Letter 9126: Gregory to Constantius, bishop of Milan.

To Constantius, Bishop of Milan. That he should not allow Philagrius to be unjustly burdened, whether by the men of his own Church, or by the tax-collectors, or by the Bishop of Tortona. Gregory to Constantius, Bishop of Milan. Although the scourge of blindness invites your Fraternity in many ways to safeguard for itself the justice of Philagrius, the bearer of this present letter, nevertheless [...] because [...] he is being burdened beyond measure. And if this is so, let your Holiness not permit him to be charged anew by anyone whatsoever, since it is most inhuman to afflict with a tax-assessment a man whom his own blindness already burdens; for if he were in great need, he ought rather to be relieved by the assessment. But because he complains that his boy is being unjustly detained by the Church of Tortona, let your Fraternity see to writing to the bishop of the aforesaid city, so that, if it is so, he may restore the boy to him without any contention. But if he should perhaps reply that the matter stands otherwise, then this case must be examined without any excuse, either before you or before arbiters. For the same Philagrius has made known that his serving-woman, together with her sons and grandsons -- concerning whom, as he says, there is no dispute -- followed her husband, that same boy of his named Maurus. From this circumstance it has come about that, on account of the man over whom the dispute exists, the others also, concerning whom there is no dispute, are being held. But if it holds true upon examination, let the serving-woman with her sons and grandsons [...] be restored. And then, concerning the aforementioned Maurus, when the matter has been thoroughly examined, let it be concluded as reason shall advise. And if perchance some contention is said to exist concerning his wife as well, let this too be settled by the intervention of judgment, so that, with you present there, the aforesaid bearer may have no necessity of returning to us again concerning the matters mentioned. (From the acts and minor works of Saint Columbanus and of other saints of ancient Scotia and Hibernia, first published by Father Fleming the Franciscan in the year 1667.) [A letter from Columbanus to Pope Gregory: On the celebration of Easter, rejecting the cycle of Victorius, he urges that the custom of the Scoti is to be followed, which Anatolius, praised by Jerome, favored. Concerning bishops ordained through simony, or after a lapse during the time of the diaconate; and concerning monks deserting their monasteries, he consults Saint Gregory, whom he greatly longs to see. He praises his book on Pastoral Care, and asks for expositions on Ezekiel and on the Song of Songs.] To the holy lord, and Father in Christ [perhaps "pope" was omitted by a copyist's error] Romanus, the most beautiful ornament of the Church, the most august flower as it were of all flagging Europe, the distinguished watchman, endowed with divine contemplation by reason of his purity [thus the manuscript] -- I, Bargoma [thus the manuscript], a lowly dove in Christ, send greeting. Grace ["thanks" in the manuscript] to you and peace from God our Father and Jesus Christ. [A great defect here, as expressed in the manuscript.] It pleases me, O holy pope, not to question you hyperbolically about Easter, according to that saying of the Canticle: Ask your father, and he will declare to you; your elders, and they will tell you (Deuteronomy 32:7). For although that excellent praise of a certain wise man may be applied to me -- a trifler, of course -- the saying which he is reported to have uttered when seeing a certain painted courtesan [perhaps "a painted comely woman"]: I do not admire the art, but I admire the effrontery, may be branded upon me, a worthless man writing to you, an illustrious one; nevertheless, relying on the confidence of your evangelical humility, I presume to write to you, and I lay upon you the business of my grief. For there is no vanity in writing, when necessity compels one to write, even to one's betters. What then do you say about Easter on the 24th or 22nd of the moon, which -- be it said, however, with your peace -- is now reckoned by many to be no Easter