Quote from Letter 4,22 to Constantius, bishop of Milan. May 594
Summon our aforesaid brother [Venantius] to you and force all the clerics and other religious people of the city named above [Luni] and all of its territory, to come to you, all whose sins are under suspicion. Carefully inquire into everything in accordance with God, on account of the fear of future judgment. If you find that anyone has abandoned the statutes of the canon laws, correct him with a canonical punishment. do not allow those who fail to show in their morality what they show off in their attire, to roam about any longer in your areas while in danger. With your pastoral circumspection, you must bring them back to the straight and narrow.
Cited from: The Letters of Gregory the Great, trans. John R.C. Martyn (Toronto: PIMS, 2004), I: 303
Showing posts with label morality. Show all posts
Showing posts with label morality. Show all posts
Wednesday, 18 January 2012
Thursday, 1 September 2011
Pastoral Care
Letter 3,60 - to Fortunatus, bishop of Naples. August 593
"You should therefore repay their [the citizens of Napels] affection with your own morality, repressing the evil, opening up to the good with discretion and maximum kindness, and urging them to follow the better parties more frequently, so that they may rejoice to have found a father's morality in you, and you too, with the cooperation of the Lord, may more zealously carry out the pastoral care entrusted to you."
Cited from: The Letters of Gregory the Great, trans. John R.C. Martyn (Toronto: PIMS, 2004), I: 280.
"You should therefore repay their [the citizens of Napels] affection with your own morality, repressing the evil, opening up to the good with discretion and maximum kindness, and urging them to follow the better parties more frequently, so that they may rejoice to have found a father's morality in you, and you too, with the cooperation of the Lord, may more zealously carry out the pastoral care entrusted to you."
Cited from: The Letters of Gregory the Great, trans. John R.C. Martyn (Toronto: PIMS, 2004), I: 280.
Monday, 23 May 2011
A Fair Election Of A Bishop
Letter 3,22 - to Antoninus, sub-deacon in charge of the patrimony in Dalmatia. March 593
"In fact let it be your concern before all else, that in this election the offer of bribes does not intervene in any way, and that the candidatures are not strengthened by any patronage of any persons at all. For if someone has been elected of certain people, once he has been consecrated, he is forced to obey their wishes under the pressure of fear, and it comes about that the property of that church is diminished, and the ecclesiastical order is not preserved.
And so they ought to elect such a person, with you watching over them, as is not a slave to anyone's inconsistent wish, but can be found worthy of such a rank, distinguished in his life and morality.
As for the property and decoration of that same church, make sure that a faithful inventory of the property is written down in your presence. And so that nothing could be lost from this same property, advise the Deacon Respectus, and the first notary, Stephen, to keep a total guard of the same property, warning them that if anything should be removed from them through negligence, they will make it up from their own property."
Cited from: The Letters of Gregory the Great, trans. John R.C. Martyn (Toronto: PIMS, 2004), I: 249.
"In fact let it be your concern before all else, that in this election the offer of bribes does not intervene in any way, and that the candidatures are not strengthened by any patronage of any persons at all. For if someone has been elected of certain people, once he has been consecrated, he is forced to obey their wishes under the pressure of fear, and it comes about that the property of that church is diminished, and the ecclesiastical order is not preserved.
And so they ought to elect such a person, with you watching over them, as is not a slave to anyone's inconsistent wish, but can be found worthy of such a rank, distinguished in his life and morality.
As for the property and decoration of that same church, make sure that a faithful inventory of the property is written down in your presence. And so that nothing could be lost from this same property, advise the Deacon Respectus, and the first notary, Stephen, to keep a total guard of the same property, warning them that if anything should be removed from them through negligence, they will make it up from their own property."
Cited from: The Letters of Gregory the Great, trans. John R.C. Martyn (Toronto: PIMS, 2004), I: 249.
Tuesday, 4 May 2010
A Word of Comfort
Letter 1,11 - to the patrician Clementina. December 590.
"And indeed our sadness at the loss of our friends ought to be more tolerable, in as far as the condition of mortality demands that we lose them. And yet he is a powerful consolation for the lost support of mortal life, who in allowing himself to be removed from us, granted that even he himself take the place which has been left empty, as our comforter."
Cited from: The Letters of Gregory the Great, trans. John R.C. Martyn (Toronto: PIMS, 2004), I: 129.
"And indeed our sadness at the loss of our friends ought to be more tolerable, in as far as the condition of mortality demands that we lose them. And yet he is a powerful consolation for the lost support of mortal life, who in allowing himself to be removed from us, granted that even he himself take the place which has been left empty, as our comforter."
Cited from: The Letters of Gregory the Great, trans. John R.C. Martyn (Toronto: PIMS, 2004), I: 129.
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