Letter 4041: Brothers and sisters of Hortona, I write in the spirit of the pastoral care this see owes to every community under...

To the clergy, the order, and the people of Ortona. [He delegates Barbarus as visitor. Above all he warns them not to elect a layman as bishop.] Gregory to the clergy, the order, and the people residing at Ortona. Having learned of the death of your bishop, it has been our care to delegate solemnly to our brother and fellow bishop Barbarus the visitation of the bereaved Church. To him we have given instructions that he should allow nothing of its revenue, its furnishings, or its ministries to be usurped by anyone. It is fitting that you obey his constant exhortations. Yet know this: that we have granted him license to ordain presbyters and deacons, if it should be necessary, whomever he is able to find worthy for this office, so that in the ecclesiastical service a priest may be sought who departs in no respect from the venerable canons, and who may be found worthy of so great a ministry. When such a one has been requested, with the solemnity of a decree strengthened by the subscriptions of all, and with the visitor's document accompanying him, let him come to us to be ordained, providing above all that you do not presume to elect a layman of whatever life or merit. And not only shall such a man by no means be advanced to the summit of the episcopate, but you yourselves must also recognize that you can obtain pardon by no intercessions. Rather, know without doubt that all from among you who are found to aspire from the lay state are to be made strangers to office and to communion. Letter XLII. To Valentinus the abbot. [That monks should not bring women into the monastery, nor make them their co-mothers (godmothers).] Gregory to Valentinus the abbot. It has reached us that in your monastery women are admitted everywhere, and, what is still more grievous, that your monks make women their co-mothers [godmothers], and from this have incautious association with them. Lest, therefore, on this occasion the enemy of the human race deceive them by his cunning, which God forbid, we admonish you by the tenor of this precept, that henceforth you neither permit women on any occasion whatever to enter your monastery, nor allow your monks to make them their co-mothers. For if this should again come to our ears in any way whatsoever, know that you will be subjected to so severe a punishment that, by the manner of your correction, others may without doubt be set right.

AD CLERUM, ORDINEM ET PLEBEM HORTONE., Barbarum visilatorem delegat. Ante omnia monet ne laicam personam in episcopum eligant, Gregorius clero, ordini et plebi consistenti * Flor= l0nTz. | Vestri ® antislitis obilum cognoscentes, cure nobis ſuit destitulze Ecelesize visitationem fratri et coepi- SCOPO nostro © Barbaro solemniter delegare. Cui de- dimus in mandatis 4 ut vilil de reditu, ornatu, mi- nisteriigque a quoquam usurpari patiatur, Cujus vos asSiduis adhortationibus convenit obedire. Hoc ta- men 8citote, quia ei ordinandi presbytcros ac dia- conos, $i necesse ſuerit, quos dignos ad hoe officium invenire polverit, dedimus licentiam, * quatenus int Samnii in ora maris Adriatici, distans a Teate x11 mi'l. in ortum. Nunc Aprutil citerioris in regno Nea- potitano, adhuc episcopalis 8ub archiepiscopo Tea- tino. Gussaxv. In Rhemensi et uno e Valic. legitur, Cotronw@. | Hortonensis, ut observavimus in fine note c ad cam- dem epist. © Erat Benevenlanus episcopus, vir industrius, et $3nclo Gregorio valde probatus, quippe cui etiam post mortem Victoris, Pagormitane Ecclesiz visita- * tionem commisit ex epist, 16 libri xi, nunc 13lib. xi. Ve eo quoque mentionem facit ejusdem 1'þ. epi-t. 19, nunc 14. Putat tamen Ughe!lus, tomo VI ltalie $a- cr:r, hanc Barbarum, quem et Barbatum dieit ap- pellari, [uisse tertium episcopum Teatinum, cui ut- pote viciniori Ecclesiam Urto:enzem visitandam commendavit. Gus$axv. In Rhemensi pro Barbaro le« gitur Joanni. Nia eliam in Vatic, D. In al. Vat c., Tu- ron., Reg., nonien episcopi tacetur. In: aliis M>s.- nostris desideratur hec epist, Exstal in Colb. 4d Rhem., ut nihil de provcctionibus clericorum, re- ditu, etc. ” 7 PVErAPP IT nuns —_— —_ CE —— —— —— - —— - ww - EE 747 EPISTOLARUM LIB. IV. — INDICT. XW. — EPIST. XLY. 718 ecclesia$tico Ja obsequio sacerdos exquiratur, A commodo zternze $alutis as$umere, ut bt yds de qui a venerandis canonibus nulla discrepet Tatione, et lanto ministerio dignus valeat reperiri. Qui dum ſrerit postnlatus, cum s0Jemnitate decreti omnium $ulscriptionibus roborati, et visitatoris pagina pro=- $cquente, ad nos vemat ordinandus, provi-ori ante omnia ne cujuslibet vitze vel meriti laicam personam przesumatlis eligere, Et non solum ille ad episcopatus apicem nulla ratione * provehetur, verum eltiam vos nullis intercessionibus veniam promereri posse C0- gnoscite. Sed omnes quos ex vobis de lJaica persona a$pirare consliterit, ab oſlicio et 3a communione alie- nos ſaciendos procul dubio noveritis, | EPISTOLA XLII. AD VALENTINUM ABBATEM. Ne monachi ſeminas in monaslerium inducant , aut eas 8ib1 commatres ſaciant. Gregorius * Valentino abbati. Pervenit ad nos (Grat. 18, g. 21, c. 20), quod in monasterio tno passim Þ mulieres ascendant, et, quod adhuc est gravius, monachos tuos mulieres $ibi commatres facere, et ex hoc incautam cum eis com- munionem habere. Ne ergo hac occasione humaii generis inimicus $ua eos, quod absit, calliditate de- cipiat, ideo hujus le precepti serie commonem1s, ul neque mulieres in monasl[erio tuo deinceys qual:het occasione permiltas ascendere, neque monachos tuos eas commatres Sihi ſacere. Nain si hoc denuo ad aures nostras quocunque modo pervenerit, sic te severissima* noveris ultioni «ubdendum, ut emenda- tionis tuz qualitate cxteri sine dubio corrigantur. (Videl. nu, ep. 25.)