Letter 1044: With regard to our having so long delayed sending off your messenger, we have been so occupied with the engagements of the Paschal festival that we have been unable to let him go sooner. But, with regard to the questions on which you have desired instruction, you will learn below how, after fully considering them all, we have determined them. We...

Book I, Letter 44 To Peter, Subdeacon of Sicily [Gregory's chief administrator of church estates in Sicily]. Gregory to Peter. We have been so occupied with the Easter season's demands that we could not send your messenger back sooner. But here are our rulings on all the questions you raised. GRAIN PRICES AND FAIR DEALING We have learned that the Church's tenant farmers [coloni, peasants bound to work church-owned land] are being severely overcharged for grain, since the price set for them does not adjust with market conditions during times of plenty. We direct that at all times, whether harvests are abundant or scarce, the price charged must reflect the current market rate. Grain lost in shipwrecks must be fully accounted for -- provided there was no negligence on your part in shipping it on time. Do not let the proper shipping season pass, or the loss will be your fault. We have also found it grossly unjust that extra fees called "sextariatics" [surcharges on grain measures] are being collected from church tenants, or that they are forced to use a larger bushel measure than what is standard in the Church's own granaries. We therefore direct that grain may never be collected from church tenants in measures exceeding eighteen sextarii [the standard unit] -- unless there is some customary allowance for sailors, which they themselves verify is consumed aboard ship. UNJUST TAXES AND SURCHARGES We have learned that on some church estates, an outrageous extra levy of three and a half measures per seventy is being demanded by the estate managers -- a shameful practice. And even this is not enough; additional charges are reportedly collected based on long custom. We utterly condemn this and want it eradicated from the patrimony. Whether in this or other petty surcharges, examine what is being overpaid per pound and what is being unfairly collected from tenants. Consolidate everything into a single fixed payment, and within the tenants' ability to pay, set the total at up to seventy-two [a fair, round figure]. No extra fractions beyond the pound, no inflated pound, and no additional surcharges beyond the pound are to be collected. Through your assessment, according to each person's ability to pay, set a definite sum -- so there may be no shameful gouging whatsoever. To prevent these surcharges we have banned as extras but folded into the regular payments from being re-added after my death (thus increasing the total and burdening the tenants all over again), we want you to draw up binding security documents signed by you, declaring exactly what each person must pay -- excluding all surcharges, imposts, and granary fees. Whatever income used to go to the rector [estate manager] from these various charges shall now come to you from the consolidated total. WEIGHTS AND MEASURES Above all, ensure that no unjust weights are used in collecting payments. If you find any, break them and have accurate ones made. My representative, the servant of God Diaconus, already found dishonest weights but did not have authority to replace them. We now direct that, apart from small customary provisions of minor value, nothing beyond what honest weights measure may be extracted from the Church's farmers. ADVANCE LOANS TO PREVENT EXPLOITATION We have learned that the first tax installment [burdatio, an early-season tax] is crippling our tenants. Before they can sell their produce, they are forced to pay taxes, and having no cash, they borrow from public moneylenders at heavy interest, which ruins them financially. We therefore direct you to advance them from the Church's funds whatever they would otherwise borrow from outsiders, and let them repay gradually as they are able. This prevents them from being forced to sell their goods at too low a price out of desperation, only to still not have enough. MARRIAGE FEES We have learned that excessive fees are charged when tenant farmers marry. We decree that no marriage fee may exceed one solidus [gold coin]. The poor should pay even less; but no one, however wealthy, may be charged more than one solidus. None of this marriage fee money goes to our account -- it stays with the estate manager. INHERITANCE RIGHTS We have learned that when some estate managers die, their relatives are not allowed to inherit but their property is seized for the Church. We decree that relatives of the deceased who live on Church property shall inherit as rightful heirs, and nothing shall be taken from the deceased's estate. If there are young children, appoint responsible persons to manage the parents' property until the children are old enough to handle it themselves. PUNISHMENTS We have learned that when a family member commits an offense, the penalty falls not on the offender but on his property. We decree that whoever commits an offense shall be punished personally as he deserves. No payment shall be extracted from him, except perhaps some small amount going to the official sent to deal with his case. We have also learned that when an