Presbyters Uniwersytet Warszawski
ID
ER 2349
Gregory the Great rebukes Bishop John of Ravenna. Among other things, he instructs him how to deal with presbyters guilty of a crime and prohibits presbyters of Ravenna to use the mappulae. Gregory the Great, Letter 3.54, AD 593.
Letter 3.54 to Bishop John of Ravenna (July 593)
 
Gregorius Iohanni episcopo Rauennati
 
Gregory rebukes Bishop John for wearing pallium outside of Mass.
 
Conquesti praeterea estis quod quidam de sacerdotali ordine Rauennatis ciuitatis, peccatis imminentibus, grauibus sint criminibus inuoluti. Quorum causam uel illic te discutere uolumus, uel hic eos, si tamen probationum difficultas pro locorum longinquitate non impedit, ad haec ipsa discutienda transmittere. Quod si uel ad tuum iudicium uel ad nos, maiorum fulti patrocinio, quod non credimus, uenire despexerint, et in obiectis sibi capitulis contumaciter respondere nequiuerint, uolumus ut eis post secundam et tertiam admonitionem tuam ministerium sacri interdicas officii, atque nobis de contumacia eorum scriptorum tuorum tenore renunties, ut deliberemus quemadmodum actus eorum debeas subtiliter perscrutari, atque secundum definitiones canonicas emendare. Cognoscat igitur fraternitas tua de causa hac nos plenissime absolutos, ex eo quod uobis causas ipsas commisimus subtiliter perquirendas, atque omnia peccata eorum si inulta euenerint et omne pondus discussionis huius in tuae animae redundare periculo, sciens nullam dilectionem uestram excusationem apud futurum iudicem habituram, si non excessus cleri tui cum summa canonici rigoris seueritate correxeris, aut hos quibus haec fuerint approbata sacros ulterius ordines temerare permiseris.
Illis autem quae pro utendis a clero uestro mappulis scripsistis a nostris est clericis fortiter obuiatum, dicentibus nulli hoc umquam aliae cuilibet concessum fuisse ecclesiae, nec Rauennates clericos uel illic uel in Romana ciuitate tale aliquid cum sua conscientia praesumpsisse, nec, si temptatum esset, ex furtiua usurpatione sibi praeiudicium generari. Sed etiam in qualibet ecclesia hoc praesumptum fuerit, asserunt emendandum, quod non concessione Romani pontificis sed sola subreptione praesumitur. Sed nos seruantes honorem fraternitatis tuae, licet contra uoluntatem antedicti cleri nostri, tamen primis diaconibus uestris, quos nobis quidam testificati sunt etiam ante eis usos fuisse, in obsequio dumtaxat tuo, mappulis uti permittimus, alio autem tempore uel alias personas hoc agere uehementissime prohibemus.
 
(ed. Norberg 1982: 202–203)
Letter 3.54 to Bishop John of Ravenna (July 593)
 
Gregory to John, bishop of Ravenna
 
Gregory rebukes Bishop John for wearing pallium outside of Mass.
 
You have complained, furthermore, that some men from the priestly order (ordo sacerdotalis) of the city of Ravenna, instigated by their sins, have become involved in serious crimes. We want you either to discuss their case there, or to send them over here to discuss these same matters, that is if the difficulty of [gathering] proof would not be [even more] hindered by the distance between the two places [i.e. Ravenna and Rome]. But if they disdain to come either to your court or to us, relying on the defence from the powerful protectors (which we do not want to believe), and if they are arrogantly unable to reply to the charges brought against them, we wish that after your second and first admonition, you prohibit them from ministry of their holy office, and report back to us about their insolence, in the course of your writings. Thus we may deliberate how you ought to scrutinize their acts carefully, and emend them according to canonical definitions. And so let your Fraternity learn from this case of yours that we have been fully absolved, from the fact that we have committed the cases themselves to you for careful investigation. Learn that if all of their sins end up unpunished, the whole weight of this examination will endanger your soul too. Know that your love will have no excuse before the future judge, if you do not correct the excesses of your clergy with the greatest severity of canonical rigor, or permit these for whom these acts were approved, to defile holy orders any more.
But as for what you wrote about the mappulae being used by your clergy, this has been strongly opposed by our clerics. They say that this has never been conceded to any other church at all, and the clerics of Ravenna had adopted nothing of the kind to their knowledge, either there or in the city of Rome. Had it been attempted, no precedent was generated for them from a furtive and illegal use. But they also assert that it should be corrected in whatever church it has been adopted, because it is not adopted with the concession of the bishop of Rome, but only by deception. But we preserve the honour of your Fraternity, and although it is against the wishes of our aforesaid clergy, we still permit your leading deacons [primi diacones – i.e. archdeacons?] to use the mappulae, which some have testified to us that you have also used before now, provided it is in your service. But we most strongly prohibit this to be done at another time or by other persons.
 
(trans. Martyn 2004: 274–275, altered and summarized by J. Szafranowski)

Discussion:

It is far from clear what a mappula was. Du Cange (s.v. "Mappulas") considers it a piece of an ornamental garment used particulary by the Roman clergy. This letter, as well as John of Ravenna's response (see [2356]) suggest that it was worn particulary during official processions. Sources as various as Martyn, Encyclopedia Britannica (s.v. "Gregory the Great"), Carole Straw (1988: 82), and Thomas F.X. Noble (2017: 51) assert, further, that this was a "linen saddle-cloth", but they do not point to the source of this claim.
 
It is also possible that mappula is to be identified with a maniple.

Place of event:

Region
  • Italy north of Rome with Corsica and Sardinia
  • Rome
City
  • Ravenna
  • Rome

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;
 
C. Straw, Gregory the Great: Perfection in Imperfection (Transformation of the Classical Heritage 14), Berkeley and Los Angeles 1988;
 
Th.F.X. Noble, "Theological Perspectives on Law and Consensus in the Writings of Gregory the Great" in: Recht und Konsens im frühen Mittelalter (Vorträge und Forschungen 82), Konstanz 2017, pp. 47–62.

Categories:

Food/Clothes/Housing - Clothes
    Travel and change of residence
      Functions within the Church - Urban presbyter
        Described by a title - Sacerdos/ἱερεύς
          Attributes of clerical status
            Ritual activity - Liturgical vestments
              Ritual activity - Procession
                Relation with - Bishop/Monastic superior
                  Relation with - Deacon
                    Administration of justice - Ecclesiastical
                      Administration of justice - Suspension
                        Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL: J. Szafranowski, Presbyters in the Late Antique West, ER2349, http://www.presbytersproject.ihuw.pl/index.php?id=6&SourceID=2349