Letter 159: Leo, the bishop, to Nicætas, bishop of Aquileia, greeting. I. Prefatory.

Leo, Bishop of Rome, to Nicetas, Bishop of Aquileia: greetings. I. Introduction My son Adeodatus, deacon of our See, on his return has delivered your request, beloved, to receive from us the guidance of the Apostolic See on matters that seem difficult to resolve but for which we must make provision in light of the necessities of the times. The wounds inflicted by the enemy's attacks must be healed, above all through the agency of the faith. II. On women who remarried when their husbands were taken captive You report that through the disasters of war and the devastating raids of the enemy, families have in some cases been so shattered that husbands have been carried off into captivity while their wives remain abandoned. These women, believing their husbands to be either dead or permanently enslaved, have entered into a second marriage under the pressure of loneliness. Now that conditions have improved with the Lord's help, some of those who were thought to have perished have returned, and you are naturally in doubt, dear brother, about what should be decided concerning women who are now joined to other husbands. Because we know it is written that "a wife is joined to her husband by the Lord" (Proverbs 19:14), and again that "what God has joined together, let no one separate" (Matthew 19:6), we are bound to hold that the bond of the lawful marriage must be restored. After the evils that the enemy inflicted have been set right, what each person lawfully possessed must be returned to them. Every effort must be made to ensure that each man recovers his own wife. However, those women who entered a second marriage in the honest belief that their husbands had perished are not to be treated as guilty of adultery. They acted in good faith under desperate circumstances. Nevertheless, the first marriage retains its validity, and when the first husband returns, the woman must go back to him. The children born of the second union are not to be considered illegitimate, for they were born in a marriage contracted in good faith. III. On men who were weakened in faith during captivity If any men who were held captive were compelled by their captors to eat food offered to idols, or were forced to participate in pagan rites, they are to be received back with the remedy of penance. They should not be treated as though they had voluntarily apostasized, since compulsion, not free will, was the cause of their lapse. The duration and severity of their penance should be proportionate to the degree of their cooperation and the circumstances of their captivity. Let charity and pastoral wisdom govern all these cases, beloved brother. The times are hard, and the Church must be a place of refuge and healing, not of rigid condemnation for those who have suffered more than they can bear. Dated from Rome.

Leo, the bishop, to Nicætas, bishop of Aquileia, greeting. I. Prefatory. My son Adeodatus, deacon of our See, on returning to us has delivered your request, beloved, to receive from us the authority of the Apostolic See upon matters which seem indeed to be hard to decide, but which we must make provision for with a view to the necessities of the times that the wounds which have been inflicted by the attacks of the enemy may be healed chiefly by the agency of religion. II. About the women who married again when their husbands were taken prisoners. As then you say that through the disasters of war and through the grievous inroads of the enemy families have in certain cases been so broken up that the husbands have been carried off into captivity and their wives remain forsaken, and these latter thinking their own husbands either dead or never likely to be freed from their masters, have contracted another marriage under stress of loneliness, and as, now that the state of things has im proved through the Lord's help, some of those who were thought to have perished have returned, you seem, dear brother, naturally to be in doubt what ought to be settled by us about women thus joined to other husbands. But because we know it is written that a woman is joined to a man by God Proverbs 19:14, and again, we are aware of the precept that what God has joined, man may not put asunder Matthew 19:6, we are bound to hold that the compact of the lawful marriage must be renewed, and after the removal of the evils inflicted by the enemy, what each lawfully had must be restored to him; and we must take every pains that each should recover what is his own. III. Whether he is blameable who has taken the prisoner's wife? But notwithstanding let him not be held blameable and treated as the invader of another's right, who took the place of the husband, who was thought no longer alive. For thus many things which belonged to those led into captivity happened to pass into the possession of others, and yet it is altogether fair that on their return their property should be restored. And if this is duly observed in the case of slaves or of lands, or even of houses and personal goods, how much more ought it to be done in the restoration of wives, that what has been disturbed by the necessities of war may be restored by the remedy of peace? IV. The wife must be restored to her first husband. And, therefore, if husbands who have returned after a long captivity still feel such affection for their wives as to desire them to return to partnership , that, which necessity brought about, must be passed over and judged blameless and the demands of fidelity satisfied. V. Women must be excommunicated who refuse to return. And if any women are so possessed by love of their later husbands as to prefer to remain with them than to return to their lawful partners, they are deservedly to be branded: so that they be even deprived of the Church's communion; for in a pardonable matter they have chosen to taint themselves with crime, showing that they have sought their own pleasure in their incontinence, when a rightful restitution could have obtained their forgiveness. Let them return then to their former state and make voluntary reparation, nor let that which a condition of necessity extorted from them be by any means turned into disgrace through evil desires; because, as those women who refuse to return to their husbands are to be held unholy, so they who return to an affection entered on with God's sanction are deservedly to be praised. VI. About captives, who were compelled to eat of sacrificial food. Concerning those Christians who are asserted to have been polluted with sacrificial food, while among those by whom they were taken prisoners, we have thought it right to make this reply to your enquiry, dear brother, that they be purged by a satisfactory penitence which is to be measured not so much by the duration of the process as by the intensity of the feeling. And whether their compliance was wrung from them by terror or hunger, there need be no hesitation at acquitting them, since the food was taken from fear or want, not from superstitious reverence. VII. About those who in fear or by mistake were re-baptized. But as to those about whom you thought, beloved, we ought likewise to be consulted who were either forced by fear or led by mistake to repeat their baptism, and now understand that they acted contrary to the ordinances of the Catholic Faith, such moderation must be observed towards them that they be received into full communion with us, but not without the healing of penitence and the imposition of the bishop's hands, the length of the penance (with due regard to moderation) being left to your judgment, as you shall perceive the minds of the penitents to be disposed: in which you must not forget to consider old age, illness, and other risks. For if a man be in so dangerous a case that his life is despaired of, while he is still under penance, he should receive the gracious aid of communion by the priest's tender care. VIII. About baptism by heretics. For they who have received baptism from heretics, not having been previously baptized, are to be confirmed by imposition of hands with only the invocation of the Holy Ghost, because they have received the bare form of baptism without the power of sanctification. And this regulation, as you know, we require to be kept in all the churches, that the font once entered may not be defiled by repetition, as the Lord says, One Lord, one faith, one baptism. And that washing may not be polluted by repetition, but, as we have said, only the sanctification of the Holy Ghost invoked, that what no one can receive from heretics may be obtained from Catholic priests. This letter of ours, which we have sent in reply to the inquiries of the brotherhood you shall bring to the knowledge of all your brethren and fellow bishops of the province, that our authority, now that it is given, may avail for the general observance. Dated 21st March, in the consulship of Majorian Augustus (458). About this page Source. Translated by Charles Lett Feltoe. 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/3604159.htm>. Contact information. The editor of New Advent is Kevin Knight. My email address is feedback732 at newadvent.org. (To help fight spam, this address might change occasionally.) Regrettably, I can't reply to every letter, but I greatly appreciate your feedback — especially notifications about typographical errors and inappropriate ads.