Letter 7

From: Pope Gregory the Great To: Theudelinda, Queen of the Lombards Date: ~603 AD Context: Gregory celebrates the Catholic baptism of the young prince Adaloald — the fruit of Theudelinda's decades of faithful work. Gregory to our most excellent daughter Theudelinda. When I received your letter telling me that Adaloald had been baptized in the Catholic rite, I wept. I say this without embarrassment — there are things that deserve tears of joy, and the baptism of the heir to the Lombard throne in the Catholic faith is one of them. You have been working toward this for twenty years. The Lombard court, when you first came to it as a young queen, was Arian through and through. What you have done — slowly, patiently, by example and persuasion and the steady demonstration that a Catholic can love her Lombard husband and serve her Lombard kingdom faithfully — is nothing less than the work of a missionary, though you have never left the palace. I want to caution you about one thing: the work is not finished, and the opponents of your success will not simply accept it and move on. There will be pressure on the prince, as he grows older, to distance himself from the Catholic faith in order to be accepted as a genuine Lombard king. The nobility will test him. You will need to continue to be present in his formation, and you will need allies among the Catholic minority in the Lombard court. But today I want only to give thanks. God has done this through you. Your father in Christ, Gregory