at all, namely a dark one? For it does not escape your effectiveness, as I believe, how greatly Anatolius, a man of wondrous learning, as Saint Jerome says (whose excerpts Eusebius, Bishop of Caesarea, inserted into his Ecclesiastical History, and Saint Jerome praised this same work on Easter in his catalogue), disputes in censure of this age of the moon; who, against the Gallican Rimarii [reckoners], erring concerning Easter, as he says, brought forth a dreadful sentence, saying: Certainly, if the rising of the moon is delayed up to the end of the second vigil, which marks the middle of the night, then it is not the light that overcomes the darkness, but the darkness that overcomes the light; which it is certain is not admissible at Easter, that any part of the darkness should dominate the light, because the solemnity of the Lord's Resurrection is light, and there is no communion of light with darkness. And if the moon grows bright in the third vigil, there is no doubt that the moon has risen on the 24th or 22nd, on which the true Easter cannot possibly be offered in sacrifice. For those who define that Easter can possibly be celebrated at this age of the moon not only cannot affirm it by the authority of divine Scripture, but also incur the charge of sacrilege and obstinacy, and the peril of souls; for they affirm that the true Light can be sacrificed under some domination of darkness, which dominates over all darkness. Moreover, we read in the book of holy doctrine: Easter, that is, the solemnity of the Lord's Resurrection, cannot be celebrated before the passing of the beginning of the vernal equinox, that is, so that the equinox does not come before it; which indeed Victorius transgressed in his cycle, and through this long ago introduced error into Gaul, or, to put it more humbly, confirmed an ingrained one. For by what reasoning can both stand -- namely, that the Resurrection of the Lord should be celebrated before His Passion, which is even absurd to suppose; or that the seven days sanctioned in the Law by the Lord's command, in which alone it is enjoined that the Lord's Pasch be lawfully eaten (which are to be numbered from the 14th moon up to the 21st), should be overstepped contrary to right and divine law? For the 24th or 22nd moon is outside the right of light, inasmuch as it has risen after the middle of the night at that time of year; and when the darkness overpowers the light, it is sinful, as they say, to celebrate the solemnity of light. Why then do you, so wise -- whose most brilliant lights of sacred genius are indeed diffused throughout the world, as of old -- observe a dark Easter? I marvel, I confess, that this error of Gaul has not, like an obscenity, long since been shaved away by you; unless perhaps -- which I can scarcely believe -- I should think that, since it is established it has not been corrected by you, it has been approved by you. Yet otherwise and more honorably can your skill be excused, if perhaps, fearing to incur the mark of Hermagorean novelty, you are content with the authority of your predecessors and especially of Pope Leo. Do not, I beg you, in such a question trust only to humility or gravity, which are often deceived. Better perhaps is a living dog than a dead lion in this problem (Ecclesiastes 9:4). For a living saint can correct what has not been corrected by another greater one [perhaps "have not been corrected"]. For you should know that by our masters and the ancient Irish, philosophers and most wise reckoners of computation, Victorius was not received, but was held rather worthy of laughter or of pardon than of authority. Therefore to me, a timid pilgrim, rather than a know-it-all, direct the support of your judgment, and do not disdain to send promptly the verdict of your kindness, to allay this tempest surrounding us; because, after so many authors whom I have read, this one opinion of those bishops does not satisfy me, who say only: We ought not to keep Easter with the Jews. Bishop Victor too said this long ago, but no Eastern accepted his invention; [...] but lulled by this, the thorn of Dagon, he imbibed this swelling of error. Of what sort, I ask, is this frivolous and so unpolished opinion, supported by no testimonies of