Presbyters Uniwersytet Warszawski
ID
ER 2236
Gregory the Great orders his envoy to Corsica to ensure that the priests do not live with any non-related women. He also helps three priests facing financial troubles. Gregory the Great, Letter 1.50, AD 591.
Letter 1.50 to the Defender Symmachus (June 591)
 
Gregorius Symmacho defensori
 
Symmachus is sent by Gregory along with abbot Orosius to inspect the monasteries on Corsica and the nearby islands.
 
Praeterea uolumus ut sacerdotes qui in Corsica commorantur prohiberi debeant ne cum mulieribus conuersentur, excepta dumtaxat matre, sorore uel uxore, quae caste regenda est. Tribus uero, de quibus praedicto filio meo Bonifatio diacono tua experientia scripsit quia uehementer egeant, quicquid eis sufficere aestimas impende. Quod nos in tuis postmodum rationibus reputabimus.
 
(ed. Norberg 1982: 63-64, summarised by J. Szafranowski)
Letter 1.50 to the DefensorSymmachus (June 591)
 
Gregory to the Defensor Symmachus
 
Symmachus is sent by Gregory along with Abbot Orosius to inspect the monasteries on Corsica and the nearby islands.
 
We wish furthermore that the priests who are staying in Corsica should be prohibited from living with women, except of course a mother, sister, or wife, whose chastity should be preserved. As for the three [priests?] about whom your Experience wrote to the aforesaid son of mine, Deacon Boniface, saying that they were greatly in need, spend on them whatever you think is sufficient. We shall enter this in your accounts afterwards.
 
(trans. Martyn 2004: 175, slightly altered and summarised by J. Szafranowski)

Discussion:

It is unclear who exactly is having financial difficulties at the very end of this letter. It seems reasonable to assume that the subjects are still the priests mentioned in the previous sentence.

Place of event:

Region
  • Italy north of Rome with Corsica and Sardinia

About the source:

Author: Gregory the Great
Title: Letters, Epistulae, Epistolae, Registrum epistularum, Registrum epistolarum
Origin: Rome (Rome)
Denomination: Catholic/Nicene/Chalcedonian
Gregory, later called the Great (Gregorius Magnus), was born ca 540 to an influential Roman family with some connection to the ancient gens Anicia. His great-great-grandfather was Felix III, who served as the bishop of Rome from 526 to 530. Possibly, Agapetus I, pope between 535 and 536, was his relative as well. Little is known about his early career, but in 573 Gregory ascended to the high office of city prefect. Shortly afterwards, however, he resigned from his post and adopted the monastic way of life. He founded a monastery dedicated to St. Andrew within his family estate on Coelian Hill, next to the library established by Agapetus and Cassiodorus. Six other monasteries were founded in the estates his family owned in Sicily. Soon after his monastic conversion, he started to be given various tasks by Popes Benedict I (575–578) and Pelagius II (578–590). At that time, he was ordained a deacon. Between 579 and 585/6, Gregory acted as Pelagius` envoy in Constantinople. In 590, he was elected Pelagius` successor to the bishopric of Rome. The registry of his letters contained copies of Gregory`s papal correspondence up to his death in 604. The scope of Gregory`s original registry is still the subject of scholarly speculation. There are 854 extant letters gathered in fourteen volumes, most of them (686 letters) originating from the collection compiled at the time of Pope Hadrian I (772–795).
 
It is worth remembering that the majority of Gregory’s correspondence was jointly produced by the pope and his subordinates, see Pollard 2013.
Edition:
D. Norberg ed., S. Gregorii Magni Registrum Epistularum, Corpus Christianorum: Series Latina 140, 140A, Turnhout 1982.
 
Translation:
The Letters of Gregory the Great, trans. J.R.C. Martyn, Mediaeval Sources in Translation 40, Toronto 2004.
Bibliography:
R.M. Pollard, A Cooperative Correspondence: The Letters of Gregory the Great, in: M. Dal Santo, B. Neil (eds.), A Companion to Gregory the Great, Leiden-Boston 2013, pp. 291–312.

Categories:

Family life - Separation/Divorce
    Food/Clothes/Housing - Type of housing
      Described by a title - Sacerdos/ἱερεύς
        Economic status and activity - Indication of poverty
          Economic status and activity - Gift
            Relation with - Bishop/Monastic superior
              Relation with - Deacon
                Relation with - Wife
                  Relation with - Father/Mother
                    Relation with - Brother/Sister
                      Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL: J. Szafranowski, Presbyters in the Late Antique West, ER2236, http://www.presbytersproject.ihuw.pl/index.php?id=6&SourceID=2236