Letter 1012: Agapitus, abbot of the monastery of St. George, informs us that he endures many grievances from your Holiness; and not only in things that might be of service to the monastery in time of need, but that you even prohibit the celebration of masses in the said monastery, and also interdict burial of the dead there. Now, if this is so, we exhort you...

Pope Gregory the GreatJohn of Jerusalem|c. 590 AD|Pope Gregory the Great|Human translated
grief deathmonasticism
Death & mourning

Book I, Letter 12

To John, Bishop of Orvieto [a town in central Italy].

Gregory to John.

Agapitus, abbot of the monastery of Saint George, informs us that he suffers many grievances at your hands. You have not only withheld things the monastery needs in times of hardship, but you have even prohibited the celebration of Mass there and banned the burial of the dead.

If this is true, we urge you to stop this cruelty. Allow the dead to be buried and Mass to be celebrated there without further obstruction, so that the venerable Agapitus is not forced to bring new complaints to us about these matters.

Human translation - New Advent (NPNF / ANF series)

Latin / Greek Original

Original text not yet available in this corpus.

This letter still needs a Latin or Greek source-text backfill. The source link, when available, is preserved so the text can be checked and added later.

View source

Revision history

  1. 2026-03-20v2.1.0-import

    Initial corpus import from New Advent / NPNF.

    Fields: letter text, metadata, source links. Source: https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/360201012.htm

Related Letters

Pope Gregory the GreatJohn of Jerusalemc. 598 · gregory great #8021

Felix, the bearer of these presents, has complained to us that, being born of Christian parents, he was given (i.e. as a slave) by a certain Christian to a Samaræan , which is an atrocious thing to be said. And, though neither order of law nor reverence for religion allow men of such like superstition in any way whatever to possess Christian sla...

Pope Gregory the GreatJohn of Jerusalemc. 598 · gregory great #8034

It is evidently a very serious thing, and contrary to what a priest should aim at, to wish to disturb privileges formerly granted to any monastery, and to endeavour to bring to naught what has been arranged for quiet. Now the monks of the Castilliensian monastery in your Fraternity's city have complained to us that you are taking steps to impose...

Theodoret of CyrrhusJohn of Jerusalemc. 440 · theodoret cyrrhus #146

Rest and a life free from cares are deeply welcome to me.

Pope Gregory the GreatJohn of Jerusalemc. 595 · gregory great #6044

Although there may have been cause to provoke the spirit of your Fraternity not unreasonably to anger, so that you would neither receive the offerings of the Lord Venantius nor allow the sacred solemnities of mass to be celebrated in his house, yet, inasmuch as our earthly interests should be prosecuted in such a manner that no quarrel may avail...

Pope Gregory the GreatJohn of Jerusalemc. 591 · gregory great #2046

That I have not replied to the many letters of your Blessedness attribute not to sluggishness on my part, but to weakness, seeing that, on account of my sins, when Ariulph, coming to the Roman city, killed some and mutilated others, I was affected with such great sadness as to fall into a colic sickness. But I wondered much why it was that that ...