divine Scripture: We ought not to keep Easter with the Jews? What does it have to do with the matter? Are the reprobate Jews now to be believed to keep Easter, seeing that they are without a temple, outside Jerusalem, Christ having then been prefigured and crucified by them? Or is the 14th moon to be rightly believed to be theirs as Easter [perhaps "the moon as Easter, or the moon and Easter"]; and is it not rather to be acknowledged to belong to God Himself, the institutor of the Pasch, and to Him alone who purely knows by what mystery the 14th moon was chosen for the transition? Which perhaps may shine forth a little to the wise and to those like you. Those who object to this, though without authority, reproach God as to why He did not in His foreknowledge beforehand guard against the obstinacy of the Jews; so that, if He did not wish us to keep Easter with them, He should have prescribed nine days of unleavened bread in the Law, so that at least the beginning of our solemnity should not exceed the end of theirs. For if Easter is to be celebrated on the 24th or 22nd, from the 14th up to the 22nd nine days will be reckoned; seven, namely, commanded by God, and two added by men. But if it is permitted to men to add anything of themselves to the divine assessment [...] I ask, lest perhaps it seem to be contrary to that sentence of Deuteronomy: Behold, it says, the word which I give to you, neither add to it, nor take away from it (Deuteronomy 4:2). But writing these things more boldly than humbly, I know that the gulf of presumption is very hard for me [...] to be navigated, ignorant [as I am]. For it is neither the place nor the order that anything should be thrown at your great authority as if by way of disputing, and that the Western letters concerning Easter should ridiculously trouble you of me (namely, sitting legitimately on the chair of Peter the apostle and keyholder). But you ought to consider me not so much vile in this matter as the many masters, both dead and living, confirming this same point which I have noted, and as it were to draw yourself along with them [perhaps "believe"]; for know me, faithfully, though by leaps and hyperbolically, to open a babbling mouth. Therefore either excuse or condemn your Victorius, knowing that, if you should praise him, there will be a matter of faith between you and the aforesaid Jerome, who indeed praised Anatolius, contrary to this man; so that whoever has followed the one will not be able to accept the other. Therefore let your vigilance consider, in approving the faith of the two aforesaid authors contrary to one another, that there be no dissonance between you and Jerome in the opinion to be put forward, lest straits be upon us on every side, so that we must consent either to you or to him. Spare in this the weak, lest you show a scandal of diversity. For simply I confess to you that whoever comes against the authority of Saint Jerome will be a heretic and to be rejected among the Churches of the West; for they accommodate to him through all things an undoubted faith in the divine Scriptures. But let these things concerning Easter suffice. For the rest, I ask what you judge concerning those bishops who are ordained against the canons, that is, those whom you, an author, have written of as simoniacs and as pests of Gildas. Are we to have communion with them? For -- what is more grievous -- many in this province [...] are known to be such, or others who, defiled in the diaconate, are afterward chosen for the rank of bishops? For there are men whose consciences in these matters we have come to know; and conferring this with our littleness, they wished to know for certain whether after this they might without peril [something is lacking to complete the sense, perhaps "minister"], that is, either after a rank bought with coin, or after adultery in the diaconate, hidden -- yet I say with clandestine adulteries -- which among our masters is judged to be of no lesser crime. In the third place of questioning, answer still, I beg, if it is not troublesome, what is to be done concerning those monks who, kindled for the sake of regarding God and for the desire of a more perfect life, coming against their vows, abandon the places of their