Letter 9015

From: Gregory the Great, Pope, in Rome To: Chrysanthus, Bishop of Spoleto [in Umbria] Date: ~599 AD Context: Gregory directs Chrysanthus to place the relics of martyrs in a basilica at Rieti. Gregory to Chrysanthus, bishop of Spoleto. Relics of the martyrs are to be placed in the basilica at Rieti [a town in the Sabine hills]. I direct you to arrange for this translation and to carry out the installation with appropriate ceremony. The veneration of the martyrs' relics connects the local community to the great cloud of witnesses who gave their lives for the faith. This is not superstition; it is the church's memory made visible and tangible. Treat the occasion with the reverence it deserves. Gregory

AD CIRYSANTHUM EPISCOPUM SPOLETANUM. M artyrum reliquias in basilica Reatina collocet. Gregorius Chrysantho episcopo ® Spoletano. Paulus, Þ Ecclesie Reatinze diaconus, petitoria nobis insinuatione poposcit ut ad fontcs Q4J in ba- Silica bealz Mariz semper virginis genitricis Dei et Domini nostri Jesu Christi , quz est intra civitatem Realinam posita, reliquiz beatorum mariyrum Her- melis et Ryacinthi et Maximi debeant collocari. Et ideo, frater charissime, $i in eodem loco nullum SANCTI GRECGORI MACNI- martyrum cum reverentia sine ambiguitale suscepta diligenter consecrabis.