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Register of the Letters of Pope Gregory I, Volume I

Gregorii I Papae Registrum Epistolarum, Tomus I

1891·Latin·532 pages PDF (34MB) Source

The Registrum Epistolarum of Gregory I (Gregory the Great, r. 590–604) is the largest surviving corpus of late antique papal correspondence, comprising some 854 letters organized into fourteen books by indiction year. This volume (Tomus I, Libri I–VII) contains letters from the first seven indiction years of Gregory's pontificate (590–598), edited by Paulus Ewald (Libri I–IV) and, after Ewald's death, by Ludovicus M. Hartmann (Libri V–VII). The edition is part of the Monumenta Germaniae Historica (Epistolae, Tomus I) and remains the standard critical text.

Author

Gregory I

Gregory I

Gregorius I

540–604

Readings

Gregory to Virgilius, Bishop of Arles

Gregorius Vergilio episcopo Arelatensi

In this letter of August 12, 595, Gregory grants Virgilius, bishop of Arles, the apostolic vicariate over the Gallic churches under the Frankish king Childebert II, following ancient custom and at the king's request. Gregory transmits the pallium and instructs that bishops may not travel far without Virgilius's authority; disputes among bishops are to be settled in a synod of twelve, with unresolved cases referred to Rome. The letter then turns to the twin abuses Gregory has heard are common in Gaul and Germany: simony (condemning the sale of ordinations as the heresy of Simon Magus) and the sudden tonsuring of laymen for vacant sees, without due passage through clerical orders.

Gregory I Gregory I·595·Latin·Liber V, Epistula LVIII·p. 368–371