Letter 19: To his beloved master, Archbishop Nothelm, invested with the insignia of the high priesthood, Boniface, a humble...

[Context: Nothelm was first archpriest of St. Paul's, London, and consecrated Archbishop of Canterbury in 735, receiving the pallium from Gregory III in the following year. He was a friend of Albinus, Abbot of St. Augustine's, Canterbury, and conveyed information from him to Bede about the ecclesiastical history of Kent. He died in October 739. Some writings have been attributed to him, but they are spurious.] To his beloved master, Archbishop Nothelm, invested with the insignia of the high priesthood, Boniface, a humble servant of the servants of God, sincere greetings of eternal love in Christ. I earnestly beg you to remember me in your holy prayers and so bring peace to my mind, tossed as it is by the anxieties of this mission in Germany. Unite me to you in a bond of brotherhood such as was granted to me by your predecessor, Archbishop Bertwald, of revered memory, at the time I left my native country. May my brethren and the companions of my wanderings be counted worthy also to be united to you in the bond of the spirit, in the ties of love, in the faith of Christ and the sweetness of charity. I pray you in the same way to obtain for me a copy of the letter containing, it is said, the questions of Augustine, first archbishop and apostle of the English, and the replies made to them by Pope Gregory I. In this letter it is stated among other things that marriages between Christians related in the third degree are lawful. Will you have a careful search made to discover whether or not this document has been proved to be an authentic work of St. Gregory? For the registrars say that it is not to be found in the archives of the Church at Rome among the other papers of the said Pope. Further, I would like your advice as regards a sin which I have unwittingly committed by allowing a certain man to marry. It happened in this way. The man, like many others, had stood as goffather to the child of another man and then on the father's death married the mother. The people in Rome say that this is a sin, even a mortal sin, and state that in such cases a divorce is necessary. They maintain that under the Christian emperors such a marriage was punishable by death or exile for life. If you find that this is considered so great a sin in the decrees of the Fathers and in the canons or even in Holy Scripture, tell me so, because I would like to understand and learn the authorities for such an opinion. I cannot understand how spiritual relationship in marriage can be so great a sin, when we know that through Baptism we all become sons and daughters, brothers and sisters in the Church. Would you also let me know in what year the first missionaries sent by St. Gregory came to England? (Tangl, 33)

Nothelm was first archpriest of St. Paul's, London, and consecrated Archbishop of Canterbury in 735, receiving the pallium from Gregory III in the following year. He was a friend of Albinus, Abbot of St. Augustine's, Canterbury, and conveyed information from him to Bede about the ecclesiastical history of Kent. He died in October 739. Some writings have been attributed to him, but they are spurious. To his beloved master, Archbishop Nothelm, invested with the insignia of the high priesthood, Boniface, a humble servant of the servants of God, sincere greetings of eternal love in Christ. I earnestly beg you to remember me in your holy prayers and so bring peace to my mind, tossed as it is by the anxieties of this mission in Germany. Unite me to you in a bond of brotherhood such as was granted to me by your predecessor, Archbishop Bertwald, of revered memory, at the time I left my native country. May my brethren and the companions of my wanderings be counted worthy also to be united to you in the bond of the spirit, in the ties of love, in the faith of Christ and the sweetness of charity. I pray you in the same way to obtain for me a copy of the letter containing, it is said, the questions of Augustine, first archbishop and apostle of the English, and the replies made to them by Pope Gregory I. In this letter it is stated among other things that marriages between Christians related in the third degree are lawful. Will you have a careful search made to discover whether or not this document has been proved to be an authentic work of St. Gregory? For the registrars say that it is not to be found in the archives of the Church at Rome among the other papers of the said Pope. Further, I would like your advice as regards a sin which I have unwittingly committed by allowing a certain man to marry. It happened in this way. The man, like many others, had stood as goffather to the child of another man and then on the father's death married the mother. The people in Rome say that this is a sin, even a mortal sin, and state that in such cases a divorce is necessary. They maintain that under the Christian emperors such a marriage was punishable by death or exile for life. If you find that this is considered so great a sin in the decrees of the Fathers and in the canons or even in Holy Scripture, tell me so, because I would like to understand and learn the authorities for such an opinion. I cannot understand how spiritual relationship in marriage can be so great a sin, when we know that through Baptism we all become sons and daughters, brothers and sisters in the Church. Would you also let me know in what year the first missionaries sent by St. Gregory came to England? (Tangl, 33)