Letter 4040: Brother, I must remind you that the canonical requirement regarding revenues applies to new income just as it does...

To Bishop Maximianus. [Chapter summary:] Even a fourth part of new revenues is to be dispensed according to the canonical distribution. A presbyter or other cleric is not to be made an abbot, unless the care of the Church which he was serving is given up. When a bishop has died, the property of the Church is to be carefully, and without charge, recorded. A stipend is to be granted to the visitors and to their clerics. A virgin not yet sixty years old is not to be made an abbess. Gregory to Maximianus, bishop of Syracuse. Formerly indeed it had been committed by our authority to your Fraternity, that if any things should be transgressed in the Churches of Sicily and in the other venerable places, or should be improperly conducted, you might correct them in our stead. But because, after this, a complaint has reached us concerning certain matters that have hitherto been neglected, we have once again specially provided that your Fraternity should be stirred up to the correction of them. For we have learned [Gratian 12, q. 2, c. 19] that, with respect to the revenues of the Churches newly acquired, the canonical disposition of the fourth parts does not at all take place, but that the bishops of those places distribute only the fourth part of the ancient revenues, while now in fact they retain for their own uses what has been acquired anew, which is a perverse thing. Wherefore your Fraternity should hasten vigorously to amend this perverse and surreptitiously introduced custom, so that, whether from the past revenues, or from those which have now come in or shall come in, the fourth parts may be dispensed according to the canonical distribution. For it is incongruous that one and the same substance of the Church should be reckoned, as it were, under a double right, that is, of usurpation and of the canons. That presbyters [Gratian 16, q. 1, c. 38], deacons, and the other clerics of whatever order, who serve the Churches, you should not permit to be abbots over monasteries; but either, having laid aside the service of the clerical office, let them be promoted to the monastic orders; or, if they should have resolved to remain in the place of an abbot, let them by no means be permitted to retain the service of the clerical office. For it is incongruous enough that, when someone cannot diligently fulfil one of these according to its greatness, he should be judged fit for both; and that thus, in turn, the ecclesiastical order should impede the monastic life, and the rule of monkhood should impede the ecclesiastical interests. This also [Gratian 12, q. 2, c. 45] we have taken care to admonish your Charity of: that if any of the bishops should depart from this light, or, which God forbid, should be removed for his own excesses, then, the proper hierarchs and all the elders of the clergy being assembled, and in his presence making an inventory of the property of the Church, all things that shall be found should be subtly recorded; nor, as was said to have been done before, should any commodities or anything else from the property of the Church be carried off, as if for the labor of making the inventory. For we desire those things which pertain to the safeguarding of the means of the poor to be carried out in such a way that no occasion whatsoever of venality in their property be left to ambitious men. Let the visitors of the Churches, and their clerics, who are wearied together with them throughout the parishes of cities not their own, receive some support for their labor, by your arrangement. For it is just that they should obtain a stipend there, where for a time they are found to lend their service. [Concerning the making of abbesses:] But, the holy Gospels being set forth, let one be taken up who is fit, useful, and worthy to preside; since it is fitting that all rule, and all governance of men, should be derived not from the times, nor from lots, nor from fortuitous circumstances, but from that which is more excellent. Let your Fraternity not permit any virgin to be veiled unless she be sixty years old, one whose age and character require this; so that, both the former matters and the present chapter being corrected by the insistence of strictness, the Lord helping, you may hasten to bind together by canonical bonds the long-dissolved state of venerable things, and that divine affairs may be able to be ordered not by the incongruous wills of men, but by fitting strictness. In the month of October, in the twelfth indiction. [Cf. John the Deacon, book IV, c. 34; book II, c. 54; book III, c. 23.] Epistle XII. To Bishop Maximianus. [Chapter summary:] The crime is to be punished by which a certain man's wife was carried off and sold to another. Gregory to Maximianus, bishop of Syracuse. So many evils that are committed in that province are reported to us from time to time, that we believe, our sins bringing it about - which may Almighty God avert - it will swiftly perish. For the bearer of the present letter, coming to us, has tearfully complained that, many years ago, he was received from the font [as godfather] by some man I know not, from a possession of the Church of Messana, and was violently, by various persuasions, joined to that man's daughter, from whom he asserted that he already has young sons; and that she has now been violently separated from him and taken away, as is said, and sold to a certain other man. If this is true, your Charity perceives how unheard-of and cruel an evil it is. And therefore we admonish you that you inquire into and examine this so great wickedness with that vigor which we most certainly know you to have in pious causes. And if you shall have ascertained it to be so as the aforesaid bearer has intimated, you will take care not only to recall to its former state that which has been wrongly done, but you will also hasten in every way to exhibit a vengeance which may be able to appease God. And the bishop who neglects to correct and amend his own men committing such things, do you vehemently rebuke, declaring that, if again such a complaint shall reach us from someone of those who pertain to him, the canonical vengeance will proceed not against him who has transgressed, but against the bishop himself. [Cf. John the Deacon, book III, c. 54.]