estate manager unjustly takes something from a tenant, the amount is recovered from the manager but never returned to the victim. We decree that whatever was taken by force must be returned to the person it was taken from, not added to our revenue -- so we are not seen as accomplices in violence. TRAVEL EXPENSES AND MANAGER APPOINTMENTS If you dispatch subordinates on business beyond the patrimony's borders, they may accept small gratuities from those they visit -- but only as personal benefit. We will not have the Church treasury polluted by petty corruption. We also direct that estate managers must never be appointed in exchange for a payment. When appointments are sold, managers are frequently replaced, and the result is that church farms are never properly cultivated. Instead, let leases be set according to the actual payments due. Do not collect from church estates, on account of storehouses and supplies, more than what is customary. Your own personal supplies that we have ordered purchased should be bought from outside sources. SPECIFIC CASES It has come to our ears that three pounds of gold were unjustly taken from Peter, the farmer of Subpatriana. Investigate Fantinus the defensor [church legal advocate] closely, and if the gold was manifestly taken unjustly, restore it without delay. We have also learned that the tenants paid the burdatio tax twice -- once to Theodosius (who collected it but failed to remit it to the Church), and again when his assets were insufficient to cover his debt. Since we are informed through Diaconus that the shortfall can be recovered from Theodosius's own property, repay the full fifty-seven solidi to the tenants without deduction, so they are not taxed twice. If forty solidi remain from his assets after the tenants are repaid (which you reportedly have in hand), give them to his daughter so she can recover her pawned belongings. Return her father's goblet to her as well. The distinguished magister militum [military commander] Campanianus left a bequest of twelve solidi per year from the Varronian estate to his notary John. Pay this annually without hesitation to the granddaughter of Euplus the farmer, even though she may have received all of Euplus's chattels except his cash. From his cash, also give her twenty-five solidi. A silver saucer was reportedly pawned for one solidus and a cup for six solidi -- after questioning the secretary Dominicus or others who know, redeem these pledges and return the vessels. I appreciate your diligence in the matter of my brother's money -- by which I mean that after I instructed you to return it, you promptly forgot the whole thing as if it had been said by your lowest slave. Now let your Negligence -- I cannot call it your Experience -- get this done. Whatever of his you find in Antoninus's hands, send it back immediately. In the case of Salpingus the Jew, we are forwarding a document to you. Read it, review his case and that of a certain widow said to be involved, and respond justly concerning the fifty-one solidi that are known to be owed, so that creditors are not unjustly defrauded. Half of his legacy has been given to Antoninus; the other half is to be redeemed. We want this half made up from common funds -- and not for him alone, but also for the defensores [legal advocates], foreigners, and anyone else named as legatees. The family servants' legacies should also be paid -- that is our responsibility. Calculate our three-quarters share and make the payments. Give something from the funds of the Church of Canusium [a city in Apulia, southern Italy] to its clergy, so that those who now suffer want may have some support, and if God wills that a bishop be appointed, he will have a means of subsistence. LAPSED CLERGY Regarding priests or other clergy who have lapsed [fallen into serious sin], handle their property without any taint of self-interest. Find the poorest well-regulated monasteries that live faithfully according to God, and assign the lapsed to do penance there. Let their property benefit the monastery that bears the burden of their correction. But if they have relatives, give the property to their lawful kin -- provided the monastery still receives adequate provision for the penitent's care. Clergy or monks who have lapsed should be assigned to penance, but the Church retains its claim on their property, with enough given to them for maintenance during penance, so they are not a burden on the monastery. If they have relatives on Church lands, deliver their property to those relatives, who hold it subject to the Church's claim. SUBDEACONS AND MARRIAGE Three years ago, the subdeacons of all Sicilian churches were forbidden, following Roman Church custom, from conjugal relations with their wives. But it seems harsh and wrong to me that someone who was not accustomed to such self-denial, and who never promised celibacy, should be forced to separate from his wife -- and thereby (God forbid) fall into worse sin. Therefore: from this day forward, bishops are not to ordain anyone as subdeacon unless he promises to live chastely. What was not voluntarily chosen in the past should not be forcibly imposed now; but careful provision should be made for the future. Those who have lived continently since the three-year-old prohibition deserve praise, reward, and encouragement to continue. But those who have been