Proven Of Life And Morals

Letter 4,9 - to Januarius, bishop of Cagliari. September 593

"Carefully select one man, proven in his way of life and morals, whose age and rank leave him open to no suspicion of evil. With the fear of God, this man should be able to attend the convents themselves, so that the nuns are no longer allowed to wander outside their venerable abodes, contrary to the rule, for any reasons at all, whether private or public. But whatever has to be done for them, let it be done sensibly through the man selected by you. But let them offer praises to God and confine themselves to their convents, and provide no further reason for a suspicion of evil in the minds of the faithful.
Yet if any of them, through the earlier freedom, or through an evil custom of impunity, has either been seduced in the past or will be dragged down into the abyss of adultery in the future, we want her to suffer the severity of appropriate punishment, and then be consigned to another stricter convent of virgins, to do penance. There let her improve herself with prayers and fasting and penitence, and let her provide a fearful example to others of a stricter discipline.
But the man who is found in some wicked act with women of this sort, must be deprived of communion, if he is a layman. If he is a cleric, he must also be removed from his office and be confined to a monastery, to bewail his failures n self-control for evermore."

Cited from: The Letters of Gregory the Great, trans. John R.C. Martyn (Toronto: PIMS, 2004), I: 292.

A New Convent

Letter 4,8 - to Januarius, bishop of Cagliari in Sardinia. September 593

"That is, she should construct a convent for the nuns with the Lord's help, in a house belonging to her, which she claims to own at Cagliari. But as she says that guests and casual visitors are overrunning her aforesaid home, we exhort your Fraternity to take care to give her assistance in all these matters, and to offer the help of your protection to her devotion. Thus, your cooperation and concern may make you a participant in the reward for her late husband and for her sense of duty.
We want relics, however, which she asks to be gathered in that house, to be placed there by your Fraternity, with the veneration they deserve."

Cited from: The Letters of Gregory the Great, trans. John R.C. Martyn (Toronto: PIMS, 2004), I: 292.

In The Light Of Day

Letter 1,46 - to Theodore, duke of Sardina. June 591.

"The justice that you bear in your mind you ought to demonstrate before people with the light of your works.
For Juliana, abbess of the convent of Saint Vitus, which Vitula, of worthy memory, once constructed, has suggested to us that the legal possession of the aforesaid convent is being held by Donatus, an official of yours. While this gentleman sees that he is surrounded by the protection of your Excellency, he does not deign to submit to being examined in court.
But now your Glory must order this same official to appear before a court of arbitration, with the aforesaid nun, so that whatever is decided by the verdict of the judges over such a dispute as theirs, may be put into effect.
In this way whatever he sees himself either losing or retaining, it must be ascribed to the justice of law and not to an act of man."

Cited from: The Letters of Gregory the Great, trans. John R.C. Martyn (Toronto: PIMS, 2004), I: 172.