Letter 6036
Gregory the Great (Wisigothic)→Unknown|gregory great
From: Gregory the Great, Pope, in Rome
To: Secundinus, bishop
Date: ~596 AD
Context: Gregory directs that a man named Sincerus be absolved from the charge of having succeeded his father-in-law in his see.
Gregory to Secundinus, bishop.
The charge against Sincerus — that he improperly succeeded his father-in-law in the episcopal see — has been examined. If Sincerus has agreed to abstain from any claim on his father-in-law's succession going forward, he is to be absolved of this charge.
The concern about nepotism in episcopal appointments is legitimate, but the remedy is prospective, not punitive in cases where the person has acknowledged the problem and committed to different conduct going forward.
Absolve him.
Gregory
AD SECUNDINUM EPISCOPUM.
Sincerum, 8i a 80ceri 8ui successione abslinuerit, ab
hujus creditoribus rexari non 8inat. [li vero, ut .
vite subsidium reperiat, hberam procuret quo vo»
luerit eundi licentiam. |
Gregorius Secundino epise. * Tauromenitano.
Et legum ratio, et aquitas admonet naturalis,
ut qui-quis Þ hzreditatem aut renuit, 2ut p2rentum
Successione $e abstinet, hzreditaria non GY] de-
beat onera sustinere. Quia ergo Sincerus , lator
presentivm, Ililarum socerum $uum omnino inopem
defunctum innotuit, et uxorem $8uam , © filiam ip-
Sius, in qualibet re ejus se Substantiz minime mis-
cuisse, et ad persolvenduw paternum debitum eam
ab ejus creditoribus queritur perurgeri, idcirco ſra-
ternitas vestra diligenter inquirat. Et si ea quz ait
yeritale subsistunt, sacerdotalem illis studeat tvitio-
nem impendere, nec eos cpntra rationis ordinem
vexari, aut damnum permittat aliquod sustinere.
D Nam valde durum est ut unde nullum $sensit com»
modum, sustlineat injuste dispendium. Supradictus
aulem portitor, 8i huc cum uxore Sua venire Tolue-
rit, quia illic 86 dicit non posse Subsistere, vestris
propter Deum so0latiis potiantur, nec cujusquam eos
illic adversitas pro sua lantum voluntate retineat, aut
eis irrationabiliter moles1us exislat, sed liberam ha-
EeisT. XXXVI [Al. 35]. — ® Tres Valic, et alii,
Tawromenia episcopo.
SANCTI GREGURII MAGN]
beant quo vyoluerint eundi licentiam, quatenus vivendi A laxari poposcit, et ipse ad vos se peliit debere trags-
subsidium alibi saliem Deo largienle reperiant.
« Mense Junii, indictione 14.
◆
From: Gregory the Great, Pope, in Rome
To: Secundinus, bishop
Date: ~596 AD
Context: Gregory directs that a man named Sincerus be absolved from the charge of having succeeded his father-in-law in his see.
Gregory to Secundinus, bishop.
The charge against Sincerus — that he improperly succeeded his father-in-law in the episcopal see — has been examined. If Sincerus has agreed to abstain from any claim on his father-in-law's succession going forward, he is to be absolved of this charge.
The concern about nepotism in episcopal appointments is legitimate, but the remedy is prospective, not punitive in cases where the person has acknowledged the problem and committed to different conduct going forward.
Absolve him.
Gregory
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.