Letter 1043: I should have wished to reply to your letters with full application of mind, were I not so worn by the labour of my pastoral charge as to be more inclined to weep than to say anything. And this your Reverence will take care to understand and allow for in the very text of my letters, when I speak negligently to one whom I exceedingly love. For, i...

Book I, Letter 43 To Leander, Bishop of Hispalis [Seville, in Visigothic Spain; Leander was Gregory's close friend from their time together in Constantinople]. Gregory to Leander. I would have liked to reply to your letters with my full attention, but I am so worn down by the labor of pastoral responsibility that I am more inclined to weep than to speak. You will understand and forgive this when you see the quality of my writing -- that I am speaking carelessly to someone I love deeply. I am tossed by such waves of worldly affairs in this place that I simply cannot steer into port the old and rotting ship whose helm, by God's hidden providence, I have taken up. Waves crash in from the front, heaps of foaming sea swell from the side, and the storm pursues from behind. In the midst of all this, I am forced sometimes to steer straight into the oncoming waters, sometimes to dodge the threatening waves sideways. I groan because I feel that through my negligence the bilge water of vice is rising, and the rotten planks, battered by the violent storm, already groan with the sound of shipwreck. With tears I remember the calm shore of my former peace, and with sighs I look toward the land which, with the winds of worldly business blowing against me, I still cannot reach. If you love me, dearest brother, stretch out the hand of your prayer to me in the midst of these waves. The benefit will return to you -- by helping me in my struggles, you will find yourself stronger in your own. I cannot adequately express my joy at learning that our mutual friend, the most glorious King Reccared [of the Visigoths], has converted with complete devotion to the Catholic faith [from Arianism, the form of Christianity that denied Christ's full divinity]. Your description of his character in your letter has made me love him, though I have never met him. But since you know the tricks of the ancient enemy [the devil], who wages fiercer war against those who have conquered him, watch over Reccared all the more carefully. May he follow through on what he has well begun, never grow proud over his good works, keep the faith he has found through the merit of his life as well, and prove by his deeds that he is a citizen of the eternal kingdom -- so that after a long reign, he may pass from earthly kingship to heavenly. Regarding triple immersion in baptism [dipping the person being baptized three times], no better answer can be given than what you yourself rightly concluded: where there is one faith, a difference in practice does no harm to the Church. When we immerse three times, we signify the three days of Christ's burial, so that when the infant is lifted from the water a third time, the resurrection after three days is expressed. Or, if anyone sees this as honoring the Holy Trinity, there is no objection to immersing the person once either. Since there is one substance in three persons, it is perfectly acceptable to baptize by immersion either three times or once -- three immersions to express the Trinity of persons, one immersion to express the unity of God. However, since heretics [the Arians] have until now customarily immersed three times in baptism, I think you should not do this in Spain, for two reasons: so they do not appear to divide the Godhead by numbering the immersions, and so they cannot boast that they have prevailed over our practice. I am also sending your beloved Fraternity the books listed below. My commentary on the blessed Job -- which you asked to have sent -- was originally delivered as homilies, and being weak in both thought and language, I have tried to rework it into a proper treatise, which scribes are now copying out. If I were not pressed by the haste of this letter's carrier, I would have sent you the complete work without delay. I wrote it especially for you, that I might be seen to have labored for the person I love above all others. If you find any free time from your church duties, you already know how things stand with me. Though absent in body, I always see you present before me -- I carry the image of your face stamped within my heart. Given in the month of May.

Book I, Letter 43 To Leander Bishop of Hispalis (Seville). Gregory to Leander, etc. I should have wished to reply to your letters with full application of mind, were I not so worn by the labour of my pastoral charge as to be more inclined to weep than to say anything. And this your Reverence will take care to understand and allow for in the very text of my letters, when I speak negligently to one whom I exceedingly love. For, indeed, I am in this place tossed by such billows of this world that I am in no wise able to steer into port the old and rotten ship of which, in the hidden dispensation of God, I have assumed the guidance. Now in front the billows rush in, now at the side heaps of foamy sea swell up, now from behind the storm follows on. And, disquieted in the midst of all this, I am compelled sometimes to steer in the very face of the opposing waters; sometimes, turning the ship aside, to avoid the threats of the billows slantwise. I groan, because I feel that through my negligence the bilgewater of vices increases, and, as the storm meets the vessel violently, the rotten planks already sound of shipwreck. With tears I remember how I have lost the placid shore of my rest, and with sighs I behold the land which still, with the winds of affairs blowing against me, I cannot reach. If, then, you love me, dearest brother, stretch out to me in the midst of these billows the hand of your prayer; that from helping me in my labours you may, in very return for the benefit, be the stronger in your own. I cannot, however, at all fully express in words my joy on having learned that our common son, the most glorious King Rechared, has been converted with most entire devotion to the Catholic faith. In describing his character to me in your letters you have made me love him, though I know him not. But, since you know the wiles of the ancient foe, how against conquerors he prepares all the fiercer war, let your Holiness keep watch the more warily over him, that he may accomplish what he has well begun, nor lift himself up for good works accomplished; that he may keep the faith which he has come to know by the merits also of his life, and show by his works that he is a citizen of the eternal kingdom, to the end that after a course of many years he may pass from kingdom to kingdom. But with respect to trine immersion in baptism, no truer answer can be given than what you have yourself felt to be right; namely that, where there is one faith, a diversity of usage does no harm to holy Church. Now we, in immersing thrice, signify the sacraments of the three days' sepulture; so that, when the infant is a third time lifted out of the water, the resurrection after a space of three days may be expressed. Or, if any one should perhaps think that this is done out of veneration for the supreme Trinity, neither so is there any objection to immersing the person to be baptized in the water once, since, there being one substance in three subsistences, it cannot be in any way reprehensible to immerse the infant in baptism either thrice or once, seeing that by three immersions the Trinity of persons, and in one the singleness of the Divinity may be denoted. But, inasmuch as up to this time it has been the custom of heretics to immerse infants in baptism thrice, I am of opinion that this ought not to be done among you; lest, while they number the immersions, they should divide the Divinity, and while they continue to do as they have been used to do, they should boast of having got the better of our custom. Moreover, I send to your to me most sweet Fraternity the volumes of which I have appended a notice below. What I had spoken in exposition of the blessed Job, which you express in your letter your wish to have sent to you, being weak both in sense and language as I had delivered it in homilies, I have tried as I could to change into the form of a treatise, which is in course of being written out by scribes. And, were I not crippled by the haste of the bearer of these presents, I should have wished to transmit to you the whole without diminution; especially as I have written this same work for your Reverence, that I may be seen to have sweated in my labours for him whom I love above all others. Besides, if you find time allowed you from ecclesiastical engagements, you already know how it is with me: even though absent in the body, I behold you always present with me; for I carry the image of your countenance stamped within the bowels of my heart. Given in the month of May. About this page Source. Translated by James Barmby. From Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, Vol. 12. Edited by Philip Schaff and Henry Wace. (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1895.) Revised and edited for New Advent by Kevin Knight. <https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/360201043.htm>. Contact information. The editor of New Advent is Kevin Knight. My email address is feedback732 at newadvent.org. (To help fight spam, this address might change occasionally.) Regrettably, I can't reply to every letter, but I greatly appreciate your feedback — especially notifications about typographical errors and inappropriate ads.