Letter 1011: Having received your Glory's letter speaking of the passing away of the late Eutherius of magnificent memory, we give you to understand that our mind no less than yours is disturbed by such a sorrow, in that we see how men of approved repute are by degrees removed from this world, whose ruin is already evidenced in the actual effects of the caus...
Book I, Letter 11
To Clementina, Patrician [a noblewoman of the highest rank].
Gregory to Clementina.
Your letter telling me of Eutherius's passing — a man of distinguished memory — found me grieving just as deeply as you. We watch the people worth knowing disappear from this world one by one, and it's visible everywhere: the world is coming apart at the seams. The wise course is to disengage from it ourselves, through genuine spiritual conversion, before it pulls us down in its own collapse.
The grief of losing friends should be somewhat easier to bear precisely because we knew, going in, that we would lose them — our mortality guarantees it. And the One who allowed their departure has the power to comfort us; He steps into the empty place Himself.
As for your request that I send you the deacon Anatholius — I can't, but not out of any reluctance. I've appointed him my household steward [the official managing the papal residence and its affairs], and the running of our house now rests with him.
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