Letter 2008

From: Gregory the Great, Pope, in Rome To: Candidus, bishop Date: ~592 AD Context: Gregory instructs that the customary stipends not be withheld from a sick cleric. Gregory to Candidus, bishop. It has been brought to my attention that a cleric who is ill has been denied the customary stipends that belong to his position. This must be corrected immediately. The fact that a cleric is unable to perform his duties because of illness is no grounds for withholding his income. He has given his life to the service of the church; when illness prevents him from active ministry, the church's obligation to support him does not thereby cease — it becomes more acute. Restore the stipends at once. And establish as a firm rule in your diocese that illness is not grounds for withholding clerical income. A man does not stop being a cleric because he is sick. Gregory

AD CANDIDUM EPISCOPUM, Ne egrolanti Clerico consuela negentur stipendia. Gregorius Candido episeopo de urbe veleri. Cum percussio corporalis (Grat. q. 1, c. 2), * utrum pro purgatione, an pro vigdicta contingat, Dei in hoc $7 þz judicium ignoratur, non debet a nobis addi Nagellatis aſflictio, ne nos culpz, quod absit, offensa hac percussione quam S$ustinet consueta $ibi com- moda ab Ecclesia vestra asserit negari, idcirco fra- lernilatem tuam presentibus hortamur epistolis qua- tenus nil eum ad percipienda quz cansueta sunt, hec z#gritudo Þ debeat impedire, quia diversis in Eeclesia militantibus , varia, sicut nosti, 8xpe Ccon- Sanctorum , etc. Innocentius II, exira., lib. 1, De translatione episcopi, cap. 1, reponit translationen il- lam inler caus3$ majores, quze Secundum in$tituta canonica_ ad «<ummuin pontlificem $unt perferende. Hic Sanctus Gregorius per causas majores eas intel- ligit qua, licet privatze, alicujus tamen $4unt mo- ment! , -nec. salis Maximiano pervie. Videat lector historiam 8exli Carthaginensis concilii , et litteras Synodicas ad Bonifacium et Calestinum. De causis majoribus apud Jud:ros, Josephus, lib, 1 Antiq. Judaic. , cap. 8 : *Av 3 of Sexaotai pn voor rept tov in' avrois Tapuriruy ivy enoprioachat, ova Ot Toa Tara THis WvIplunog hxEpaty, GVERELTETWEEY Tv Siznv eig THv (epav Tow , xt ovveldoures 6 T3 ap" Yupels nai 6 mpopirns xai 1 yepouoia, xat T5 Goxovy anypumoluga. 14 est : Quod si judices ne>ciant de negotio ad $8e delato pronuntiare, Sicut interdum accidit, in sanclam nrbem causam inlegram rele- gent ; tum vero pontiſex et prophela' una cum $e- natu quod visum fuerit decernant. GUSSANV., « Gregorius Petro subdiacono vices $4as in Sicitia prius commiserat, lib. 1, epist. 1. Easdem hic Ma- ximiano demandat. Et quia dum Petrus hoc munere ſungeretur, hoc personze, non ulli loco alligatum erat ; eadem etiam conditione Maximianum vicariu:n Suum inslitvit, ne ejus in sede Syracusana SUCces- Sores hunc honorem cathedrx datum presumerent , eamdemque $ibi auctoritatem vindicarent. keisr. VII ( Al. 5). — * Recentiores Edit. addi- derunt , imminet ; et paulo post, et ideo. | egrolanie, cap. 1, aliquot verbis immulatis. In di- geslis, de $latu liberis, lib. xL : Servire nobis intelit- gunlur etiam hi quos curamus @gros , qui Cupientes 8ervire, propler adversam valetudinem impediuniur. E>t quod lector notet isla verba, cupientes 8ervire , et in nostra epistola, in Ecclesia milituniibus. Siqui- dem Ecclesi;e commoda non nisi militantibus deben- tur, aut cerle ita cupientibus, ut per cos non Stet. Unde Juslinianus, lib. 1 Cod., lit. 5, & 10: Sancimus ut omnes clerici per singulas Ecclesias conslituti, per seipses psnllant nocturna, et malulind, el vesperiima, ne er s0la ecclesigslicarum rerum cunsumplione cleric _— wa m; +. Ez=©= a . coca wm a—_—cczT aw cw ww. == — 2 O©@&5> a _ aw Mm -- a - ST $45 EPISTOLARUM L1B. 11. — INDICT. X. — EPIST. X: 346 tingi: inſirmitas. Et si hoc fuerint exemplo deterriti, nullus de czlero qui Ecclesie militet poterit inve- niri, 8ed secundum loci. ejus ordinem quzque ei, $i Sanus esset, polerart ministrari, de ipsa exigui- tale, que Eecclesiz potest accedere , ſraternitas tua (41vini contemplatione judicii zgrolanti prebere non i!esinat , quatenus in hujus rei administratione ad eleemosYnam polius videaris quz $unt congsuela ex- s0Ilvendo convertere. ( Vide up. l.1, ep. 12; Cf. Joan. Diac. l. iv, c. 35.)