first conversion, and, against the will of their abbots, by the urging of monastic fervor, are either relaxed or flee to the deserts. Vennianus the author questioned Gildas about these matters, and he replied to him most elegantly; but nevertheless to one eager for learning a greater fear ever increases. More humbly and more purely all these things, and many more [the manuscript: "more beautiful"] which the brevity of a letter does not admit, should have been asked through my presence, were it not that infirmity of body, and care for my fellow-pilgrims, hold me bound at home [something is lacking here; perhaps "hold me, desirous"] from going to you, so that I might draw that spiritual vein of the living fountain and the living wave of knowledge flowing from heaven and leaping up into eternal life [perhaps "that I might be able"]. And if the body would follow the mind, Rome would again support the burden of its own neglect; so that, just as -- with the learned Jerome narrating, as we read -- we read that certain men once came to Rome from the farthest bounds of [...], and, marvelous to say, sought something further outside Rome, so I too now would seek you, not desiring Rome, with all reverence for the ashes of the saints; for although I confess that I am not wise, but thirsting, I would do this same thing if there were leisure [the manuscript: "but for leisure"]. I have read your book containing the rule of pastoral care, brief in style, copious in doctrine, filled with mysteries, and I confess it to be a work sweeter than honey to one in need; therefore bestow upon me, I pray, thirsting for you, those minor works which you have [...] expounded on Ezekiel with wondrous genius, as I have heard. I have read your six books on Jerome [or: six books of Jerome]; but he did not expound even the middle. But if you deign, transmit to us something of your works that you left behind in the city, namely the last expositions of the book, transmit them, and the Song of Songs from that place (Canticles 4:6) in which it says....."I will go to the mountain of myrrh and the hill of frankincense" [not in the manuscript] up to the end; either of others or your own brief one, I beg, treated with sentences; and that you may expound the whole obscurity of Zechariah, lay open what is hidden, so that the West, blind in these matters, may give you thanks. I demand importunate things and inquire after great ones; who would not know it? But you too, having great things [perhaps "you have, you who"], because you know well that of a little a smaller, and of much a greater, is to be lent. Let charity persuade you to write back, let the roughness of the paper not hinder you from expounding, because the era was in error, and honor owed [...] was mine to provoke, to question, to ask; yours, if it be freely received, not to deny, to lend the talent, to give the bread of doctrine to one who asks of you, at Christ's command. Peace to you and yours; pardon, I beg, my boldness that I have written thus daringly, blessed pope; and I pray that for me, a most worthless sinner, you may pray even once in your holy prayers to our common Lord. It is most superfluous [...] I think to commend my own people to you, whom the Savior, as walking in His name, has decreed are to be received; and if, as I have heard from your holy Candidus, you should wish to reply this, that things strengthened by the antiquity of time cannot be changed, it is manifestly an ancient error; but the truth which reproves it is always more ancient.

AD CONSTANTIUM MEDIOLANENSEM EPISCOPUN. Ne Philagrium, aut ab Ecclesi& su@ hominibus, uut a collect exactoribus, aut a Dertonensi episcopo, in- jute gravari patialur. Gregorius Conslanlio episcopo Mediolanensi. pragravelur. Quod si ita est, denuo ab eo per quem libet exigi vestra 8anclitas non permittai, quia enm quem czcitas $ua gravat, inhumanum pnimis est in collatione aſſligere, cui si ess8et magna necessitas, debuit ex collatione migereri. Quia vero ab Eecclesia 4 Dertonensi puerum $aum injuste queritur detineri, ſralernitas tua predicte civilatis episcopocuret sCribe- Ie, ut si ita es1, Sine aliqua illum contemiione reslituat. Qui si aliter esse forte responderit, aut apud vos, aut apud arbilros causa hac