Letter 7037: Fifteen pounds of silver are owed to Faustinus.

To Bishop Donus. Let him [the bishop] grant fifteen pounds of silver to Faustinus, either from the Church's money or from the consecrated vessels, for the redemption of his daughters. Gregory to Donus, bishop of Messina. Both the sacred canons (Gratian, part 12, question 2, chapter 14) and the laws established by statute permit the vessels of the Church to be sold for the redemption of captives. And therefore, since Faustinus, the bearer of these present letters, in order to free his daughters from the yoke of captivity, is proven to have contracted a debt of three hundred and thirty solidi, of which thirty having been repaid it is certain that he is unable to suffice for the restitution of the remaining sum, we exhort your Fraternity by these words that, from the silver of the Church of Meria [Meriensis], of which he is known to be a soldier, which is in your keeping, you should by all means be obliged to give him fifteen pounds, after receiving from him a written acknowledgement of receipt, so that, this being sold and the debt being restored, he may be able to be released from the constraint of his obligation. But your Fraternity ought also to be careful in this: that if indeed there is silver in everyday use belonging to the aforesaid Church, he should receive the above-written amount from it; otherwise it is necessary to furnish him from the consecrated vessels that same quantity which we have specified above. For (Gratian, part 12, question 2, chapter 16), just as it is altogether serious to sell ecclesiastical vessels without cause, so again it is a fault, when such a necessity is pressing, to prefer the goods of the Church above its own captives left utterly desolate, and to cease from their redemption.

AD DONUM EPISCOPUM. Faustino quindecim argenti libras, aut ex Ecclesi@ pecunia, aut e sacralis vasis, in filiarum redemptio- nem [ribuat. Gregorius * Dono episcopo Messanensi. Et sacrorum canonum (Gra!, 12, q. 2, c. 414), et legalia statula permiltunt- ministeria Ecclesiz pro captivorum esse redemptione vendenda. Et ideo + quoniam Faustinus lator prasentium, ut filias Suas de jugo poluisset captivitatis exuere, trecentorum triginta Solidorum probatur debitum contraxisse, ex quibus triginta redditis, ad relique quantitatis re- slitutionem eum certum est non posse suſficere, ſraternitatem tuam his hortamur affatibus ut de ar- gento Meriensis Ecclesiz, Þ cujus miles esse digno- scitur, quod apud vos est, quindecim ei libras acce- pto ab eo © desuscepto dare amodis omnibus debea- lis, ut eo venundato, et restituto. debito , F&7 necessitate valeat obligationis absolvi. Sed et illud ſraternitas vestra debet esse s$ollicita, ut siquidem de predicta Ecclesia ® usuale argenium est, 8upra- Scriptam quantitatem accipiat; alioquin de sacratis v0s$ vasis hac in re eam quam prediximus quanti- laltem prebere necesse est. Nam (CGrat. 12, g. 2, c. 16) sicut omnino grave est frustra ecclesiastica Ministeria venundare, $ic iterum culpa est, imimi- venti hujusmodi necessilate, res maxime desolale Leclesize captivis $suis pr:xponere, et in corum re- demptione ces8are.