Letter 9008: Ad Ragnemodum episcopum

Venantius FortunatusBishop Ragnemod|c. 596 AD|Venantius Fortunatus
friendshipwomen

To Bishop Ragnemod

Highest father of the homeland, with the sweet name Rucco [Ragnemod, bishop of Paris (591-604), was previously the deacon Rucco to whom Fortunatus had written Book 3, Poem 26] — holding the inmost part of my heart in love: whatever old friendship we two have gathered together, it always grows into affection for me, most excellent one.

For no forgetting takes away from me those I love — let it be the last thing to happen before love fails me. And so, blessed father, I am quick to pay you this greeting, wishing that you may flourish in your high position from afar.

From here also your daughters [Agnes and Radegund, the holy women at Poitiers] send you back their hearts in gratitude, and they who long to see you are glad when at least they know you are well.

AI-assisted translation - This translation was produced with AI assistance and has not been peer-reviewed. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek below for scholarly use.

Latin / Greek Original

X
Ad Ragnemodum episcopum
Summe pater patriae. dulci mihi nomine Rucco,
interiora mei cordis amore tenens:
quidquid amicitiae veteris collegimus ambo
cescit in affectum semper, opime, meum.
nam mihi nulla meos oblivio tollit amantes:
ante sit extremum, quam mihi desit amor.
unde, beate pater. properans dependo salutem,
optans longinquo te superesse gradu.
hinc etiam genitae reddunt tibi pectore grates
munere pro niveo marmore de Pario:
quae, quotiens epulae disco tribuuntur in illo,
in doni specie te pietate vident.
nam pro gemmarum Serie tibi reddat honorem
cui data proficiunt crux veneranda throno.

Revision history

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

    Initial corpus import from Unspecified import source.

    Fields: letter text, metadata, source links. Source: https://data.mgh.de/openmgh/bsb00000790.zip

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