Letter 11017: Your appointment to oversee the poor table and the administration of the diaconia is now confirmed.

Although the devotion of those who, with the pious intention of solicitude, expend care upon the weak and the needy is able to protect them in the eyes of all, it is nevertheless better, for their own peace of mind, that they be safeguarded in respect of the things they have done, lest thereafter an occasion of disquiet should arise for them from the very deeds for which they ought rather to be praised. Since therefore we have chosen you, John, a religious man, prompted by the zeal of your intention, to be set in charge of [...] of the poor and of the administration of the deaconry to be carried out, lest from this administration any uncertainty should arise for you, we have provided that you be supported by this safeguard, decreeing that, concerning that which you have received, or shall hereafter receive, for the tables of the poor or for the maintenance of the deaconry to be disbursed, you shall never be compelled by any manner or device whatsoever, by any of men, to render an account, nor ought you to be obliged to endure any annoyance. But because we wish you to be thus released from all human accountings, in such a way that you shall know that you are to render to our God an account of those things which we have entrusted to you, we exhort that the sincerity of faith in you may flourish, that your mind may be more intent upon the matters at hand, your care more inclined, your will more ready, your zeal more vigilant, your devotion more clear, your performance more effective, so that, when by divine aid you have diligently fulfilled this work, both those for whom you bear solicitude may be usefully comforted by the consolation of your diligence, and you yourself may receive the reward of your good in eternal life, the grace of our Redeemer recompensing it. In the month of January, in the fourth indiction.

Licet eos qui pia intentione sollicitudinis * curam debilibus ac egenis impendunt sua apud omnes valeat tueri devotio, melius tamen est, si pro quiete sua de his fuerint muniti^ quae gesserint, ne deinde® eis inquietudinis occasio, unde magis laudandi sunt, oriatur. Quia igitur te^ lohannem religiosum intentionis tuae studio provocati mensis XI, 16 in dtulo: lohs Rl — RavennatU Rl; Rayen q.q* 1.2.3; Ravennensis Q*4; Ravenn R*l. dicte Rl. impertuno q1. ^ suppliciter Rl. 9) ren. est q1; est ren. q3. quantam q* 1. tatis Ql. a) eius Rl. o) diverso Rl. p) omnino q1. ^) referre Rl. Mense cet: decembrio Rl; decebr. q*; decembri R*l; dec. om. q1; novembri q3. XI, 17 in Htulo: lofis Rl. ») sollitudinis q* 1. »>) munita Q 1. c) deinde Rl. Q. Q*l; inde, ut videtur, q* 2. 3. d) ©t Rl. 1) De argentariis, eorum corpore eorumque contractibus cf. nov. lust. 136 et edict. VU. — BavenmiLe saeculo V. et VL commemorantur lulianua argentariua (AgneU. c. 57. 59. 77. Marini pap. dipl. nP. 114.) et aliquot alii (C.I.L. XI i, 350; Marini, pap. dipl. no.84. 90. 113. 115). 2) De pdkOinia cf. IX, 72 n. 1. IX, 113 n. 2. 3) De asylo eccksiastico cf ep. IX, 4 n,3. 4) Hic de eautione quadam Inportuni agi videtur. Cf. de huius modi cautionibm ep. XI, 4 (n. 1). XI, 17. lohannea o/ios ignotu8 est. — Cf. cum hac ep. Diumi f. 95. 118. mDICTIO IV. NOV. (XI, 16) - lAN. (XI, 18). pauperum et® exhibendae diaeoniae^ elegimus praeponendum, ne qua tibi ex hac nascatur amministratione ' dubietas, hac te munitione prospeximus fulciendum consti- tuentes, ut de hoc quod ad mensas pauperum vel diaconiae exhibitionem percepisti sive subinde perceperis erogandum, nuUi» umquam hominum quolibet** modo seu inge- nio cogaris ponere rationem^ vel aliquam^ debeas molestiam sustinere. Sed quia ita ab* humanis te omnibus esse" volumus rationibus absolutum", ut Deo nostro de his quae tibi commisimus rationem te noveris positurum, hortamur, ut fidei in te sinceritas vigeat, sit mens in rebus intentior°, cura propensior, voluntas pronior, studiumP vigi- lantius, devotio clarior, exhibitio efficacior, quatenus, dum divino iutus*» auxilio hoo opus' sollerter impleveris", et illi pro quibus sollicitudinem geris* studii tui solacio utiliter consolentur" et tu^ mercedis tuae bonum'' in aetema vita redemptoris nostri* gratia compensante^ recipias. MENSE lANUARIO INDICTIONE IIIL