Letter 9128: The estate property belonging to the Roman church that has been designated for the management of guardianships...

[The source field begins with the tail end of a preceding letter (IX, 127), concerning a defensor and the coloni of a church estate.] ...[Petrus?], whom we have made defensor [legal advocate], because he is said to have originated from an estate belonging to the rights of our church which is called Lutelae [estate name], is well known to your Experience [the official addressed]. And therefore, since we ought to be kindly disposed toward him in such a way that nevertheless the advantage of the church is not harmed, we charge you by this instruction that you should admonish him strictly not to presume to join his sons in marriage by any device or pretext to anyone outside, anywhere abroad, but that they be joined within that same estate to which by law and by their condition they are bound. In this matter it is also altogether necessary that your Experience be vigilant, and that they be deterred, so that on no occasion whatever ought they to depart from the possession to which by their origin they are subject. For if any of them should presume to depart from it - which we do not believe - let it be certain to him that our consent will never be present, that they should either dwell or be joined in marriage outside the estate in which they were born, but [only] upon their above-written land. And then you should know that you will incur no light peril, if, through your negligence, any of them should by any chance attempt to do any of those things which we have forbidden. [There follow the editorial notes and variant readings of the manuscripts (apparatus criticus) for IX, 128 and IX, 127, and a cross-reference indicating this letter was written jointly to Stephanus and Venerius, and possibly to the remaining bishops of Bruttium - editorial matter, not part of the letter text. A page-scan watermark and garbled running headers and edition sigla also intervene.] [Register heading for IX, 128:] Pope Gregory I instructs the subdeacon Sarinus to investigate, together with Bishop Stephanus (of Reggio?), [and the bishops] Paulinus (of Taormina), Proculus (of Nicotera), Palumbus (of Cosenza), Venerius (of Vibo), and Marcianus (of Locri), the case concerning the clergy of Reggio and Bishop Bonifatius. April 599. [Manuscript and edition sigla follow - editorial matter.] GREGORY TO SARINUS, SUBDEACON. The clergy of the church of Reggio, complaining in a petition presented to us, have made many charges against our most reverend brother Bonifatius, their bishop, requesting that we ought to have granted them license to come [here], so that those very cases might be examined here in detail. But since we have for the present not foreseen bringing our aforesaid brother here in this manner, it has seemed best to us to assign the case to be investigated there. And therefore, in the presence of the holy Gospels, let your Experience, together with our most reverend brothers and fellow bishops Paulinus, Proculus, Palumbus, or [and] Venerius and Marcianus, without respect for any person, examine with all fairness and care both the complaint of the clergy, which, as we have said, they hold against their bishop, and also whatever he himself may perchance have against them; and whatever you shall in truth have learned, signify it to us, together with our aforesaid brothers, in detail and diligently, so that, being made more certain by the report of your Experience [pl.], we may decide what ought to be done.

i etruB*. quem defensorem fecimus. quia de massa iuris eccleBiac nostrae quac lutelas" dicitur oriunduH ait', cxperiontiae tuac bene cHt cognitum. Et ideo quia ita ciroa eum benigni debemus oxisterc, ut tamcn eeclesiae utilitas uon laedatur. hac tibi praeceptione mandamus, ut oum ntricto debeae commonere, ne filios suos quolibef ingenio vel excusatione foris alicubi in coniugio sociare pracaumat, sed in ea masaa, qua lcge cx" condicione ligati' sunt, socientur '. In qua re» etiam et'' tuam omnino □ecease est experientiam esse soUicitam atque eos terreri, ut qualibet occaaione de poasessione, cui oriundo' subiecti sunt, exire non debeant. Nam si quis eorum exinde, quod non credimus, exire praesumpserit, certum itti sit, quia noeter numquam concesBUB aderit, ut foris de maatia, in qua nati sunt, aut habitare aut debeant sociari, sed^ Buper scripta terra eorum. Atquc tunc Bciatis vos oon leve periculum' BUstitiere, si vobis neglegentibus quisquam ipsorum quicquam de hie quao prohibuimus facere qua- libet sorte temptaverit. IX, 128. ») Pelrura codd. n. ^] Ulela» C3. tj oia. eit C 1. 2. ^) quixllibel C3. •) ez CJ.3; et, ut videtur, Cl. l) legati eodd. n. 8) ne CI; rem C2. 3. ") ei C3. •} uriuude C I. '') et add. codd. n.; nifi de cotn. iHommttn. ') periculo eodd. n. IX, 127. Cf. tp. j/raeeaitntt». — De SUphatto ipiscopo cf. tp. XIII, 21 et IX, 129 n. 6. t) Ve- nerio, ep. Viboneim, cum aliiH epiacopis BruttioTum ep. IX, 1S4 et cam Stepftano ep. XIII, 21 tnwM ett. — Ex hoe addendo inttUtgimuii hanc tp. a paribiu ecriplam enet Stephano d Venerio; an etiam celeris Bruttiorum epitoopi»? yGoogle ISWCTIO n. FKBR.-AFR. ,a, «1. la- - APR (IX. 1», 1»', UENSE APRIU INDlCnOXE IL IX, 1». Gregorims I. papa Sarino snbdiacomo wtamJat, mt mma aam I^tmUmo (Tmmrimmemsi), Procmla ( Ifitoteremsi), PaUambo (Comsemtimo), Vemerio (Yibomemsi}, Mmrriamt* (Ixicrrmsi) epiaojpis de deri Regiemsis et Bomifatii rpiscopi lile cogmoscat. '»99, Apr. QM. fi et f: Imdiah L 11 tmp. 73: C: emp. M. EM. M: IJh.IX.^ 47: G: Lib. VIL itd. IL tf. 49. - Stgi Sif. mi (t307K GREGORa*3 SATINO 8UBDUC0S0. ilenis* ecclesiae Regitanite multa contra* revereDtis»mum fratrem nustnun Boni- fatium* episcopnm Buom * data nobis petitioae couqnestus est peteas. ul »i nos de- bniBset habere veniendi Ucentiam. quatenus causae ipsae hic suptiliter probarentur. 3ed quia no6 interim praedictum fratrem nostrum hic*' modo non praevidimuB dedueen- dom, visum nobis est illic deputare causam eadem* cognosccndam. Et ideo mediis sacrosanctiB evangeliis experientia tua una cum Pauiino*. Proculo^, Palumbo* vel Ve- nerio* atque Marciano* reverentissiims fratribus coepiscopisque nostris ^ne cuiusquani pereonae respectu tam clericorura querellara. quam adversus suum, sirut diximus. habet^ episcopum, vel si quant forte illc contra cos* habuerit. cum omni aequitato ar soUicitudine perscnitetur ct, quicquid in veritate cognovcrit, nobis una cum praedJrtis fratribns^ nostris suptiliter diligcnterque signiGcot. ut renuntiatiuno cxperientiao vcstrae' reddili certiorcs, quid fieri dcbcat, decomainus.