Letter 11003: Before you entered the monastery, you made a donation — by word only, without written documentation.

To Adeodatus the monk. He permits a donation made by word of mouth before the taking up of the monastic life to be consigned to writing and to be held as binding. Gregory to Adeodatus, servant of God. Both the force of fairness and the order of reason require that effect be granted to those who make just requests, especially when both piety supports the will of the petitioners and truth does not abandon it. Therefore, since before you entered the monastery of Saint Adrian where you were converted, and before you issued there the donation of your goods, you bestowed by word of mouth your houses and gardens within the City, or your lands held by tenure, or your vineyards [in the estate of Carsinianum], as you have informed us, and likewise your portions in the estate of Fulloniacum, or some of your slaves to whom freedom was granted by you; and although that donation itself can stand in law, particularly in this case, where it is bestowed by those who, leaving the world with its pomps, choose to devote themselves to the service of God; nevertheless, lest any future time should be able, by the cloud of forgetfulness, to detract anything from this bounty, you desire to commit this to the records of writing, and you ask that license be granted to you by us, so that it may be able to stand robust; therefore by the page of this our injunction we grant you the faculty of doing this freely, so that, while [...] [The following passage in the source belongs to a separate letter concerning a jurisdictional dispute and is not part of the letter to Adeodatus:] ... when our brother and fellow bishop Basil [Basilius of Capua] was found present, he proved strongly opposed, asserting that the place itself had formerly been joined to a monastery of another diocese of his, and that for this reason it ought by no means to be handed over into the jurisdiction of another Church. Against which objection the clergy of the Church of Naples in turn replied with opposing allegations that the matter was far otherwise than was being said; and so that we might not seem to establish anything rashly while they held differing views, we appointed examiners and established that there be a judgment between them. When these reported back, we found by manifest reasoning that our brother and fellow bishop Basil [had] no [right] in the aforesaid monastery of Cratera [...]. [The remaining material in the source is scholarly editorial apparatus on Sunday observance and variant readings, not part of the letter:] ... by the canon of the Church, not sanctioned by the will of the emperors. From Justin, Tertullian, and Athanasius it is clear that it was customary for Christians to assemble, that is, to hold gatherings, on the day of the Sun, which we call the Lord's Day; the same Athanasius hints (Apology 2, on the broken cup) that the sacred rite was scarcely performed outside that day. Concerning rest from labor on that day, Constantine first decreed it around the middle of the fourth century. Behold the law reported in the Code, under the title On Holidays: "Let all judges and the urban populace and the offices of all the crafts rest on the venerable day of the Sun. Yet those placed in the countryside may freely and without hindrance attend to the cultivation of the fields, since it frequently happens that grain cannot be more fittingly committed to the furrows, or vines to the trenches, on any other day, lest by losing the moment the advantage granted by the foresight of heaven should perish." Other emperors decreed not so much about labor as about judicial proceedings; thus Theodosius, that on the Lord's Day it should be permitted to emancipate and manumit, while the remaining causes and lawsuits should rest. They forbid, however, spectacles and obscene pleasures. In Gaul, in the sixth century, several canons were promulgated on this matter, and sent by our kings as a thing adjudged. [Council citations follow: Orleans II, c. 28, A.D. 538; reported in Verneuil, c. 14, A.D. 755; Auxerre, c. 16, A.D. 578; Macon I, c. 1, A.D. 585; Narbonne, c. 4, A.D. 589; in the seventh century, Chalon, c. 18, A.D. 650; in the Capitulary of Aachen, c. 81, A.D. 789; Arles VI, c. 16, A.D. 813; Reims, c. 35, A.D. 813; Paris VI, c. 1, at length, A.D. 829. Goussainville.] [Manuscript notes:] ... September, indiction 6. But in Vatican A the month February is read. Letter I [alias 4]. The Norman manuscript only [reads]: "...placed in desolation, is shaken with violent grief," the rest omitted. The older editions preferred this reading; but the reading of at least four of the Vatican manuscripts [is otherwise]. Letter II [alias 5]. It was one of the six monasteries which Gregory, while still city praetor, had built in Sicily; concerning which consult the Annals of the Benedictines by Mabillon, book VI, p. 564. Mention is made of the estate of Fulloniacum in book I, letter 9.

