Debts and Piety

Letter 3,21 - to Paschalis, Domitian and Castor, son of Urbicus, defender from Tivoli. February 593

"Its part of my duty to give advice to those who have lost their parents, so that I can give some help in those miseries of theirs that are justly the responsibility of the Church, thereby alleviating them.
Therefore, after a more precise calculation, we are certain that your father Urbicus, who was once a defender of the Sabine patrimony and of Carsoli, that had been entrusted to his care, has died in debt for quite a large sum.
Although all of his property was liable to the Church for this,yet it could not suffice to pay for what he has consumed.
Even so, with a regard to piety, we allow you to have and possess the property of that same father of yours, and we allow it to stand to your undoubted advantage in the future (..)."

Cited from: The Letters of Gregory the Great, trans. John R.C. Martyn (Toronto: PIMS, 2004), I: 249.

Fraud

Letter 1,68 - to all the bishops of Sicily. August 591.

"We know some men on the island of Sicily who are pretending to be defenders of the apostolic see, but are causing you trouble over transport payments and other matters. We have thought it necessary to put a stop their falseness with the present letter. For that reason we salute your Fraternity with the love owed to it, and warn you very strongly and hereafter no change at all should be left to such men to commit fraud. But whoever that person is, whether in fact a notary or a defender of our see, unless he bears a specific letter from us to you or that of a ruler of our patrimony, he is nog to take control of any transport payments in the name of our Church, nor must you let him impose any burdens on you. Rather, let him arrange his known journey with his own means and at his own expense."

Cited from: The Letters of Gregory the Great, trans. John R.C. Martyn (Toronto: PIMS, 2004), I: 183.