Gregory the Great (Wisigothic)→Unknown|gregory great
From: Pope Gregory I
To: Julianus
Date: ~603 AD
Context: Gregory rebukes Julianus for hiding his poverty out of shame; grants annual support to a monastery he built at Catania
My dear Julianus, I have learned something that surprised and saddened me: you have been concealing your poverty out of a sense of shame, rather than allowing the Church to help you as she should. This is a misplaced scruple. Poverty is not shameful, and accepting help from those who have the means to give it is not weakness. I would rather you had come to me directly.
I am also directing an annual payment to the monastery you built in Catania, in recognition of the piety that moved you to build it. That community of prayer owes something to your generosity and your faith, and this see will honor that by supporting it going forward.
Context:Gregory rebukes Julianus for hiding his poverty out of shame; grants annual support to a monastery he built at Catania
My dear Julianus, I have learned something that surprised and saddened me: you have been concealing your poverty out of a sense of shame, rather than allowing the Church to help you as she should. This is a misplaced scruple. Poverty is not shameful, and accepting help from those who have the means to give it is not weakness. I would rather you had come to me directly.
I am also directing an annual payment to the monastery you built in Catania, in recognition of the piety that moved you to build it. That community of prayer owes something to your generosity and your faith, and this see will honor that by supporting it going forward.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.