Letter 27: To my venerable and ever-dear brother Severus,

Paulinus to Severus, his brother of one mind, venerable and ever most longed for. I will bless the Lord at all times, and I will not forget his rewards, for he has not repaid us according to our sins, he who satisfies our longing with constant and abundant consolations drawn from your singleness of mind; for within a few days the return to us of the holy brothers and our common companions of one mind, Postumianus and Theridius, was followed by the arrival of other brothers, Virinus and Sorianus. Thus at almost one and the same time a most plentiful harvest of joys has fallen to us, since all these whom we have recorded as having come together had, by the letters of your singleness of mind, rendered to us the grace of their own presence sweeter still. And so our spirit has exulted in the Lord, and our mouth has been opened wide over our enemy, to whom it was not granted to say, 'I have prevailed against them,' since rather the prayers of our longings had prevailed, so that we received from you the things we had hoped for, that is, the greatest care of our soul, both your judgments and your words. And so, that we may owe nothing to one another, as it has been commanded, except mutual love, I will reply to all your letters, and first to that one which I received first, in which, concerning the very men through whom you had written, you remonstrate with me, asking why I either left you alone or carried them off away from you. But you will recognize that I can be blamed on neither count, for I never set any limit in longing for you, nor did I have any contention with you over claiming them for myself; otherwise I would of my own accord have yielded to you in your right over them, if the possession had first been yours. For those remaining with you would not be strangers to me, since [you are wholly mine in Christ the Lord, through whom I am in turn yours], nor would I have gained as much grace in receiving these men as I would have lost, if I had snatched away from you companions however much to be sought on the road of salvation. For by my own judgment too I would consider myself most deserving to be emptied of your charity, if I preferred any good thing to myself rather than to you. But when I had found that these men, gliding to me by an unexpected gift of the Lord, were of such quality as later within a short time became clear to you as well, I even envied myself, asking why in this matter I had been more fortunate than you, in that I rather had obtained men more worthy of your sight and fellowship, or had come to know them first. And so, that as soon as possible I might rejoice with you as my partner in this grace by which I considered myself blessed, I both rebuked them while present, because they confessed themselves to be without familiarity with and knowledge of you, and I gave them no charge more earnestly as they set out than that they should hasten to the sight and embrace of you, and that they should prefer to come to know you above all the affairs and cares of their own country, so that even belatedly they might repair to themselves a long-standing loss. And, thanks be to the Lord, we received them on their coming in exultation, bringing back the great joy of this conscience by which they had trusted us above the rest in seeking after you, as a thing blessed and higher than the other fruits of their life, like a sheaf from a full field. For this they gave thanks first to God, who had not only satisfied but even surpassed their longing, so that they found in you more good things than they had presumed; and thanks to us, who had been the authors to them of so great an acquisition; and thanks to their very selves, because they had obeyed us to their own gain! It is beyond my power to tell with how great a delight they suffused me, when they recounted both your deeds and your discourses and your heart made perfect by the knowledge of divine charity; by which you are humble and lofty, poor and rich, slave and free, a fellow-slave to servants, a slave to brothers, rich toward the poor in the bowels of mercy, poor toward the rich in the spirit of gentleness, humble by the virtue of piety, towering by the sublimity of virtue, and a slave to God, free from mammon. They proclaimed that Martinus wholly breathes within you, that Clarus flourishes, that the gospel is brought to ripeness. Altogether they have anointed our head with the oil of gladness; on this account all our inward parts have blessed the Lord with a twofold cause of rejoicing, both because we understood that we had been of very great service to you in the acquaintance of our most beloved brothers, as you have proved, and because we saw, as by a divine gift, that they too rejoiced for themselves in the knowledge and love of you. How greatly, moreover, did they marvel, amid the works and gifts of God in you, even at your boys, who about you grow green like young olive shoots, for whom our same God has made you what he himself is to all, so that they both revere you as a master and love you as a father! Yet in this discourse of theirs we confess that we groaned over our own unhappiness, we for whom graver sins had made a barrenness of such sons; but we were made as it were consoled, because we judge that the good of your happiness is near to us. But lest our iniquity separate us from you by a longer interval, gird up that whole choice band of the sacred youth, with whom day and night you soothe God, so that against our sins they may direct on our behalf the battle-line of their prayers and may entreat, that the Lord may confirm this which he has wrought for us, that is, that in your charity, in which we now find rest and in which we glory, we may on that day be refreshed and may rejoice.

