Letter 4044: Some clergymen who properly belong to the diocese of Bishop Bacauda have been ordained to holy orders here in...

To Bishop Maximianus. Gregory to Maximianus, bishop of Syracuse. Our brother and fellow-bishop Bacauda has informed us that certain men from his clergy have made their way into the regions of Sicily to obtain holy orders. Since he records that he has neither a presbyter nor deacons, he has asked that these men ought to be sent back to him. Therefore, wherever your Fraternity shall find them, at the disclosure of the bearer of this present letter, let him send them here without delay, so that they too may be recalled to the Church in which they once served, and the aforesaid bishop may be able to have from them the consolation he desires. EPISTLE XLV. To Fantinus the Defensor. Gregory to Fantinus the defensor. The bearer of this present letter, Cosmas the Syrian, has declared that in the business he was conducting he had contracted a debt, which we have believed to be true, with both many other witnesses and his own tears attesting to it. And because he owed one hundred and fifty solidi, I wished that his creditors should come to some agreement with him, since the law also holds that a free man is in no way to be held liable for a debt if the means are lacking by which the debt itself could be satisfied. It is possible, then, as he asserts, that his creditors will consent to eighty solidi. But because it is much to demand eighty solidi from a man who has nothing, we have sent you sixty solidi by means of your notary, so that you may speak shrewdly with those same creditors, and render an account, since his son, whom they are said to be holding, they cannot lawfully hold according to the laws. And if it can be done, let them come down to something less than what we have given. And whatever remains of those same sixty solidi, hand it over to him, so that he may be able thereafter to live with his son. But if nothing remains, take pains at least that his debt be reduced to that same sum, so that he may afterwards be able freely to work for himself. Do this carefully, however, so that, once the solidi have been received, they may make out for him a full discharge in writing.

AD. MA XIMIANUM EPISCOPUM. (Quosdam e Bacaude episcopi clero, nd 8#acros ordines in Sicilia promotos, ad ipsum illos repelentem tr miltatl, | Gregorius Maximiano episcopo Syracusano. Indicavit nobis Bacauda ſr:ter et cnepiscopus noster quosdam de clero $40 in. Sicilie partibus ad sacros ordines pervenisse. Qui quoniam neque presbyterum neque diaconos $2 habere commemorat, © eos ad se C petiit debere transmitti. Proinde fraternitas tua ubi- cunque illos latore presentium inditante repererit, huc eos sine dilatione transvittat, quatenus et illi . ad Ecclesiam in qua olim militayerunt ; revocentur, et atile dictus episcopus oplatum de eis pos8it habersd S0latium. | EPISTOLA XLY. AD FANTINUM DEFENSOREM, Solidos 8exayqinta mittit pro Corma persblvehtios. Gregorius Fintino deſensori. Lator presentium * Cosmas Syrus In negotio quod agebat debitum se contraxi-se perhibuit, T4 quod elmullis aliis et lacrymis ejus attesfantibus verum esse credidimus. Et quia CL Solidos debebat, volui ut cre- D etc., quos Supra laudavimus. Eeist. XLIY [Al. 42]. — * Suos clericos in Siciliz fuisse partibus ordinatos dicit, bello, ut quidem reor, EerisT. XLV [ Al. 45]. — * Eumdem esse pulamus de quo lib. 11, epist. 58. Hieronymus in illud Eze- chielis xxviu, 16 : Syrus negotiator Iuus-... usque ho- die autem, il1juit, permanet in Syris ingenitus nego- liationis ardor, qui per lotum mundum lucri cupiditate discurrunt, et. tantam mercandi habent vecaniam, ut orcupato tunc orbe Romano, inter yladios et mise2rorum neces quuarant divitias, et paupertutem periculis ſugiant. Idewm ad Leatam ; Negottutoribus avidissimes morta- lium Syris. Sidou., lib. 1, epist. 8, de Ravennatiun perversivne ; ſexerantur, inquit, clerici, Syri psal- luxt. SANCTI GREGORI MACNI ditores illius cum eo aliquid paciscerentur, quoniam A nullo modo recessit, suspicor quia excellentia vesira ct Þ Jex habet, ut homo liber pro debito nullatenus leneatur, si res defuerint quz possint eidem debito addici. Creditores ergo $uos, ut asserit, ad Lxxx $0- litos consentire possibile est. Sed quia multum est ut a nil habente homine Lxxx $0lidos petant, LX $0- lidos per nvtarium tuum tibi transmisimus, ut cum eisdem creditoribus subtiliter loquaris, rationem reddas, quia fi jum e;us quem lenere dicuntur, $e- cundum leges tenere non pos8unt., Et si p Les fieri, ad aliquid minus quam nos deiimus condescendant. Et quidquid de eisdem Lx s$olidis remanseril, ipsi trade, ut cum filio $uv exinde vivere valeat. Si au- lem nil remanet, vel ad eamdem summam debitum ejus incidere $stude, ut possit sibi libere postmodum jiaborare. tloc tawen $olerler age, ut, acceptis $0li- dis, ei © plenariam munitionem $8cripto faciant. (Cf. Joan. Diac, l. 11, n. 55.)