cognoscenda Sine excusatione est aliqua ſacienda, Nam idem Philagrius puellam 8vam cum filiis et nepolibus, de qua, ut ait, nulla est quz- $tj0, eumdem puerum Suum nomine Maurum mari- lum $S4um Seculam innowit. Ex qua re actum est of Licet multum fralernilatem veslram ad 8ervandam yy per eum de quo est conlentio, etiam alii de quibes Sibi juslitiam Philagrii portitoris presentium flagel- lum czcitalis invitet, verumiamen LQZH quia ad Fersr. CXXY [Al. 130]. — * In omnibus Norm. : Nullins unquam ſaciem contra verilatem respiciens, nullins unquam ſaciem pro veritate loquentem pre- Mens. Colb., ete., quod retinuerunt vet. Editores. At re- centiores maluerunt benevalentibus, ut infirmis 0ppo- nerenat. | 4 jrrepsit in Excus0s qui, ante quinquennio; quod expunximus, lum quia Sensum turbabat, tum quia a . Excusi, simul gaadia; a qua lecitione recedere nulla es quezsiio leneantur. Quod $i veritale $ub- Sislit, puella jlli cum fliis et nepotibus LOSE £inc cogunt Mss. pene omnes. Eeisr, CX XVI [Al. $34]. — © Colbert. et Rhem., trrationabiliter ablaia non reslitni. © Excusi, nullius impedimento averlatur, scd. % Deriona Ptolemzo Seprove, Straboni SepSov, ubi 6 pro x librarjorum vitio irrepsit; nam apud Stepha- num ejus epitomatorem legitur S:orov n9yGS Arvpor. Hac urbs, que hodie Tortona, sita est inter Ticinuw et Genuam, episcopalis sub archiepiscopo Mediola- Densi. GUSSANY. | w—_— ES "Roe Te ”Wow eu Mm 4061 EPISTOLARUM LIB. IX. — INDICT. HJ. — EPIST. CXXVII. aliqua altercatione reddenda est; et tune de supra- A esse Pascha, nimirum tenebrosum a mulltis compro»- zeripto Mauro questone ventilats, quod ratio snase- jt terminetur. Quod si forte et de uxore ipsius ati- qua-dicitur esse contentfo, et hoc quoque ita infer- ventu judicii finiatur, ut vobis illic preentibus ad nos de memoratis eausis denuo predictus portitor necessitatem remeandi non habeat. (Ex actis et opusculis sancti Columbani, ac aliorum $an- corum yeteris Scotie et Hibernie, primum editis a P. Flemingo Franciscano an, 1667.) In celebratione Pasche, rejecto Victorii eyclo, Scoto- rum morem sequendum, oui Anatolius ab Hieronymo laudatus ſavit. De episcopis per simoniam ordinatis, au! pos! lapsum lempore diaconatus ; ac de monachis monasteria sua deserentibus consulit sanclum Grego- rium, quem videre summopere cupit. Laudat ejus Pastoralem librum, petitque expositiones in Ezechie- lem et in Cantica. ; Domino 8ancto, et in Christo Patri [Forte mendo librario omissum pap#] Romano, pulci@rrimo Eccle- s* decort, totius Europe flaccentis augustissimo quas} cvidam flori, egregio speculatori, theoria ut- pote divina castulitatis [ta ms.] potito, Ego > Bargo- ma [Sic ms. | vilis columba in Christo mitto salutem. * Gratia [Gratias in Ms.] tibi et pax a Deo Patre nostro Jesu Chrigto. [ Magna hic labes, prout in Ms. expressa| Libet me, 0 sancte pap?, hyperbolicum te- cum non 8it interrogandum de Pascha, jaxta illud Canticum : Interroga patrem tuum, et annuntiabil ti- hi; majores !u0s, et dicent tibi (Denteron. xxxn, 7). Licet enim mihi, nimiram - © micrologo, illud cojus- dam egregium Sapientis eloginm, quod dixisse fertur, quamdam [In Ms. quemdam] videns contupictam [Forte eomptem pictam] : Non admiror artem, zed ad- miror ſron/em, ad te clarum a me vili scribendo po- lest inuri; tamen tux evangelice humilitatis fiducia fretus, libi scribere prxsumo, et mei doloris nego- tum injungo. Vanitas namque Scribendi nulla est, udi necessitas cogit, quamvis majoribus, scribi. Quid 4 ergo dicis de Pascha 44 ant 22 lanz quod jom ( tua [tui in Ms.] tamen pace dictum 8it) non Eeist. CXXVIL — * Epistolarum a 8e ad 8an- cum Gregorium scriplarum meminit sanctus Co- lumbanus, epist. 1 et 2. His respondisse- $anctium pontificem $cribit auctor Vitze S. Sal>berge peranti- quus. Queritur tamen Columbanus, epist. 4, Sata- nam Semel et bis impedivisse quominus epistole sue ad sanctissimum .pap3m pervenirent. At forle cum dnas priores non :ccepisset $8anctus Gregorius, ter- liam ſelicius delatam $ibi legerat, cui postea respon= Sum dedit ; elsi inter epistolas Gregorianas nulla ex- Siet ad Columbanum, Ad annum vero' 599 saltem re- ſerendam censemus hanc epistolam, quod ipsius me- minerit Columbanus in epist. ad Gallieanos episco= pos, ejus causa congregaios anno sequenti. Porro nolz ascriplz ad margiuen sunt R. P. Flemingi Mi- noritz, qui primus hanc epistolam typis mandavit; ipsis adjecimus nostras in columnarum calce. ; modo palumbum vocat. Columbanus velut diminu- - livum pro pullo columbarum sumi potest, hc est, pro columbeae filio. Plurimis mendis scatet hc episto- la, quibus mederi arduum. © Eodem litulo gaudet epist. 