XXVII. SEVERO FRATRI VNANIMO VENERABILI ET SEMPER DESIDERANTISSIMO PAVLINVS. Benedicam dominum in omni tempore et non obliuiscar retributiones eius, quia non secundum peccata nostra retribuit nobis, qui adsiduis et numerosis de tua unanimitate solaciis satiat desiderium nostrum; nam in paucis diebus reditum ad nos sanctorum fratrum et unanimorum communium, Postumiani et Theridi, aduentus aliorum fratrum, Virini et Soriani, consecutus est. ita nobis uno propemodum in tempore plurima gaudiorum messis obuenit, cum omnes hi, quos pariter uenisse memorauimus, litteris unanimitatis tuae dulciorem nobis praesentiae suae gratiam reddidissent. exultauit itaque in domino spiritus noster, et dilatatum est os nostrum super inimicum nostrum, cui non dabatur dicere: praeualui aduersus eos, cum potius uota desideriorum nostrorum praeualuissent, ut exoptata de te id est maxima animae nostrae cura et iudicia et eloquia reciperemus. Itaque ut nihil inuicem, sicut praeceptum est, nisi amorem mutuum nobis debeamuł, respondebo omnibus epistolis tuis, ac primum illi, quam primo accepi, qua de ipsis, per quos scripseras, apud me expostulas, cur aut te solum reliquerim aut illos tibi abduxerim. sed recognosces neutro me posse culpari, quia neque in te desiderando umquam modum feci neque ullum tecum habui de eorum usurpatione certamen; alioquin ultro tibi de tuo iure cessissem, si prius tua fuisset possessio. non enim a me alieni forent tecum manentes, qui 4] Ps. 32, 2. Ps. 102, 3 et 10. 14] I Reg. 2, 1; Luc. 1, 47. 16] Ps. 12, 5. 20] (Ioh. 15, 17; Rom. 13, 8; I Ioh. 3, 23). 0. — Incipit ad eundem VIIII 0. 6 retribuet Ov, tribuit Rosw . qui v, quia 0 7 satiat v, faciat 0 8 sanctorum r, sanctum 0 10 propemodum v, propemodo 0 12 hi 0, ii v litteris r, laetens 0 t 15 dilatatum r, delectatum 0 22 qua Rosw., quia Ov 23 aute 0 totus es meus in Christo domino, per quem sum inuicem tuus, neque tantum cepissem gratiae in his receptis, quantum amisissem, si tibi praeripuissem quamlibet expetendos in salutari uia comites. nam mea quoque sententia dignissimum me iudicarem qui a tua caritate uacuarer, si ullum bonum mihi quam tibi mallem. uerum ego cum illos inopinato domini munere adlapsos mihi tales conperissem, quales et tibi postea in breui claruerunt, etiam inuidebam mihi, cur in hac parte felicior te fuissem, ut tuo conspectu et consortio digniores ego potius obtinerem uel prius agnouissem. denique ut quam primum hac qua me beatum existimabam gratia te consorte gauderem, et praesentes increpui, quod se familiaritatis ac notitiae tuae expertes faterentur, neque quicquam studiosius mandaui proficiscentibus, quam ad conspectum tuum conplexumque properarent teque cognoscere omnibus in patria rebus et curis suis anteferrent, ut diutinum damnum sibi uel sero sarcirent. et, gratias domino, recipimus eos uenientes in exultatione magnumque huius, qua nobis in te prae ceteris expetendo credidissent, conscientiae gaudium quasi benedictum et ceteris uitae suae fructibus altiorem de agro pleno manipulum reportantes. quas illi deo primum, qui non solum satiasset, sed et superasset desiderium eorum, ut plura in te quam praesumpserant inuenirent bona, quas nobis, qui tantae illis adquisitionis fuissemus auctores, quas sibimet ipsis, quod nobis in suum lucrum paruissent, gratias agebant! Ineffabile mihi est quanta me uoluptate perfuderint, cum referrent et actus et sermones tuos et perfectum cor tuum caritatis diuinae scientia; qua humilis et excelsus, pauper et diues, seruus et liber, famulis conseruus, fratribus seruus, pauperibus diues in uisceribus misericordiae, diuitibus pauper in spiritu mansuetudinis, humilis uirtute pietatis, arduus sublimitate uirtutis et seruus deo, liber mammonae, totum in te 17] Ps. 125, 6. 1 suu 0 2 his 0, iis v amississem 0 6 inopinato Rosw., inopinatos Ov 10 ut v, om. 0 18 in te v, inter 0 19 gaudium v, et auditu 0 21 satiasset v, saciasse 0 28 qua] qua cum sis expcctes spirare Martinum, florere Clarum, maturari euangelium praedicabant. inpinguarunt omnino oleo laetitiae caput nostrum; propter hoc benedixerunt omnia interiora nostra dominum duplici causa gratulationis, quod et tibi plurimum praestitisse nos intellegeremus de agnitione dilectissimorum, ut probasti, fratrum et illos gratulari sibi de notitia et caritate tua ut diuino munere uideremus. quantum illi praeterea inter opera et munera in te dei admirati sunt etiam pueros tuos, qui in circuitu tuo sicut nouellae oliuarum uirent, quibus te deus noster idem fecit, quod ipse cunctis est, ut te et quasi dominum uereantur et quasi patrem diligant! in hoc tamen sermone eorum fatemur gemuisse nos ad infelicitatem nostram, quibus ab eiusmodi filiis sterilitatem grauiora peccata fecissent, sed facti sumus quasi consolati, quia uicinum esse nobis tuae felicitatis bonum iudicamus. Verum ne longiore interuallo nostra iniquitas inter nos et te separet, totum hunc, quo diebus et noctibus deum mulces, sacrae pubis accinge delectum, ut aduersum peccata nostra pro nobis aciem orationum dirigant et exorent, ut confirmet hoc dominus quod operatus est nobis, id est ut caritate tua, in qua nunc adquiescimus et qua gloriamur, in illa die refrigeremur et gaudeamus.