unwilling to abstain from their wives since the prohibition are not to be advanced to higher orders, since no one should approach the altar ministry who has not demonstrated approved chastity before taking up that ministry. MISCELLANEOUS For Liberatus the tradesman, who has commended himself to the Church and lives on the Cincian estate, provide an annual maintenance allowance. Estimate what is appropriate, report it to me, and charge it to your accounts. For the current tax year, I have already been briefed by Diaconus. A monk named John died and left Fantinus the defensor as heir of half his estate. Hand over what was left him, but warn him never to do this again. Determine what he should receive as compensation for his work so it is not unrewarded, and remind him that someone living on the Church's payroll should not chase after private gains. If anything does come to the Church without sin or greed through those conducting Church business, they should indeed receive something from their labor -- but I will decide how. Investigate the money of Rusticianus thoroughly and do what justice requires. Urge the distinguished Alexander to settle his dispute with the Church. If he neglects to do so, bring the case to a conclusion yourself with honor and the fear of God. Spend what is necessary on this business, and if possible, spare him the legal costs paid to others, provided he concludes his case with us. Without delay, restore the donated property of the religious woman who has lapsed and been sent to a monastery, so that the place bearing the burden of her care receives support from her assets. Recover anything of hers held by others and hand it over to the monastery. Send us the payments of Xenodochius of Via Nova in the amount you reported, since you have them on hand. Give something at your discretion to the agent you have assigned in that patrimony. Concerning the religious woman named Extranea, who was with Theodosius: give her an allowance if you think it beneficial, or at least return her donated property. The house that Antoninus took from the monastery, paying thirty solidi for it -- restore it immediately, refunding the money. After thoroughly investigating the truth, redeem the onyx vessels, which I am sending back to you with this letter's bearer. If Saturninus is free and not employed by you, send him to us. Felix, a farmer under the lady Campana, whom she had freed and exempted from audit, claimed that seventy-two solidi had been taken from him by Maximus the subdeacon, to pay which he said he sold or pawned all his property in Sicily. The lawyers said he could not be exempt from audit regarding fraud. However, while returning to us from Campania, he died in a storm. Find his wife and children, redeem what he pawned, repay what he sold, and provide them maintenance -- since Maximus had sent the man to Sicily and taken these funds from him there. Determine what was taken and restore it promptly to his wife and children. Read all of this carefully, and set aside your habitual negligence. Have my directives to the tenants read aloud throughout all the estates, so they know what protections they have under our authority against wrongdoing. Give them either the originals or copies. See that you observe everything without exception. As for what I have written to you concerning justice -- I have done my part. If you are negligent, the guilt is yours. Consider the terrible Judge who is coming. Let your conscience now anticipate His arrival with fear and trembling, so that it need not fear without cause when heaven and earth tremble before Him. You have heard what I want done. See that you do it.

Book I, Letter 44 To Peter, Subdeacon of Sicily. Gregory to Peter, etc. With regard to our having so long delayed sending off your messenger, we have been so occupied with the engagements of the Paschal festival that we have been unable to let him go sooner. But, with regard to the questions on which you have desired instruction, you will learn below how, after fully considering them all, we have determined them. We have ascertained that the peasants of the Church are exceedingly aggrieved in respect of the prices of grain, in that the sum appointed them to pay is not kept in due proportion in times of plenty. And it is our will that in all times, whether the crops of grain be more or less abundant, the measure of proportion be according to the market price. It is our will also that grain which is lost by shipwreck be fully accounted for; but on condition that there be no neglect on your part in transmitting it; lest, the proper time for transmitting it being allowed to pass by, loss should ensue from your fault. Moreover, we have seen it to be exceedingly wrong and unjust that anything should be received from the peasants of the Church in the way of sextariatics , or that they should be compelled to give a larger modius than is used in the granaries of the Church. Wherefore we enjoin by this present warning that grain may never be received from the peasants of the Church in modii of more than eighteen sextarii; unless perchance there be anything that the sailors are accustomed to receive over and above, the consumption of which on board ship they themselves attest. We have also ascertained that on some estates of the Church a most unjust exaction is practised, in that three and a half [modii] in