AD ADEODATUM MONACHUM, Permiltit donationem ante susceptum monachatum verbo ſactam 8criptis consignari et firmam haberi Gregorius Adeodato servo Dei. Effectum justa poslulantibus indulgere, et vigor Zquitalis et ordo exigit rationis, preserlim quando petentium voluntatem et pietas' adjuvat, et veritas non relinquit. Quia igitur priusquam in * monasterio_ 8ancti Adriani ubi es conversus, intrares, rerumque tuarum illic donationem emitteres, et domos ct hore tos intra Civitatem, seu terras $ationales, vel vineas ' ter Basilius Capuanz Ecclesiz przesens fuisset in- C in fundo, sicut nos docuisti, Carsiniano, pariter & ventus, exstilit valde contrarius, as8erens locum ipsum olim > monasterio alij dicecesis 8uz ſuisse conjunctum, et idcirco minime in alterius Ecclesiz jus debere contradi. Coatra quam objectionem Nea- politane rursus clerus Ecclesiz multo esse aliter quam dicebatur oppositis allegationibus replicabat, quibus diversa sentientibus ne conslituere quidquam dubie videremur, depulatis cognitoribus inslituimnus inter eos esse judicium. Quibus renuntiantibus, ma- niſesta ratione comperimus ſralrem et coepiscopum nostrum Basilium nullum in predicto Craterensi mo- canone Ecclesiz, non imperatorum voluntate sanci- tum. Ex Juslino, Tertulliano, Athanasio, liquet Chri- Slianis 8Solitum convenire, sive synaxes agere die Solis, quam Dominicam dicimus, extra quam diem viz Sacra fuisse ſacia innuit idem Athanasius, Apo- log. 2, ubi de poculo ſracto. De ſeriatione ab operi- bus ea die primus edixit Constantinus circa medium quarti szculi. En legem relatam in Cod., tit. de ſe- riis : Omnes judices urbaneque plebes, et cunctarum artium officia, venerabili die solis quiescant. Ruri ta- men poziti agrorum culture libere licenterque inzer- viant, quonianm ſrequenter evenit ut non aptius alio die ſrumenta sulcis, aut vinee 8crobibus mandentur, ne occasione momenti pereat commoditas cali provisione concessa. Alii imperatores non tam de opere quim de judiciis statuerunt; sic Theodosius, ut in die Do- minico emancipare ac manumillere liceat, relique caus@e vel lites quiescant. Prohibent tamen 8pectacula et volu- ptates vbsc@nas. In Galtjis 8extosZculo plures cano- nes ea de re promulgati sunt, et a nostris regibus ju rem judicatam missi. Indico Avurelian. 11, c. 28, portiones tuas in ſundo Fulloniaco, vel ex aliquibus mancipiis tuis quibus a te concessa libertas esl, verbo largitus es; ipsaque donatio ,licet possit jure Subsistere, precipue in boc quod ab illis tribuitur qui, cum pompis suis s2culum relinquentes, ad Dei se eligunt conſerre servitiom, quoniam tamen, ne quid futurum tempus oblivionis nubilo huic dero- gare quidquam valeat largitati, scriptlurz hoc desi- deras itradere monumenlis, quod ut queat robustum existere a nobis tibi poscis dari licentiam; idcirco hvjus pracepti nostri pagina, liberaim tibi hoc fa- D an. 538; reſertur in Vernensi, c. 14, an. 755; Antis- Siod., C. 16, an. 578; Mati>con. 1, c. 1, an. 585; Narbon., c. 4, an. 589; in septimo 82culo, Cabill., c. 18, an. 650; in capitul. Aquisgran., c. 81, an. 789 ; in Arelat. v1, c. 16, an. 813; Rhemensi, c. 35, an. 813; Paris. vi, Cc. 1, fuse, an. 829. Goussanv. Septembri, indict. 6. Ia Vatic. A. vero legitur mens Februario. | Eerist. I | Al. 4]. — ® Norman., tantum,.... in de- s0latione positis vehementi merore concutitur, ceteris omissis. Lectionem hanec pratulerunt vet. Edit. Aba lectio est Vaticauorum salem quatuor. Eersr. II [Al. 5]. — * Unum fuit ex 8ex monasle- riis quzp Gregorius adhue pretor urbanus in Sict- lia ed-ficaverat, de quibus consule Annales Bened. Mabilionii, lib. vi, p. £64. Fundi Fulloniaci fit men- tio lib. 1, epist. 9. _ tc. wer ey wy cw ef wa < © ww oo cc Tc. a = wk = Rwy wn A ww ws ciendi concedimus facultatem, quatenus dum omnia A eo quid sit legitimum informati, nullam reprebengio-