Letter 12012

From: Pope Gregory I To: All the Bishops of the Council of Byzacena Date: ~602 AD Context: Gregory writes about Crescentius, their primate, who has been gravely accused Brothers, the accusations that have been laid against Crescentius, your primate, are of a gravity that cannot be ignored. I am not writing to condemn him — that is not mine to do without a proper canonical hearing — but I am writing to demand that the hearing take place. A primate under serious accusation who is not called to account is a wound in the body of the church that festers the longer it is left untreated. Convene your council. Hear the charges and the defense. Act according to the canons and the truth of what you find. Report your judgment to this see. The church of Africa deserves better than the uncertainty that clouds it now.

Sicut laudabilc discretumque est reverentiam et honorem debitum exhibere* prioribus, ita rectitudinis et Dei timoris est, si qua in eos^ corrcctionis indigent, nulla dissimulatione postponere, ne totum, quod absit, corpus incipiat morbus invadere, si languor non fuerit curatus in capite. Ante multum siquidem temporis quaedam ad nos® de fratre nostro Crementio primate vestro^ perlata sunt^, quae cor nostrum non modico maerore transfigerent ; sed premcntibus diversis tribulationibus et maxime circumsaevientibus * hostibus ea nobis non fuit spatium requirendi. Et quoniam ita sunt gravia, ut transire indiscussa nullo modo debeant, fratemitatem vestram his horta- 1) servaiiti RLq.q*. ™) relagat R2. °) Beuem q2. o) Hecuta (pro se cuucta) q1. p) ea om. R2, 4) ipse q*. ') ox u. a. umuiu q*2.3. perveuiat RJ. deliuqueritis R2. XII, 12 in tUulo: Vizachii oni. Rl; Wizautii R* 1. ») exhiberi RI.qI. *») eis Rl. c) ad noB om. R2. ^) vrm Rl. ^) circumvenieutibus Rl. 0 affectibus Rl. B) buq add. Rl. *>) indicare q* 1. *) et om. q*2.3.q2. ^) si oni. RI.qI. l) si om. RI.qJ.q*. ") et add. Rl.Ql.Q*. ") non q*2.3.q2. ") torpor, lU videtur, R2. P) cuiusdam qJ.2. i) sit om. q2. ') quolibet RJ. ^) n q*2.3. q2. t) discutiendis R1.q1.2.q*. ») secundum taliter Rl. ▼) accite Rl. ^) causa q*1. XII, J2. De CremefUio vel Clemefitio cf. ep. IX, 24 n. J. J) I)e causa Crementii ah imperatore ad papam ddata cf. ep. IX, 24. 27. GREGORn I. REGISTRI