seventy are demanded by the farmers — a thing shameful to be spoken of. And yet even this is not enough; but something besides is said to be exacted according to a custom of many years. This practice we altogether detest, and desire it to be utterly extirpated from the patrimony. But, whether in this or in other minute imposts, let your Experience consider what is paid too much per pound, and what is in any way unfairly received from the peasants; and reduce all to a fixed payment, and, so far as the powers of the peasants go, let them make a payment in gross amounting to seventy-two : and let neither grains beyond the pound, nor an excessive pound, nor any further imposts beyond the pound, be exacted; but, through your valuation, according as there is ability to pay, let the payment be made up to a certain sum, that so there may be in no wise any shameful exaction. But, lest after my death these very imposts, which we have disallowed as extras but allowed in augmentation of the regular payments, should again in any way be put on additionally, and so the sum of the payment should be found to be increased and the peasants be compelled to pay additional charges over and above what is due, we desire you to draw up charters of security, to be signed by you, declaring that each person is to pay such an amount, to the exclusion of grains (siliquæ), imposts, or granary dues. Moreover, whatever out of these several items used to accrue to the rector [sc. patrimonii], we will that by virtue of this present order it shall accrue to you out of the total sum paid. Before all things we desire you carefully to attend to this; that no unjust weights be used in exacting payments. If you should find any, break them and cause true ones to be made. For my son the servant of God, Diaconus, has already found such as displeased him; but he had not liberty to change them. We will, then, that, saving excepted cibaria of small value , nothing else beyond the just weights be exacted from the husbandmen of the Church. Further, we have ascertained that the first charge of burdatio exceedingly cripples our peasants, in that before they can sell the produce of their labour they are compelled to pay taxes; and, not having of their own to pay with, they borrow from public pawnbrokers , and pay a heavy consideration for the accommodation; whence it results that they are crippled by heavy expenses. Wherefore we enjoin by this present admonition that your Experience advance to them from the public fund all that they might have borrowed from strangers, and that it be repaid by the peasants of the Church by degrees as they may have wherewith to pay, lest, while for a time in narrow circumstances, they should sell at too cheap a rate what might afterwards have sufficed for the payment of the due, and even so not have enough. It has come to our knowledge also that immoderate fees are received on the marriages of peasants: concerning which we order that no marriage fees shall exceed the sum of one solidus. If any are poor, they should give even less; but if any are rich, let them by no means exceed the aforesaid sum of a solidus. And we desire no part of these marriage fees to be credited to our account, but that they should go to the benefit of the farmer (conductorem). We have also ascertained that when some farmers die their relatives are not allowed to succeed them, but that their goods are withdrawn to the uses of the Church: with regard to which thing we decree that the relatives of the deceased who live on the property of the Church shall succeed them as their heirs, and that nothing shall be withdrawn from the substance of the deceased. But, if any one should leave young children, let discreet persons be chosen to take charge of their parents' goods, till they come to such an age as to be able to manage their own property. We have ascertained also that, if any one of a family has committed a fault, he is required to make amends, not in his own person, but in his substance: concerning which practice we order that, whosoever has committed a fault, he shall be punished in his own person as he deserves. Moreover, let no present (commodum) be received from him, unless perchance it be some trifle which may go to the profit of the officer who may have been sent to him. We have ascertained also that, as often as a farmer has taken away anything unjustly from his husbandman, it is indeed required from the farmer, but not restored to him from whom it was taken: concerning which thing we order that whatever may have been taken away by violence from any one of a family be restored to him from whom it was taken away, and not accrue to our profit, lest we ourselves should seem to be abettors of violence. Furthermore, we will that, if your Experience should at any time dispatch those who are under your command in causes that arise beyond the limits of the patrimony, they may indeed receive small gratuities from those to whom they are sent; yet so that they themselves may have the advantage of them: for we would not have the treasury of the Church defiled by base gains. We also command your Experience to see to this: that farmers never be appointed on the estates of the Church for a consideration (commodum); lest, a consideration being looked for, the farmers should be frequently changed; of which changing what else is the result but