back to me, if he were willing. But he was not at all willing. I neither should nor can upset the bishop, for occupied as he is in the service of God, he should be supported with words of comfort, and not criticized with bitterness. In fact the same Pretiosus, from what I hear, is extremely sad, because he is not returning to me. But as I have said, I cannot upset the lord bishop, who does not want to send him away, and I remain undecided between the two of them. You therefore, if you have a greater amount of wisdom in your poor old body than I have in mine, arrange this same case in such a way that my wish is realized, and the lord bishop is not upset."
Cited from: The Letters of Gregory the Great, trans. John R.C. Martyn (Toronto: PIMS, 2004), I: 229.
"But when you come, bring with you the money and jewels from the inheritance of Antoninus. Also bring with them any rents obtained by you from the ninth and tenth indictions, and all the accounts. Make an effort to cross the sea, if it pleases God, before the nativity of Saint Cyprian, in case some danger might eventuate (Heaven forbid!) from the sigh that is always a threat at that time.
Besides this, you should know that I severely rebukes Pretiosus, a monk, over a slight fault, and I sent him from my presence, a sad and embittered man. As a result, I am deeply distressed in my thoughts. And I wrote to the lord bishop, that he should send him back to me, if he were willing. But he was not at all willing. I neither should nor can upset the bishop, for occupied as he is in the service of God, he should be supported with words of comfort, and not criticized with bitterness. In fact the same Pretiosus, from what I hear, is extremely sad, because he is not returning to me. But as I have said, I cannot upset the lord bishop, who does not want to send him away, and I remain undecided between the two of them. You therefore, if you have a greater amount of wisdom in your poor old body than I have in mine, arrange this same case in such a way that my wish is realized, and the lord bishop is not upset."
Cited from: The Letters of Gregory the Great, trans. John R.C. Martyn (Toronto: PIMS, 2004), I: 229.
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