Letter 2058

Gregory to Cyprianus, deacon [papal agent managing Church estates in Sicily]. Cosmas says that he has become bound by many debts arising from various dangerous circumstances, to the point that his own children are being held by his creditors on account of these debts. If this is truly the case, it has deeply moved us. Therefore we urge your affection, since this concerns the distribution of resources belonging to the poor, to investigate his case with the utmost care. And if you find that he is genuinely entangled in the debts described — that he has no means from which he could repay them — go to his creditors and negotiate whatever sum you determine is needed to recover his children. And since, as has been said, he has no means to repay, pay it from the resources of the poor by our present authority, knowing that whatever is given there under your supervision shall be charged against the revenues of our patrimony [the papal estates in Sicily]. Given in the month of August, in the eleventh indiction [592 AD].

AD CYPRIANUM DIACONUM. Si non habet Cosmas unde 80lvat, cum illius credito- ribus paciscatur ; atque ejusdem filios, pactam 8um- mam persolvens, liberet. Gregorius Cypriano diacono. Cosmas ex variis periculorum necessitatibus mu'tis Se dicit * debilis obligatum, ita ut pro eis a credito- C ribus $uvis $v0s dicat filioz detineri. Qnz res si ita esl, nos omnino commovit. Quamobrem hortamur dilectionem tuam, ut quia de rebus pauperum dandis agitur, causam £ecjus cum summa S$ubltilitate perqui- ras ; et si inveneris eum predictis debitis veraciter involutum, ut non $it substantia unde possit hc ipsa decessores tni habuisse noscuntur, presenti aucto- ritale concedimus, atque ea omnia Circa honoris tvi privilegium volumus permanere, que anterioribus temporibus Ecelesiz tuz constat esse $ervala, ut nj- hil prorsus de privilegiis ejus doleas diminutum. Et, 8subscriptio domini pape; Deus te incolumem custodiat. Data x Kalend. Octobris , imperante dom. Justino Augusto. » Docti-simus Baluzius , qui ex Cod. Colb. prece-lum hoc edidit, Miscellan. l:b. v, recte censet scribendum ut in dicto Colb. Justiniano , pro Ju- 8lino. | Eersr. LV [Af. 56]. — * Nota historia vidue V Reg. iv, et parabola Maltth. xvin. Romanorum vetustissimi lege x1 tabularum permiserant viventis debitoris corpus $ecari, distrahi , dividi inter credi- lores. A. Gellius , lib. xx, c, 1. Postea debilores et qui 5e pro eis in nexum dabant, carceri mancipaban- tur, et \erberibus ad creyitoris nutum $ublebantur. Livius, Annal. lib. vin, meminit causamque notat refixi woris. Constantinus imp. pena carceris liberat debitores fiscalium, Cod. lib. x, tit. 19, leg. 2. Dio- cletianus et Maximianus imperatores crudelissimi, ob Xs alienum $Servire liberos creditoribus nolunt, ut habetur Cod. lib. rv, tit. 10, leg. 12. Justinianus in authent, 154, c. 7, cavet ne debitoris filius pro paire relineatur aut in pignus, aut in servile minislerium, aut in conductionem, cred-:loremque qui hanc in legem peccavit $ubdit paenis corporalibus. Carcef amem est Species Servitutis. Vide Sanctum Gregv- rium, dial-g. lib. uv, c. 27. In Gallijs, mortui debi- _—_ -O__—_— 657 - EPISTOLARUM LIB. NI. — INDICT. XI. — EPIST. LXI. | 658 persolvere, przedictos creditores ejus adeas, et propter A pulchritudo in superficie corporis, si vulnus latet recolligendos filios ejus, quanta cognoveris quantitate componas. Et quia , /sicut dictum est, hic non habet unde restituat, de rebus pauperum ex pr$enti no>lra :ucloritate persolve; sciens quidquid illic te provi- dente datum fuerit, patrimonii no$tri pensionibus essc reputandum. > Mense Augusto , indictione 11. (Vid. ep. 45 indict, 12. Cf. Joan. Diac. l. n1, c. 55.) G71 EPI->TOLA LIX. AD SECUNDINUM EPISCOPUM. Bapligterium de monaslerio auſeratur , ut monachis diceat opus Dei 8ecurius celebrare. Gregorius Secundino episcopo * Tauromenitano. Pridem praecepimus ( Grat. 18, 9.2, c. 7) ut de monaslerio sancti Andre, quod est Super Mascalas, baptisterium Þ propter monachorum insovlentias de- buisset auſerri, atque in eolem loco quo fontes sunt allare ſundari. Cujus rei perſectio hactenus est pro- tracta. Admonemus igitur ſraternitatem tuam ut nul- lam jam moram posl $susceptas przsentes litteras nostras inserere debeas; sed, repleto © loco ipsorum ſontiom, altare ad $acra celebranda mysteria illic 8ine aliqua dilatione fundetur; quatenus et pradictis monachis opus Dei $ecurius li: eat celebrare, et non de negligentia vestra contra ſraternitatem tuam no- v{er avimus excitetur.,