that the Church farms are never cultivated? But lest also the leases [i.e. by the Church to the farmers] be adjusted according to the sum of the payments due. We desire you to receive no more from the estates of the Church on account of the store-houses and stores beyond what is customary; but let your own stores which we have ordered to be procured be procured from strangers. It has come to our ears that three pounds of gold have been unjustly taken away from Peter the farmer of Subpatriana; concerning which matter examine closely Fantinus the guardian (defensorem ); and, if they have manifestly been unjustly and improperly taken, restore them without any delay. We have also ascertained that the peasants have paid a second time the burdation which Theodosius had exacted from them but had failed to pay over, so that they have been taxed twice. This was done because his substance was not sufficient for meeting his debt to the Church. But, since we are informed through our son, the servant of God Diaconus, that this deficiency can be made good out of his effects, we will that fifty-seven solidi be repaid to the peasants without any abatement, lest they should be found to have been taxed twice over. Moreover, if it is the case that forty solidi of his effects remain over and above what will indemnify the peasants (which sum you are said also to have in your hands), we will that they be given to his daughter, to enable her to recover her effects which she had pawned. We desire also her father's goblet (batiolam) to be restored to her. The glorious magister militum Campanianus had left twelve solidi a year out of the Varronian estate to his notary John; and this we order you to pay every year without any hesitation to the granddaughter of Euplus the farmer, although she may have received all the chattels of the said Euplus, except perhaps his cash; and we desire you also to give her out of his cash five-and-twenty solidi. A silver saucer is said to have been pawned for one solidus, and a cup for six solidi. After interrogating Dominicus the secretary, or others who may know, redeem the pledge, and restore the aforesaid little vessels. We thank your Solicitude for that, after I had enjoined you, in the business of my brother, to send him back his money, you have so consigned the matter to oblivion as if something had been said to you by the last of your slaves. But now let even your Negligence — I cannot say your Experience — study to get this done; and whatever of his you may find to be in the hands of Antoninus send back to him with all speed. In the matter of Salpingus the Jew a letter has been found which we have caused to be forwarded to you, in order that, after reading it and becoming fully acquainted with his case and that of a certain widow who is said to be implicated in the same business, you may make answer as may appear to you just concerning the fifty-one solidi which are known to be returnable, so that the creditors may in no way be defrauded unjustly of the debts due to them. A moiety of his legacy has been given to Antoninus; a moiety will be redeemed: which moiety we desire to be made up to him out of the common substance; and not to him only, but also to the guardians (defensoribus) and strangers (pergrinis) to whom he [the testator] has left anything under the title of a legacy. To the family (familiæ) also we desire the legacy to be paid; which, however, is our concern. Having, then, made up the account for our part, that is for three-quarters, make the payment. We desire you to give something out of the money of the Church of Canusium to the clergy of the same Church, to the end that they who now suffer from want may have some sustenance; and that, if it should please God that a bishop should be ordained, he may have a maintenance. As to lapsed priests, or any others of the clergy, we desire you in dealing with their property to keep free from any contamination. But seek out the poorest regular monasteries which know how to live according to God, and consign the lapsed to penance in these monasteries; and let the property of the lapsed go to the benefit of the place in which they are consigned to penance, to the end that those who have the care of their correction may have aid themselves from their means. But, if they have relations, let their property be given to their legitimate relations; yet so that an allowance for those to whom they have been consigned for penance be sufficiently provided. But, if any of an ecclesiastical community, whether priests, levites, or monks, or clerics, or any others, shall have lapsed, we will that they be consigned to penance, but that the Church shall retain its claim to their property. Yet let them receive for their own use enough to maintain them during their penance, lest, if left destitute, they should be burdensome to the places whereto they have been consigned. If any have relations on the ecclesiastical domain, let their property be delivered to them, that it may be preserved in their hands subject to the Church's claim. Three years ago the subdeacons of all the churches in Sicily, in accordance with the custom of the Roman Church, were forbidden all conjugal intercourse with their wives. But it appears to me hard and improper that one who has not been accustomed to such continency, and has not previously promised chastity, should