AD MAXIMIANUM EPISCOPUM Etiam novorum redituum quart paries juxta canoni- cam distributionem dispensande. Presbyter aliusve clericus abbas non fiat , nisi- relicla Ecclesi@ cui ministrabat cura. Deſuncto episcopo, Ecclesie res diligenter , at gra'is , describende. V isita!oribus et eorum clericis tribuendum s(ipendium. Virgo non- dum zexagenaria non fiat abbalissa. Gregorius Maximiano episcopo Syracusano. Olim quidem ſraternitati tuz nostra ſuerat aucto- rilale commissum ut $1 qua in Siciliz * excederen- tur Ecclesia czterisque venerabilibus G91 locis, vel incongrue gererentur, nostra vice corrigeres. Sed quia post hac de quibusdam neglectis hacienus capitulis ad nos querela pervenit, rursus ad eorum correctionem tuam ſraternitatem 8pecialiler praevidi- mus excitandam. Cognovimus namque (Grat. 12, g. 2, c. 19) de redi- tibus Ecclesiarum noviter acouisitis canonicam dis- positionem = quartarum minime provenire, sed epis- copos locorum tantummodo distribuere quartam anti- quorum redituum, nunc vero quesila Suis usibus re- Vatic. D, et rectam mentis intentionem, consentien- tibus Turon., Rhbem., Norm., quibus adbzrendum tamus. Excusi, a recta mentis intentione. Ee1sr. Xl. — * Inter Coudices sive mss. sive excu- $0s hoc loco dissidentes, pretulimus quinque Norm., Rhem., Corb., Vatic. B et D, et Turon. In duobus lamen ultimis legitur excideretur pro excederetur, er- rore calami. In Vatic. A et C, habetur exciderunt. Consentit Michael In Reg. , exciderat. In hoc solo verbo dissentiunt Mss., at in Editis multa sunt que a vera lectione deviant, et nullis in Mss. comparent ; ic enim legitur, Si que in Sicilia exciderent Ecclesie, ceterisque. x111. Idem pro Gall.canis Ecclesiis statuit conc. Au- rel. 1, C. 5. Vide Thomass., ut p., lib. u, c. 43 et neuei, quam rem pravam, Melius sane quam- obrem, ut in ownibus Valic., Norm., Corb., Reg., etc. « His al.isve 8imilibus verbis nihil aliud precipi- A tinere. © Yuamobrem pravam s8ubintroductamque consvetudinem fraternitas tua vivaciter emendare ſestinet, ut sive de przteritis reditibus, sive de iis quz nune obvenerunt vel obvenerint, quartz secun- dum distributionem canonicam dispensentur. Incon- gruum namque est unam eamdemque Ecclesiz sub- Stantiam duplici quodammodo jure censeri, id est usurpationis et canonum. | Presbyteros-(Grat. 16, q. 1, c. 38) , diaconos. cx- terosque cujuslibet ordinis clericos , qui Ecclesiis militant, 4 abbates per monasteria esse non permit- tas, sed © aut omissa clericatus militia, monachicis provebantur ordinibus ; aut si in abbatis loco perma- nere decreverint, clericatus nullatenus permittantur habere militiam. Satis enim incongruum est si cum B unum ex his pro 8w1 magmitudine diligenter quis non possit explere, ad utrumque judicetur idonevs, sic- que invicem et ecclesiasticus ordo vitz monachicz, et ecclesiasticis ulilitatibus regula monachatus f im- pediat. lilud quoque (Grat. 12, q. 2, c. 45) charita- tem tuam commonere curavimus, ut $i quispiam episcoporum de hac luce migraverit, vel, quud absit, 1d Gregorius dixit nusquam; imo de diacono mona- Sticam vitam amplectente, ad Desiderium Vieun. episcopunm scribens , lib. xi, epist. 