4 ad Boniſacium IV. batur * calealenteris? Non latet enim, ut credo, effi- caciam wam, quantum Anatolins, mire doetrine vir, ut sanctes ait Hieronymus, cujus Lusebius Cenarien- sis episcopus in Eeclesiagtica excerpla ingeruit Hig- toria, et sanctus Hieronymns in- guo hoe idem de Pascha opus collaudavit catalogo, de hac lune tate vituperando disputet ; qui contra Gallicanos f Rima- rios, de Pascha, ut ait, LOST errantes, horrendam jntwlit sententiam , dicens : Certe [Ms. Certe, in- quiens], si nque ad duarum vigitiarnm terminum, quod noctis medium indicat, ortus lun tardaverit, non lux tenebras sed lucem tenebre superant ; quod certum es! in Pascha non esse probabile, ut aliqua pars tene- brarum luci dominetur, quia solemnitas dominice Re- B 8urrectionis lux es, et non es! communicatio luci cum tenebris. Et si in tertia vigilia luna excanduerit, non est dubium lunam 24 vel 22 exortam exze, in qua verum Pascha non est possibile immolari. Nam qui hac {une etate Pazcha definiunt possibile celebrari , non 80/um illud auctoritate divine Scripture affirmare non poszunt , ed et sacrilegii et contumacie crimen et animarum periculum incurrunt ; dum affirmant veram lucem posse immolari cum aliqua dominatione tene- brarum, que omnibus tenebris dominatur. Necnon in sancti dogmatis legimus libro : Pascha, id est 80- lemnitas dominice Resurrectionis ante fransgressum vernalis equinoctii 16 initium non potest celebrari, ut scilicet equinoctium- non antecedat ; quod utique E Vi- ctorius in $0 transgressus est cyclo, et per hoc Gal- lie jamdudum invexit errorem, seu, ut humilius dicam, confirmavit inolitum. Quippe qua ratione utraque 8tare possunt, ut scilicet Resurrectio Domini ante s8nam celebretur passionem , quod vel putari absurdum est; aut septem dies Domini jussione in lege sanciti, in quibns tantum legitime Phase Domini comedi mandatum est (qui a 44 luna usque ad 2) numerandi $unt), contra jus fasque transcendantur ? Luna enim 24 ant 22 extra jus lucis est, utpote post medium noclis tune lemporis exorta; et tenebris lu- 4 In hoe dissentiehant Scoti a czteris in Pasche celebratione, quod lunz 14 die in Dominicam in- cidente, hanc ipsam diem pro Paschate celebrarent, ne cum aliis ad Dominicam sequentem, solemnitatis hujus celebrationem differendo, tempus Pasche ter- minosque prelergrederentur. * Forsan, calculatoribus , aut calcenteris. Hoc ul- timo cognomine designatus Origenes ab Hieronymo in una epist. ad Marcetlam ; sic prins appellatus est etiam Didymus Alex. Gram. xanxevrepog. Uierque ob multitudinem librorum ab ipsis editorum. { Forte s$ic dictos, quod obscura et difficilia rima - rentar. Paschate cauones, quos eliam evulgavyit Bucherius. | 4063 SANCTI GREGORII MAGNI cem superantibus, lucis solemnitas nefas est, ut A cet bominibus augere per se aliquid divinz cen- ajunt, agi. Quare ergo tu tam sapiens, nimirum cujus clarissima per orbem, ut anliquitus, $acri ingenii diffusa sunt lumina, Pascha tenebrosunr colis ? Miror, ſateor, a le hunc Galliz errorem, ac si Schynteneum, jam diu non ſuisse rasum,; nisi ſorte puitem quod vix credere possum , dum eur conslat a te non ſuisse emendatum, apud te esse probatum. Aliter tamen et honestius tua excusari polest peritia, dum ſorte notam subire times | Forle, timens|] Hermago- rice novilatis, antecessorum el maxime pape Leo- nis aucloritate conlentus es. Noli te, quzso, in lali quzstione humilitati tantum aut gravitali credere, quz szpe ſalluntur. Melior forte est canis vivus in hoc problemate leone mortuo (Eccle. 