Against Neglect

Letter 4,18 - to Maurus, abbot of Saint Pancras. March 594

(But) we have learnt that the church of Saint Pancras [in Rome], which was entrusted to priests, has frequently suffered from neglect, to the extent that when people came on a Sunday to celebrate solemn Mass, they found no priest, and returned home muttering.
And so, after due deliberation, we have settled on this decision. We should remove the priests and establish a community of monks in the monastery adjacent to the same church, by the grace of Christ, so that the abbot in charge there should have total control and concern for the aforesaid church.
We have also decided that you, Maurus, should be put in charge, as abbot of the monastery. And we make it a condition that the lands of the aforesaid Church, and whatever has entered there or has accrued from tis financial returns, ought to be directed to the aforesaid monastery of yours, and should apply there without any reduction.

Cited from: The Letters of Gregory the Great, trans. John R.C. Martyn (Toronto: PIMS, 2004), I: 301

A Friend to a Friend

Letter 1,27 - to Sebastian, bishop of Resini. February 591.

"I spurn my negligence and I awaken my torpor with incitements of love, so that he who is unwilling on his part to pay his dues, he may learn to pay back what he owes on pain of being spurned.
Furthermore I inform you that I have made a suggestion before the most pious of princes, filled with most earnest prayer, that he ought to send over the ex-patriarch Lord Anastasius, a most blessed gentleman, allowed the use of the pallium, to the Church of Saint Peter, the prince of the apostles, to celebrate the solemn rites of the Mass with me, so that, if he were not allowed to return to his own see, he might at least live with me, his honor intact.
But the bearer of this letter will notify you what reason stopped me from sending that same letter to you. However, get to know the thoughts of this same Lord Anastasius, and indicate to me in your letter what would please him concerning this matter."

Cited from: The Letters of Gregory the Great, trans. John R.C. Martyn (Toronto: PIMS, 2004), I: 149.

Come to Your Senses!

Letter 1,12 - to John, bishop of Orvieto. December 590.

"Agapitus, abbot of the monastery of Saint George, has informed us that (..) the celebration of masses is prohibited, and you even forbid the dead from being buried there. But if that is so, we exhort you to put an end to such inhumanity, and please allow the dead to be buried there and masses to be celebrated, with no further prohibition (..)."

Cited from: The Letters of Gregory the Great, trans. John R.C. Martyn (Toronto: PIMS, 2004), I: 129.