Gregory VII to the People of Lodi
Gregorius VII Laudensis ecclesie filiis
Gregory VIIGregorius VII Laudensis ecclesie filiis
Gaudemus, dilectissimi, de vestro pio religionis affectu, quos audivimus adversus detestandam symoniacam heresim et presbyterorum fornicationem divine legis zelo succensos laudabiliter insurgere. Gaudemus quoque super fratre et coepiscopo nostro, vestro pastore domno Opizone, qui se in tantum nobis eiusdem zelo pietatis fervere detexit, ut ad hec perficiendum sancte huius sedis obnixe flagitasset auxilium. Quapropter hortamur vos et ut filios karissimos monemus, quatenus in his pestibus detestandis, symoniaca videlicet heresi et fornicatione ministrorum sacri altaris, conterendis et penitus extirpandis cum iam dicto pastore vestro fratre nostro ad omnipotentis Dei sancteque ecclesie honorem totiusque patrie salutem ut pii filii insistatis, in ordinandis quoque recte et canonice ecclesiis ei totis viribus auxilium prebeatis, immo in cunctis, que ipse ad Dei honorem vestramque salutem agere disponit, ei obedienter obtemperetis, ut sancte matris vestre ecclesie apud vos munditia polleat, quam Christus sine macula et ruga castam sibi copulavit sponsam. Hec autem quicunque servaverit, de omnipotentis Dei gratia confidenter presumat apostolicamque benedictionem se habere cognoscat. Qui vero in his, que prefati sumus, ei obsistere temptaverit eumque in omnibus que Dei sunt non adiuverit, contremiscat se divine animadversionis apostoliceque maledictionis ultionem incurrere pro gratia et benedictione, quas non curat habere. De amministratione vero altaris, quod supra corpus beati Bassiani confessoris situm est,
omnino precipimus, ut nullus ei amministrare presumat, qui vel pretio in eandem introierit ecclesiam vel qui fornicator est aut turpis lucri sectator. Data Rome V. Nonas Martii, Indictione XIII.
Gregory VII to the People of Lodi
We rejoice, most beloved, in your devout religious zeal, for we have heard that, kindled by zeal for the divine law, you have risen up in praiseworthy fashion against the detestable simoniacal heresy and the fornication of priests. We rejoice likewise concerning our brother and fellow bishop, your pastor lord Opizo, who has shown himself to us to burn so greatly with that same zeal of piety that he has earnestly begged the assistance of this holy see in order to accomplish these things. We therefore exhort you, and admonish you as our dearest sons, that, in crushing and utterly rooting out these abominations—namely, the simoniacal heresy and the fornication of the ministers of the sacred altar—you stand fast as devout sons together with your aforesaid pastor, our brother, for the honor of almighty God and of holy Church and for the salvation of your whole land; that you also lend him your support with all your strength in ordering the churches rightly and canonically; and indeed that in all matters which he resolves to undertake for the honor of God and your salvation, you obediently submit to him, so that the purity of your holy mother the Church may flourish among you—the Church which Christ joined to himself as a chaste bride, without spot or wrinkle. Whoever shall keep these things, let him with confidence presume upon the grace of almighty God and know that he has the apostolic blessing. But whoever shall attempt to oppose him in the matters we have set forth, and shall fail to assist him in all things that are of God, let him tremble lest he incur the vengeance of divine censure and apostolic malediction in place of the grace and blessing which he does not care to possess. As for the service of the altar that is set above the body of blessed Bassian the confessor,
we strictly command that no one presume to minister there who has either entered that church by purchase, or who is a fornicator, or a pursuer of base gain. Given at Rome on 3 March, in the thirteenth indiction.