1x, 4). Vivus namque Sure, interrogo, ne forte videatur contrarium esse illi Deuteronomii $senlentie : Ecce, inquit, verbum quod tibi do, neque adjicias ad illud, neque auſeras ab eo (Deut. 1v, 2). Sed hac magis procaciter quam humiliter scribens, scio euripum presumplio- nis diflicillime mihi nexisse | Forte, nexuisse |, ena- vigandum ſore irogus | Forte , ignorans ]. Nec loei namque nec ordinis est ut magnz tuz auctorilali ali- quid quasi diseutiendo irrogetur, et ridiculose te mei ( nimirum Petri cathedram apostoli et clavicularii legitime insidentem) Occidentales apices de Pascha sollicitent, Sed tu non tam [tam deest in Ms. me vilem in hac re quam multos et defunctos et viren- tes haxc eamdem quz nolavi firmantes magislros con- Sanctus emendare potest, quie ab altero majore B s$iderare debes, et quasi cum eis te trahere collo- emendala non fucrint | Forte, ſuerunt|. Scias namque noslris magis(ris et Hibernicis antiquis, philosophis el sapienlissimis componendi calculi compulariis , Victorium non ſuisse receplum, sed magis risu vel yenia dignur, quam auctorilate. Idcirco mihi timido peregrino, magis quam sciolo, tuz dirige ſulcrum $en- lentize, et mature [Ms. habet matura |] punctum tur placabilitatis huic tempeslati nos circumdanti com- pezcende transmittere non dedigneris; quia non mihi- satisſacit post tantos quos legi auctores una istorum $sententia episcoporum dicentium tantum : Cum Judeis -Pascha facere | Deest lacere hic in Ms.] non debemus. Dixit hoc olim et Victor episcopus, sed nemo Orientalium suum recepit commentum; LQZS ed hoc soporans spina Dagonis, hoc imbibit bubum erroris. Qualis, rogo, hc ſrivola et tam impolita, nullis scilicet divine Scripture ſulla teslimoniis gententlia : Cum Judais Pascha ſacere non debenus ? Quid ad rem pertinet [Ys. pertinent]? Nunquid Ju- ei reprobi Pascha facere credendi sunt nunc, utpote sine lemplo, extra Jerusalem, Christo tunc ſigurato, ab iis cruciſixo? Aut, nunquid ipsorum esse recte credendum est 14 luna e Pascha | Forte, lunz Pascha, aut luna et Pascha]; et non potius Dei ipsius instituentis Phase esse fatendum est, $scien- tisque solius ad purum quo mysterio 14 Juna ad lranscensum electa est? Quod ſorle $sapientibus et tui similibus aliquantulum preluceat. Qui [Quo in Ms.] hoc opponunl, licet sine auctoritate, Deo im- properent quare non $ua prescientia antea tunc precaverit Judzorum contumaciam ; ut si nollet nos cum eis Pascha facere, novem dies azymorum in lege preciperet, ut vel nostre solemnitatis initium finem eolemnitatis eorum non excederel? Nam si 24 aut 22 Pascha celebrandum, a 44 usque ad 22 no- vem dies compulabuntur; septem - scilicet a Deo praecepti , et duo ab hominibus aucti. Sed si li- bk Ita emendandum duximus, cum prius exstaret : ques!u Simoniacis (ubi in margine notatur haberi in Ms. Simoniacos) et Giltos auctor, etc. Gildas is esse videtur coguomento sapiens qui scripsit de excidio Britannizz et de ecclesiastici ordinis casligatione. liem infra_indica'ur : auctor Giltam de his interro- gavit, De gacris ordinjibus simoniace tuuc collatis in yn _ 4 quium | Mendo kic repetitum , te] crede; pie namque me $Ccito, licet $saltuatim et hyperbolice, chilosum 08 aperire. Tuum itaque aut excusa aut damna Viclo- rium, $SCiens, $i illum laudaveris, inter te el supra- dictum Hieronymem fidei futurum fore negotium, qui nimirum Anatolium laudavit, huic contrarium; ita ut qui unum secutus ſuerit, alterum recipere non poterit. Tua itaque consideret vigilantia ut in lide duorum auctorum supradictorum 8ibi invicem contrariorum probanda nulla sit inter te et Hierony- mum in $ententia promenda dissonantia, ne nobis undique 8int anguslize, ut aut tibi, aut illi consentie- mus. Parce in hoc inſfirmis, ne scandalum diversitt tis ostendas. Simpliciter enim ego libi conſiteor C quod contra sancti Hieronymi auctoritatem veniens, apud Occidentis Ecclesias hereticus seu respuendus erit ; ili enim per omnia indubitatam in Scripturis divinis accommodant fidem. Sed hzc de Pascha suſſi- ciant. ? Czterum de episcopis illis quid judicas interrogo, qui contra canones ordinantur, id est > quos tu Si- moniacos et Giltas auctor pestes $scripsistis. Nunquid cum illis communicandum est? Quia, quod gravius est, multi in hac provincia LQNY tales esse no- Scuntur, aut de aliis qui, in Diaconatu violati, posiea ad episcoporum gradum eliguntur [| Ms. gradare le- guntur]? Sunt enim quorum in his novimus con- scientias ; et cum nostra parvilale id conſerenles, cerlum 8cire volebant si sine periculo post hoe D [Deext aliquid quod sensum compleat, forle, ministia- Tre ] possint, id est aut post gradum s$olidis emplum, aut post in diaconatu adulterium, absconsum (a- men dico cum i clientelis adulterium, quod apud nostros magistros non Mminoris censetur esse faci- noris. Tertio interrogationis loco responde adhuc, quzs0, si non molestum est, quid faciendum est de mona- Gallia conqueritur sanctus Gregorius pene in omni- bus epistolis quas aut ad Gallicanos episcopos, 3vt ad Francorum reges scripsit,; vide epist. 