Letter 15

From: Ennodius, Bishop of Pavia To: Pope Symmachus Date: ~515 AD Context: Ennodius writes praising Symmachus and reporting on church affairs in northern Italy. Ennodius to the holy Pope Symmachus. I write to report and to commend myself to your pastoral care, as I try to do regularly when the press of other business permits. The state of the church in Pavia and the surrounding region is better than it was five years ago, though not yet as good as I would like it to be. The basic infrastructure of Christian life — the sacraments, the preaching, the care of the poor — is functioning. The clergy, though uneven in quality, are in place. The principal challenge remains what it has been for years: the aristocracy's relationship to the church, which oscillates between genuine piety and the use of ecclesiastical office as social patronage. On the latter point: I have had several direct conversations with noble families who were pressing for the appointment of their sons or nephews to clerical posts for which they were manifestly unsuited. In some cases I have been able to redirect these ambitions toward more appropriate channels. In others — I am being honest with you — the pressure was greater than my ability to resist it, and the result is some clergy whose primary qualification is their family. I pray you will not judge me too harshly for the latter. The bishop of Pavia governs in the world as it is. Your devoted son, Ennodius

Sigismundi regis ad Symmachum papam seu ^ Ab Avito episcopo dietata sub nomine domni Sigismundi regiB ad Symmaohiun papam UrbiB« Per Julianiim diaconum gacras reliquias Sigismundus rex a Symmacko papa p. If peiit , a quo alias Jam pridem acceperat. 1. Dum sacra reliquiarum pignora, quibus per me Galliam vestram spiritali remuueratione ditastis, negare petentibus non prae- sumo, me quoque sanctorum patrocinia postulare al> irriguo vestri apostolatus foute necesse est. Quamquam etsi est adhuc apud nos de dono vestro, quod catholicae religionis debeat studio celebrari, etiam illud tamen convenit justae devotionis intelligi^ ut directis litterarii sermonis officiis alloquia illa captemus, quibus me ponti- ficatus vester vel praesentem monitLs docuit vel absentem interce^ sionibus acquisivit. Nec nunc paginae praesentis obsequium reperta opportunitas complectitur; sed destinato ad vos diacono portitore, viro venerabili Juliano, ad universalis *) Ecclesiae praesulem spiritn repraesentante concurrimus. Crescit quippe benefieiorum recorda- tione desiderium: nec unquam meis elui sensibus possunt, quae nobis apud Italiam vestram vel pontificalis benignitas vel civilitas^) re- galis impendit, quum post familiaritatem totius munificentiae commo- dis praeferendam, quia istic liberius laxavit reditum^ illiuc tenacius vinxit aiFectum. 2. Attentior pro vestris^), quod superest, incumbat oratio. In augmento namque oviuni crescit custodia pastoralis. Sacris nos apostolorum liminibus commemoratione assidua praesentantes , spe- ciali dum vixero praedicatori *) vestro, ubi obtinuistis initium, im- petrate profectum. Litteris nos, in quantum possibilitas patitur ani misda. Quamvis ratio exigai ut fratemitati tuae nastri sacerdotii primitias musy tamen Dei beneficia tacere. Deindc sequitur epistola Felicis ad Caeea- rium (c^'). ') Variis in libellis actioni 3 concilii Calchedoncnsis ineertiB Leo um^ersaHi archiepiscopus nuncupatur. Scd licct illi apostolicae sedis praesuli datam nt houorificum illud nomen, obtestatur tamen Gregorius lib. al. 8 Ind. 1 episl 30; ne sibi tribuatur, ac lib. al. 5. Ind. 13 epist. 20, decessores sqos ea modestiA fuisse testatur, ut nulius eorum unquam hoc singtdaritatis nomine mii eotuenserit. V \ \ EPISTOLAE 17 — 19. 73U— libertas^ quibus nobis doctrina et incolumitas vestra floreat, fre- quentate. Et ut supra speravimus, ambieuda nobis venerabilium reliquiarum conferte praesidia : quorum cultu et beatissimum Petrum in virtute, et vos semper habere mereamur in munere.