Letter 8001: On receiving the letters of your Fraternity we returned great thanks to Almighty God, that you had been so good as to refresh us with the news of the gathering in of many souls. And accordingly let your Fraternity strive anxiously to bring to perfection, with the help of the Lord, the work which you have begun. And with regard to those who have ...
Pope Gregory the Great→Peter|c. 598 AD|Pope Gregory the Great|Human translated
Gregory to Peter, Bishop of Corsica.
Your Fraternity's letter brought wonderful news, and I give great thanks to Almighty God for the souls you have been gathering in. Keep pressing forward -- bring this good work to completion with the Lord's help.
Regarding those who were once believers but have slipped back into idol worship through negligence or under pressure: move quickly to bring them back to the faith. Impose a brief penance so they can properly grieve their failure, and they will hold all the more firmly to what they return to once they have fully repented of what they abandoned. As for those who have never been baptized, urge them, plead with them, warn them about the coming judgment, and explain why worshipping blocks of wood and stone makes no sense. Gather them in to Almighty God, so that when the day of judgment arrives, your Holiness may be counted among the saints. What work could be more profitable or more worthy than saving souls and bringing an immortal return to the Lord who gave you the calling to preach?
I am also sending your Fraternity fifty solidi [gold coins] for purchasing baptismal garments for the newly converted. And I have granted the possession you requested to the priest of the church on Mount Negeugnus, with the amount deducted from his usual allowance.
As for your request to build an episcopal residence at the church near that mountain -- I am happy to approve it. The closer you are, the more good you can do.
Book VIII, Letter 1
To Peter, Bishop.
Gregory to Peter, Bishop of Corsica.
On receiving the letters of your Fraternity we returned great thanks to Almighty God, that you had been so good as to refresh us with the news of the gathering in of many souls. And accordingly let your Fraternity strive anxiously to bring to perfection, with the help of the Lord, the work which you have begun. And with regard to those who have once been faithful, but from negligence or under constraint have returned to the worship of idols, make haste to bring them back to the faith, imposing on them a penance of a few days, that they may bewail their guilt, and keep to that to which they return, God helping them, the more firmly as they shall have perfectly deplored that from which they now depart; and with regard to those who have not yet been baptized, let your Fraternity make haste, by admonishing, by beseeching, by alarming them about the coming judgment, and also by giving reasons why they should not worship stocks and stones, to gather them in to Almighty God; that so, at His advent, when the strict day of judgment comes, your Holiness may be found in the number of the Saints. For what more profitable work or more lofty can you be engaged in than taking thought for the quickening and gathering together of souls and bringing in immortal gain to your Lord, Who has given to you the post of preaching?
Further, we send your Fraternity fifty solidi for procuring vestments for those who are to be baptized; and we have also caused to be given to the presbyter of the Church situated in Mount Negeugnus the possession which your Fraternity has asked for, so that its value may be deducted from the money that he had been accustomed to receive.
Further, your Fraternity has asked to be allowed to make for yourself an episcopal residence in the church that is not far from the same mountain; which proposal I most gladly accede to, since the nearer you are, the more will you be able to do good to the souls that are there.
In consideration of your Holiness's intercessions for him we have made the bearer of these presents an acolyte, and have sent him back to attend upon you, in order that, if he should be of still more service in winning souls, he may be in a position to be still further advanced.
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Gregory to Peter, Bishop of Corsica.
Your Fraternity's letter brought wonderful news, and I give great thanks to Almighty God for the souls you have been gathering in. Keep pressing forward -- bring this good work to completion with the Lord's help.
Regarding those who were once believers but have slipped back into idol worship through negligence or under pressure: move quickly to bring them back to the faith. Impose a brief penance so they can properly grieve their failure, and they will hold all the more firmly to what they return to once they have fully repented of what they abandoned. As for those who have never been baptized, urge them, plead with them, warn them about the coming judgment, and explain why worshipping blocks of wood and stone makes no sense. Gather them in to Almighty God, so that when the day of judgment arrives, your Holiness may be counted among the saints. What work could be more profitable or more worthy than saving souls and bringing an immortal return to the Lord who gave you the calling to preach?
I am also sending your Fraternity fifty solidi [gold coins] for purchasing baptismal garments for the newly converted. And I have granted the possession you requested to the priest of the church on Mount Negeugnus, with the amount deducted from his usual allowance.
As for your request to build an episcopal residence at the church near that mountain -- I am happy to approve it. The closer you are, the more good you can do.
Human translation - New Advent (NPNF / ANF series)
Latin / Greek Original
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