35 : Hortamur, inquit, ut tam prompt@ devolioni cjus quam in $anc- to s(udel habere proposito minime vesira 8il impedimen- to fraternitas ; magis autem quibus valetis adhortationi- bus pastorali admonitione succendile, etc. Concil. To- let. iv, can. 49 (apud Loaisam 50) : Clerici qui mona- chorum propositum appelunt (quia meliorem vi!am 8e- qui cupiunt) liberos els ab episcopo in monasleriis lar- C 9iri oporlet ingressus ; nec mlerdici propositum eorum qui ad contemplationis desiderium transire nituntur. Ex Gregorii verbis (Clericatus nullatenus permittan- tur habere wilitiam) concludit vir alias doctiss:mus veluisse Gregorium Mag. ne idem abbas +sset ac presbytler. Mirum $ane id ab homine asseri veleris disciplinz Orientalis alque Occidentalis non penitus ignaro. Ad Maicianum imp. adversus Eulychen sCcri- bunt archimandrite xvn1, iique presbyteri omnes, tom. VI Concil., Edit. Labb., col. 431 ; ejusdem hix- resjiarchz damualioni subscribunt archumanidritz 23, tur quam ut titulus abbatis et cura monasterii non D tio ſuisse exoruatos probat Cointius, ad annum 674, deſeratur clerico extraneo, qui sxcularis Ecclesie titulum babeat, nec monachus $i1 ; et si quidem ta- lis clericus, relicta Ecclesia cui serviebal, jam lactus Sit abbas ; ut, opltione facta, aut abbatiale munus di- mitlat, si Ecclesiz $uz titulo renuntiare nolit; aut Ecclesiz $uz curam deseral, si in abbalis officio per- manere decreverit. De his uberius in $ancii Gregorii Vita a nobis adurnala. = | Corb., Reg., etc. Consenuunt vet. Editi. In recentio - ribus habes : aut admissa clericatus militia monasti- cis non promov. ordinibus; quz Sane nullis in Mss. nobis occurrerunt. Caicrum ne cum viro erudito Lud. Dupi», tow. V1, p. 277, banc esse Gregorii mentem pules, ut clerici ad monachos non transeant. num. 5o et seqq. Idque ex Gregorio ips0 indubit.- lum, cujus plures exsiant ad abbates presby:eros aut quz ipSOrum meminerint epislole lib. 1, epi>t. 9; lib. v, epist. 3 et 4; lib. vin, epist. 26; hb. xW, episl. 8, 10, eic. Plura exewpla profſert Gussanvil- lzus hic, nota 5. Excusi, impediatur, quos Sequeremur, nisi obes- Sent oinnes Valic., Norm., Turon., Corb., etc. « Forte hierarchis, licet ita legatur in omnibus Mss. el Edilis. Variaut iamen Edilones quzdam. Lougdu- nensis an, 14559 habet ad marginem :; Al. @conomiy. Correctores decreti 12. q. 2, c. 45, legunt, @conemi intelligerem episcopos visitatores, de quibus $slatim: GussANV. In Valic. A el B, necuon in Pratel., legi- tur, Jerathicis. 681 EPISTOLARUM LIB. 1V, = INDICT. XI. — EPIST. XINL. 682 pro svis ſuerit remotus excessibus, s convenientibus a Tanta nobis subinde mala quz aguntur in ista hierarchicis cunctisque cleri prioribus, atque in sui presentia inventarium Ecclesiz rerum facientibus, G92 omnia que reperta ſuerint subliliter describan- tur, nec, 8icul antea fieri-dicebatur, » species que- dam aut aliud quodlibet de rebus Ecclesiz , quasi pro ſaciendi inventarii labore tollatur. Sic namque ea quz ad munitionem pauperum ſacultatis pertinent desideramus expleri, ut nulla penitus in rebus eorum ambitiosis hominibus venalitatis relinquatur occasio, Visitatores Ecclesiarum , clericique eorum, qui cum ipsis per non $uz civitatis parochias fatigantur, aliquod laboris sui capiant, te disponente, SubsiJium. Justum namque est ut illic consequantur Stipendium, quo pro lempore suum commodare reperiuntur ob- $equium, scopum ſraternitas tua nisi sexagenariam virginem, cujus #1as hoe atque mores exegerint, | yelare per- mitiat, quatenus tam privoribus quam przsenti capi- tulo 12 districtionis instantia Domino adjuvanie correctis, et diu dissolutum rerum venerabilium $ta- tum ® canonicis nexibus religare ſe-tines, et divina negotia non per incongruas voluntates hominum, sed competenti possint districtione disponi. > Mense Octobri, indictione 12. (Cf. Joann. Diac. |. 