be compelled to separate himself from his wife, and thereby (which God forbid) fall into what is worse. Hence it seems good to me that from the present day all bishops should be told not to presume to make any one a subdeacon who does not promise to live chastely; that so what was not of set purpose desired in the past may not be forcibly required, but that cautious provision may be made for the future. But those who since the prohibition of three years ago have lived continently with their wives are to be praised and rewarded, and exhorted to continue in their good way. But, as for those who since the prohibition have been unwilling to abstain from intercourse with their wives, we desire them not to be advanced to a sacred order; since no one ought to approach the ministry of the altar but one who has been of approved chastity before undertaking the ministry. For Liberatus the tradesman, who has commended himself to the Church, dwelling on the Cincian estate, we desire you to make an annual provision; which provision do you estimate yourself as to what it ought to be, that it may be reported to me and charged in your accounts. With regard to the present indiction I have already got information from our son the servant of God Diaconus. One John, a monk, has died and left Fantinus the guardian (defensorem) his heir to the extent of one half. Hand over to the latter what has been left him, but charge him not to presume to do the like again. But appoint what he should receive for his work, so that it be not fruitless to him; and let him remember that one who lives on the pay of the Church should not pant after private gains. But, if anything should accrue to the Church, without sin and without the lust of concupiscence, through those who transact the business of the Church, it is right that these should not be without fruit of their labour. Still let it be reserved for our judgment how they should be remunerated. As to the money of Rusticianus, look thoroughly into the case, and carry out what appears to you to be just. Admonish the magnificent Alexander to conclude the cause between himself and holy Church; which if he perhaps shall neglect to do, do thou, in the fear of God and with honour preserved, bring this same cause to an issue as you are able. We desire you also to expend something in this business; and, if it can be done, let him be spared the cost of what has to be given to others, provided he terminates the cause which he has with us. Restore without any delay the donation of the handmaiden of God who has lapsed and been sent into a monastery, to the end that (as I have said above) the same place that bears the toil of attending to her may have provision for her from what she has. But recover also whatever of hers is in the hands of others, and hand it over to the aforesaid monastery. Send to us the payments of Xenodochius of Via Nova to the amount you have told us of, since you have them by you. But give something, according to your discretion, to the agent whom you have deputed in the same patrimony. Concerning the handmaiden of God who was with Theodosius, by name Extranea, it seems to me that you should give her an allowance, if you think it advantageous, or at any rate return to her the donation which she made. The house of the monastery which Antoninus had taken from the monastery, giving thirty solidi for it, restore thou without the least delay, the money being repaid. After thoroughly investigating the truth restore the onyx phials , which I send back to you by the bearer of these presents. If Saturninus is at liberty and not employed with you, send him to us. Felix, a farmer under the lady Campana, whom she had left free and ordered to be exempt from examination, said that seventy-two solidi had been taken from him by Maximus the subdeacon, for paying which he asserted that he sold or pledged all the property that he had in Sicily. But the lawyers said that he could not be exempt from examination concerning acts of fraud. However, when he was returning to us from Campania, he perished in a storm. We desire you to seek out his wife and children, to redeem whatever he had pledged, repay the price of what he had sold, and moreover provide them with some maintenance; seeing that Maximus had sent the man into Sicily and there taken from him what he alleged. Ascertain, therefore, what has been taken from him, and restore it without any delay to his wife and children. Read all these things over carefully, and put aside all that familiar negligence of yours. My writings which I have sent to the peasants cause you to be read over throughout all the estates, that they may know in what points to defend themselves, under our authority, against acts of wrong; and let either the originals or copies be given them. See that you observe everything without abatement: for, with regard to what I have written to you for the observance of justice, I am absolved; and, if you are negligent, you are guilty. Consider the terrible Judge who is coming: and let your conscience now anticipate His advent with fear and trembling, lest it should then fear [not?] without cause, when heaven and earth shall tremble before Him. You have heard what I wish to be done: see that you do it. 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/360201044.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.