Letter 10013: Ad episcopos in commendatione peregrini

Venantius FortunatusUnknown|c. 598 AD|Venantius Fortunatus|AI-assisted
barbarian invasiontravel mobility

XIII
To the bishops, in commendation of a pilgrim

Highest pontiffs, way of the faith, pathway of life,
whom the Almighty granted to be guides of the light,
and whom the Lamb of heaven appointed as guardians for the flock,
you good shepherds, that the sheep may be cherished:
behold, a wayfarer is here, completing that journey unknowingly
at the borders of Italy, alas, groaning as a stranger in a foreign land.
Be you, by your honor, fathers who are the help of the exile, the way of the wanderer, the rule of salvation, for his return to his homeland;
may you cast the seeds, that you may reap an abundant reward,
and may the harvest return to you a hundredfold.
For I, lowly Fortunatus, would be commended to the rich ones [the bishops],
and through you to the Lord, O holy heights: this I pray.

AI-assisted translation - This translation was produced with AI assistance and has not been peer-reviewed. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek below for scholarly use.

Latin / Greek Original

XIII
Ad episcopos in commendatione peregrini
Pontifices summi, fidei via, semita vitae,
quos dedit omnipotens luminis esse duces
custodesque gregi caelestis contulit agnus,
vos bene pastores, ut foveantur oves:
ecce viator adest peragens iter inscius illud
finibus Italicis, heu peregrina gemens.
exulis auxilium, errantis via, norma salutis,
ad reditum patriae sitis honore patres,
semina iactetis, mercedis ut ampla metatis
et redeat vobis centuplicata seges.
Fortunatus enim humilis commender opimis
ac per vos domino, culmina sancta. precor.

Revision history

  1. 2026-05-27v2.2.34-import

    Initial corpus import from modern venantius fortunatus retranslated v1.

    Fields: letter text, metadata, source links. Source: https://data.mgh.de/openmgh/bsb00000790.zip

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