1v, c. 34; lib. 11, c. 54; Ll. un, c: 23.) EFISTULA XII. AD MAXIMIANUM EPISCOPUM. Puniendum facinus quo ablata es! cujusdam uxor, et_alteri venundata. Gregorius Maximiano episcopo Syracusano. Minime quidem nos latet species tum apud jurecon- $ultos, tum apud alios scriptores, passim »ignilicare ſruges, oleum, vinum, legumina. Hinc Gregorius Tu- ron., respondens Felici Nannetensj episcopo,, I. v Nistoriz Fraucorum, cap. 5 : O 5i te, inquit, habuis- set Massilia sacerdotem, nunquam naves oleum aut re- liquas species detulissent. Verum non raro per 8pecies supellex quzvis pretiosior intelligitur , quz Signifi- cali» videtur magis convenire huic loco Gregoriane ad Maximianum epistole. Gregorius Turon., lib. vi, cap. 38: Magni ibidem thesauri ex auro argentoque, et mullarum specierum reperti sunt, Mulia alia exem- pla proſert doctissimus Cangius ad hanc vocem. Sed, 8acris Evangeli s propositis, assumalur idonca, ulilis, prazesse digna; cum Sit conveniens omnem principatum, et omnem hominum prefecturam non ex lemporibus, neque ex $0rtibus, neque ex fortuilis circums1lantiis, sed ex eo quod praslanlus est lier!. Sanctus Gregorius hic requirit Lx annos ut vir- $0 liat abbatissa. Concil. Trident., <sess. 25, de re- gularibus et monialibus, c. 7 : Abbatissaet priorissa..... REGIPE eligatur non minor annis 40, et qua oclo an- nis pos! expressam proſessionem laudabiliter rizerit , elC. GUSSANV. & In Vatic. A. nullam igitur episcopi sive ſraternitas fua, nisi 8exagenarianam..., velare permittant. Vulgati, nullam igitur ſraternitas lud...... velari permillal. Se- quimur tres Vatic., omnes Norm., Corb., Turon., etc. Patrol. LXXVII. provincia nuntiantur, ut peccatis ſacientibus, GOY quod avertat omnipotens Deus, celeriter eam peritu- ram credamus. Pr$Sentium namque portitor veniens lacrymabiliter questus est ante plurimos annos ab homine nescio quo de possessione Mess8anensis Ec- clesiz de ſontibus $e susceptum, et * violenter di- versis persuasionibus puelle ipsius junctum, ex qua juvenculos lilios jam habere se asseruit, et quam nunc violenter huic disjunctam 'abstulisse dicitur, atque cuidam alii venundedisse. Quod si verum est, quam $it inauditum atque crudele malum, tua dilec- tio perspicit. Ideoque admonemus ut hoc tantam ne- ſas 8ub ea vivacitate quam te in causis piis habere ceriissime scimus requiras atque” discutias. Et si- ita ut Supradictus portitor insinuavit, esse cognoveris, non solum quod male factum est, ad statum pristi- num revocare curabis, sed et vindictam , quz Deum possit placare , exhibere modis omnibus ſestinabis. Episcopum vero qui homines suos talia agentes cor- rigere negligit atque emendare vehementer aggrede- re, proponens quia 8i denuo talis ad nos Þ de quo» quam qui ad eum pertinent querela pervenerit, non in eum qui excess8eril, sed in ipsum canonice vindicta procedet <. (Cf. Joann. Diac. |. uw, c. 54.)