Letter 11038: If you are held bound by no condition or liability to bodily service, and hast not been a cleric of any other city, and if there is no canonical objection to you, it is our will and pleasure, with a view to the advantage of the Church, that you receive the office of Guardian of the Church, in order that you may execute incorruptly and diligently...
Gregory to Vitus.
If you are bound by no obligation or liability of bodily service, and have not been a cleric of any other city, and if there is no canonical impediment in your case, then it is my will and decision, for the benefit of the Church, that you receive the office of Guardian of the Church. You are to carry out honestly and diligently whatever I may assign to you for the benefit of the poor. Use this appointment, which I have conferred on you after due deliberation, so as to faithfully accomplish all that I may direct -- knowing that you will render an account of your actions before the judgment of our God.
This letter I have dictated for writing to Paterius, deputy chief notary of our Church, and have signed it personally.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.
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