106, 169, 110, hujus libri. hw. , BBA TT PEST YT 2 © chis illis qui, pro Dei intuitu et vite perſectioris A Legi Hieronymi $ex in illum libros; 8ed nee medium desiderio accensi, contra vota venienles, prime conversionis loca relinquunt, et, invitis abbatibus, ſervore monachorum cogente, aut Jaxaniur, aut ad deserla ſugiunt. Vennianus anctor Giltam de his inler- rogavit, et elegantissime illi rescripsit; sed tamen discendi studioso | Ms., studio| semper major metus accrescit. Humilius et purius hc omnia et multo plura [Ms., pulchra |, quz epistolaris brevitas non admittit, per prasentiam interroganda erant, nisi corporis infirmilas, et meorum cura comperegrino- rum domi me vinctum | Deest hic aliquid; ſorte , 1e- neret cupidum] ad te eundi, ut illam S$piritualem vivi ſontis venam vivamque undam scientiz c@- litus Nuentis ac in #ternam vilam $alientis haurire [Dees! ſorte possem |. Et si animum corpus $eque- retur, Roma Sui iterum rem suslineret contemplus ; ut quomodo , docto narrante * Hieronymo, legimus quosdam de ultimis Heulini liitoris, finibus olim venisse Romam, in [Forte, dein], et mirum dictu , akud extra Romam quzsisse , ita et ego nune le, non Romam desiderans, salva sanclorum reverentia cinerum, expeterem ; licet enim non me $apientem, sed esse sitientem fateor, hoc iden facerem $i va- caret | Ms., sed vacare ]. 1040 Legi librum twum Pastorale regimen conti- neutem, Stylo brevem , doctrina prolixum, mysleriis reſertum, melle dulcius egenti opus esse ſateor ; mihi idcirco tua Sitienti largire, precor, opuscula quz in B tus cordi est a me tibi dari; exposuit. Sed si dignaris, aliqua nobis de tuis trans- mille relictis' in civitatem, extrema scilicet libri exposita {ransmilte, | et Cantica canticorum ab illo loco ( Cantic, 1v, 6) in quo dicit..... Ibo ad montem murrhe ct collem thuris [Non est in Ms.] usque in ſinem; aut aliorum aut luis brevis, deposco, tracta sen- tenliis; et ut totam exponas obscuritatem Zachariz, absconsam propala, ut libi Occidentalis in his gra- tias agat c#citas. Importuna postulo et magna 8cisci- tor; quis nesciat ? Sed et tu magna habens (Forte, habes, qui], quia de parvo minus, et de multo plus bene scis esse fenerandum. Resecribere te per- Suadeat . charitas, exponere non impediat chartz asperitas, quia #ra in errorem ſuit, et honor debi- | menm fuit provocare, interrogare, rogare; tuum, $i | Forte, $ibi] gratis ac- cepla non negare, lalenium fenerari, petenti te pa- nem doctrinz, Christo przcipiente, dare. Pax tibi, tuisque; mez indulge quod sic audacter scripsi , rogo , Procacitati, beale papa; et oro ut pro me vilissimo peccatore vel semel in luis sanctis oratio- nibus ad communem Dominum ores. Persuperfluum | Puto commendari Llibi meos, quos Salvator, quasi ia $u0 nomine ambulantes, recipiendos esse de- cernit; et i, ut audivi a sanclo ® Candido two, hoe respondere v0:ueris , lempor.s antiquitate roborata mulari non posse , maniſeste antiquus error est ; £8 PTYE sed semper antiquior est veritas guy illum -__ hendit. | Hune Gregorii commentariain genuinum exhi- buimus, et asseruimus sanclo D»ctori, contra nu- perrimos criticos, qui tum hocce Columbani testimo- nio, tum plurimis aliis 8alis reſ-Iluntur. Ezechielem miro, ut audivi , elaborasti ingenio. & In epistola 103, ad Paulinum, ubi quam celebris C apud gentes remotissimas Titus Livius exslilerit, $2nctus Doctor commemorat. Porro, loco Heulini, ege legondum FHualini, vel Huelini, "constat ex con- lexlu lheronymiano, Ext VOL Grzea, a rad. Uako;, Sive eos, Vi-rum, cryslallus. Sic mare yocatur Apv- Cal. Iv 06a)aoo« vaulivn, mare vilreum, id est cry- Slallinum, caruleunr. In Hieronymo hic legimus : ultimis Hispanie Galliarum|jue finibus. patrimonium $sancius Gregorius mi>it 1n Gallias, et Brunichildi ac. Chi.deberto regi commendavit episLo- lis 5 ac 6 lib. v1. In epist. 7 $equenti appellatur presbyier. y_ * — ——— I—_