Letter 4006: Gregory to Cyprian, Deacon and Rector of Sicily. It has been reported to us that a native of the province of Lucania, Petronilla by name, was converted through the exhortation of the bishop Agnellus, and that all her property, though she had it in her own power, she nevertheless bestowed on the monastery which she entered even by a special deed...
Pope Gregory the Great→Cyprian|c. 593 AD|gregory great
monasticismproperty economics
Personal friendship; Economic matters
Gregory to Cyprian, Deacon and Rector of Sicily.
We have received a report about a woman named Petronilla, a native of the province of Lucania. She was converted through the exhortation of Bishop Agnellus and, though she had full control of her property, she gave everything to the monastery she entered, even executing a formal deed of gift. The same bishop died leaving half his estate to his son Agnellus — said to be a notary of our Church — and the other half to the monastery.
When they later fled to Sicily because of the calamity threatening Italy, this Agnellus is said to have corrupted Petronilla's morals and defiled her. Finding her pregnant, he enticed her from the monastery, taking with her all her possessions — both what had originally been hers and whatever the bishop his father had given her — and now claims these things as his own.
We urge you to have both the man and the woman brought before you promptly, and to conduct the most thorough investigation. If the facts prove to be as reported to us, settle this matter — polluted as it is by so many offenses — with the utmost severity. The man, who showed regard for neither his own station nor hers, must face strict punishment. She is to be disciplined first and then placed in a monastery under penance. All property taken from the original monastery, together with all its produce and additions, is to be restored in full.
Book IV, Letter 6
To Cyprian, Deacon.
Gregory to Cyprian, Deacon and Rector of Sicily.
It has been reported to us that a native of the province of Lucania, Petronilla by name, was converted through the exhortation of the bishop Agnellus, and that all her property, though she had it in her own power, she nevertheless bestowed on the monastery which she entered even by a special deed of gift: also that the aforesaid bishop died leaving half of his substance to one Agnellus, his son, who is said to be a notary of our Church, and half to the said monastery. But, when they had fled for refuge to Sicily because of the calamity impending on Italy, the above-named Agnellus is said to have corrupted her morals and defiled her, and, finding her with child, to have seduced her from the monastery, and to have taken away with her all her belongings, both those that had been her own and such as she might have had given her by his own father, and that, after perpetrating such and so great a crime, he claims these things as his own. We therefore exhort your Love to cause the aforesaid man, and the above-named woman, to be summarily brought before you, and to institute a most thorough enquiry into the case. And, if you should find it to be as reported to us, determine an affair defiled by so many iniquities with the utmost severity of expurgation; to the end that both strict retribution may overtake the above-named man, who has regarded neither his own nor her condition, and that, she having been first punished and consigned to a monastery under penance, all the property that had been taken away from the oft above-named place, with all its fruits and accessions, may be restored.
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Source. Translated by James Barmby. From Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, Vol. 12. Edited by Philip Schaff and Henry Wace. (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1895.) Revised and edited for New Advent by Kevin Knight. <https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/360204006.htm>.
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Gregory to Cyprian, Deacon and Rector of Sicily.
We have received a report about a woman named Petronilla, a native of the province of Lucania. She was converted through the exhortation of Bishop Agnellus and, though she had full control of her property, she gave everything to the monastery she entered, even executing a formal deed of gift. The same bishop died leaving half his estate to his son Agnellus — said to be a notary of our Church — and the other half to the monastery.
When they later fled to Sicily because of the calamity threatening Italy, this Agnellus is said to have corrupted Petronilla's morals and defiled her. Finding her pregnant, he enticed her from the monastery, taking with her all her possessions — both what had originally been hers and whatever the bishop his father had given her — and now claims these things as his own.
We urge you to have both the man and the woman brought before you promptly, and to conduct the most thorough investigation. If the facts prove to be as reported to us, settle this matter — polluted as it is by so many offenses — with the utmost severity. The man, who showed regard for neither his own station nor hers, must face strict punishment. She is to be disciplined first and then placed in a monastery under penance. All property taken from the original monastery, together with all its produce and additions, is to be restored in full.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.