Letter 49: PELAGIUS [PAPA] PRISCO to the bishop CAPUANO.

Pelagius, Pope, to Priscus, Bishop of Capua. It has just now happened that we heard of a crime committed by you. For what graver act could have been committed by anyone than what you did, namely, that when a woman who was fleeing to the Church of God and crying out that she wished to return to the resolve [of religious life] from which she had unhappily departed, you handed her over into the hands of that man who both here perjured himself before us concerning her, and who did not revere the judgment of God, so that he should desire her, who had been consecrated to God, to serve his lust. And although we have endured the other things which have frequently been said about you, this we can by no means endure; and therefore, [...] by our action we have at once compelled our son Manantius, deacon of our see, to come there, so that, unless she has been gathered back and restored to the church or sent on to us, he is to suspend you not, I would say, from the priesthood, but even from communion itself. Hasten therefore in the manner you know, and by the means you know, to amend your crime and so grave a misdeed; and until you do this, we order you to be removed from your office.

PELAGIUS [PAPA] PRISCO EPISCOPO CAPUANO. Eue- \ nit modo ut scelus a te factum audiremus. Quid enim grauius ab aliquo committi potuit, quam quod tu fecisti, ut refugientem mu¬ lierem ad ecclesiam Dei et clamantem quia ad propositum suum unde infeliciter discesserat reuerti uellet, tu eam in manus eius tra¬ didisti qui et nobis hic de ipsa pei^rauit, et qui non reueritus est indicium Dei, ut illam quae Deo consecrata fuerat suae luxuriae desideret seruire. Et quamuis alia quae de te frequenter dicta 2 sunt pertulerimus, istud ferre nullatenus possumus; et i^?circo, ex peiurauit I 9 istud] ex istuo corr. vid. I: illud Theiner idcirco] Theiner: iccirco I Epistulam hanc eodem ferme die quo praecedens datam fuisse, infer¬ tur ipso sermone eiusdem. Quapropter, etsi in CoU. Britannica non constet, huic loco temporique inserendam, consentaneum duxi, Tit. Prisco episcopo Capuano: Victori, qui die 2 aprilis a. 554 de¬ cessit, in sedem Capuanam successit. Cf. H. LECeERCQ, Capone, DACL., t. II, 2, c. 2064-2084; F. Lanzoni, o. c., p. 189-204; P. Kehr, o. c„ t, VIII, p. 199-200; 214-228; L. Jadin, Capone, DHGE., t. XI, c. 888-907 (prae¬ sertim c. 892); D. Maeeardo, Capna, in Enc. CattoL, t. III, c. 729-732. 1. de ipsa peierauit... Deo consecrata: Liquet, illam esse lulianam, cuius nec habitum nec consecrationem veritus, corruperat Severus, ad quem anteriorem ep. 48 misit papa. Quoad ius asyli Cf. IusTiniani, Cod., I, 12; Nov., 17; 37; 117; G. LE Bras, Asile, DHGH., t. IV, c. 1035-1047; E. Her- MAN, Asile dans VEglise orientale ..., DDC., t. I, c. 1084-1089; L. R. MiSSE- REY, Asile en Occident, ihid., c. 1089-1104; N. CroSTAroSA Scipioni, Asilo, in Enc. CattoL, t. II, c. 136-139. opere, filium nostrum M^nantitun diaconum sedis nostrae statim illuc uenire conpulimus, ut nisi recollecta et ecclesiae reddita uel ad nos directa fuerit, non dicam a sacerdotio, sed ab ipsa etiam te communione suspendat. Festina ergo quomodo nosti, et qui¬ bus nosti ifiodis, ut scelus tuum et tam graue facinus emendes, quod donec facias ab officio te tuo iubemus esse remotum. ow.] Theiner. Agnello episcopo Ravennati mandat, ut eligat ac sacerdotio initiet virum bona indole litterisque versatus, eumque ad patricium loannem remittat; in sacris officiis tantum papae et episcopi mentionem faciat.