Letter 242: Part of the papal correspondence surrounding the Acacian Schism (484-519), the major breach between Rome and...

Of Pope Hormisdas, to Salustius, bishop of Hispalis [Seville]. (Year 521, in the month of April.) Concerning the deputed vicariate over the provinces of Baetica and Lusitania. To our most beloved brother Salustius, Hormisdas. 1. Receiving with the full and longed-for rejoicing of your brotherhood the discourses by which the report of your twofold well-being gladdened us, your bodily soundness being upheld together with your spiritual duties, we have perceived that it is fitting to open up in words this very gladness which we bear in our mind. For you have shown the proofs of a good pontiff, since you both proclaim what is good and do not delay to urge it. We have taken a prerogative of judgment from our own choice, since we have learned that you have done of your own accord that which we command to the rest. We pray indeed that all may acknowledge the divine benefits, and with this zeal for the peace of the Church we have transmitted to you the instruments. You have both grasped our wishes with a faithful understanding, and at once fulfilled them with the devotion of duty, making known to all the brethren those things which, through heavenly grace, you had recognized would be of profit to all. Therefore, since so many merits of pious solicitude and labor support you, it surely already gives pleasure to enjoin those things which are agreed to pertain to the care of our office: namely, that to provinces separated by so great a distance you may be able both to present our person, and to bring guardianship to the rules of the fathers. And so by the present authority we commit our vicariate over the provinces of Baetica and Lusitania, saving the privileges which antiquity decreed to the metropolitan bishops, increasing your dignity by participation in this ministry, relieving our watches by the remedy of the same dispensation. And although you have no need to be instructed concerning each matter, since we have already proved that all things are most carefully observed by you, yet it is wont to be more pleasing if the path is shown to those who are to set out, and the form of the enjoined work is displayed to those who are to labor. 2. Therefore we command that the paternal rules and the decrees defined by the holy councils be observed by all. In these we point out your vigilance, in these your care by the admonition of brotherly exhortation. When these are kept with the reverence which is fitting, the barrier of holy observance leaves no place for fault. There what is right and what is wrong has been prescribed; there is the forbidden, to which let no one dare to aspire; there is the granted, what a mind that would please God ought to presume. As often as the cause of religion demands a universal council, let all the brethren convene at your summons; and if the intention of a special business presses upon any of them, restrain the quarrels arisen among them, settling the disputes by determining them according to the sacred laws. But whatever you shall there enjoin for the faith and the ancient ordinances, whether you shall prescribe it by provident arrangement or confirm it by the authority of our person, let the whole come to our knowledge by the attestation of an instructed report. By this it will come about that both our mind may enjoy the affection of the duty given, and yours the security of what is received. May God keep you in safety, dearest brother!

Hormisdae papae ad Salastiam Hispalensem episcopom. (a.52i m. April.) !1. De commissa vice per Baeticam el Lusitanutm provincias. Dilectissimo fratri Salustio Hormisda. 1. Suscipientes plena fraternitatis tuae votiva gratulatione col- loquia^ quibus^) nos geminae salutis tuae laetificavit indicium^ cor- porali cum spiritualibus officiis ineolumitate subnixum, congruum esse perspeximus, hanc ipsam, quam mente gerimus, verbis aperire laetitiam. Edidisti enim boni documenta pontificis, dum et praedi- causam ThessaloDiccnBium nec Epiphanio ncdum ipsius legatis committendam, sed sibi servandam putavit, utpote apud quos apostolicae sedis legatus caesus indigne fuerat. -^) Ita c' c* cum mss. favente graeco. At a' b seq. justa aestimatione. ^') Ita G' a* b. At graec. ita claudit: Et alia manu. Dens ie sanum custodiat frater venerabilis. J 0 c' i* utrumque omittunt. 142 ') Ita J i*. At t;' seq. quae nos ... laetificaverunt indicio, siquidem retulerunt te corporali. Mox ed. (praeter i^) gerimus expedire laetitiam, J* verbis experire. 62* (a. 521.) canda facis, et ea suadere iioii differs. Praerogativam de nostri sumpsimus electione judicii, quando id te^) operatum spont-e didici- mus, quod ceteris imperamus. Oramus siquidem divina'^) beneficia cunctos agnoscere, et hoc ad te studio ecclesiasticae pacis instrumenta transmisimus. Tu vota nostra et fideli intelligentia percepisti, et officii protinus devotione complesti, cunctis fratribus innotescens, quae per coelestem gratiam cunctis profutura cognoveras. Suffra- gantibus igitur tibi tot meritis piae sollicitudinis et laboris, certe jam delectat injungere, quae ad nostri curam constat officii pertinere: ut provinciis tanta longinquitate disjunctis et nostram possis exhi- bere personam, et patrum regulis adhibere custodiam. Vices itaque nostras per Baeticam Lusitaniamque *) provincias, salvis privilegiis quae metropolitanis episcopis decrevit antiquitas, praesenti auctori- tate committimus, augentes tuam hujus participatione ministerii dignitatem, relevantes nostras ejusdem remedio dispensationis excii- bias. Et licet de singulis non indigeas edoceri, a^) quo jani pn)- bavimus cautius universa servari, gratius tamen esse solet, si^) ituris trames ostenditur, et laboraturis injuncti operis forma monstratur. 2. Patemas igitur regulas et decreta a sanctis definitn coneiliis ab omnibus servanda mandamus. In his vigilantiam tuam, in his curam fraternae monitu exhortationis ostendimus. His ea, qua di- gnum est, reverentia custoditis nullum relinquit culpae locuin sanctae') observationis obstaculum. Ibi fas nefasque praescriptuui est, ibi prohibitum, ad quod nuUus audeat adspirare, ibi concessuni. quid debeat mens Deo placitura praesumere. Quoties universum'') poscit religionis causa concilium, te cuncti fratres evocante eonve- niant: et si quos eorum specialis negotii pulsat intentio^), jurgia inter eos oborta compesce, discussa sacris legibus determinando cer- tamina. Quidquid autem illic*") pro fide et veteribus constitutis vel ') Ita J i*. Al. ed. te sponle amplecU^ 0' te spontc operari, J* te sponte di dicimus; corriguntur ex probae notae mss. ^ r, quibus vulgata ad s. Remigium cpistola suffragatur. •') Ita plures mss. J i'. J* cc qucm jam ... scrvare. ") J* CC .VI itcrum trames ostenditur et lahoris (J* lahoratoris) injunctio SHperiux /ormata monsiratur. Emendantur ex p V .V i"^, favente epist. ad Remig. *•) cc et plures mss. (etiam J^) universalis poscit religionis causa ad concitiHm Laudatos sequimur p FJ' i^, epistola ad Remig. eis conscntiente. '") Sic i* ciim melioribus mss. (etiani J'). Al. (etiam 5* cc) iltis, et infra formabis pro firmabis. EPISTOLAE 142. 143. 981 provida dispositione praecipies vel personae nostrae auctoritate fii*- (a. 521.) mabis, totum ad scieiitiam nostram instructae relationis attestatione perveniat. Eo**) fiet, ut et noster animus officii caritate dati et tuus securitate perfruatur accepti. Deus te incolumem custodiat, frater carissime!