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| To Castorius, Notary.
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Epistle
LXI.
To Castorius, Notary1677
| 1677 On the subject of
this Epistle, cf. above, Ep. XXXIV., with references in note. | .
Gregory to Castorius, &c.
The magnificent lord Andreas presses me
continually about restoring the use of the pallium in the Church of
Ravenna according to ancient custom. And thou knowest that the
bishop John wrote to me that it had been the custom for the bishops of
the said Church to use the pallium in solemn litanies1678
. Adeodatus, deacon of that
church, when he besought me earnestly on the same subject, satisfied me
by oath that the bishops of the said place were accustomed to use the
pallium in litanies four times in the year. But the aforesaid
lord Andreas says in his letters that the bishop of Ravenna was in the
habit of using the pallium in litanies at all times except in
Lent. And these litanies, which he does not blush to say were
daily, he asserts to be solemn ones. Whence I have been
altogether astonished. But let thy Experience regard no
man’s person, no man’s words; keep the fear of God and rectitude only before thine eyes, and enquire of
senior persons, and of the Archdeacon of that same Church, who would
not, I think, perjure himself for the honour of another, and of others
of older standing who had been in sacred orders before the times of
bishop John, or if there are any others of riper age not in holy
orders; and let them come before the body of Saint Apollinaris, and
touching his sepulchre swear what had been the custom before the times
of bishop John; since, as thou knowest, he was a man who presumed
greatly and endeavoured in his pride to arrogate many things to
himself. And whatever may be sworn to by faithful and grave men,
according to the subjoined form, we desire to be retained in the same
Church. But see that thou act not negligently, and that no one
corrupt thy faithfulness and devotion in this matter; for thy zeal I
know. Act assiduously, yet so that the aforesaid Church be not
lowered in a way contrary to justice, but that it retain the usage that
existed before the times of bishop John. Moreover, for satisfying
thyself, do not enquire of two or three persons, but of as many as thou
canst find of old standing and grave character, that so we may neither
deny to that Church what has been of ancient custom, nor concede to it
what has been coveted and attempted newly. But do all kindly and
sweetly, so that both thy action may be strict and thy tongue
gentle. The sword1679
| 1679 Spatam, a
word usually signifying a kind of sword. Cf. VI. 24, where this
same spata is referred to. | which has been
left at Ravenna, as we have already written, bring hither with thee;
and carefully attend to what our son Boniface the deacon and the
magnificent Maurentius the chartularius have written to thee
about.
I swear by the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, the
inseparable Trinity of Divine Power, and by this body of the blessed
martyr Apollinaris, that out of favour to no person, and without any
advantage to myself intervening, I give my testimony. But this I
know, and am personally cognizant of, that, before the times of the
late bishop John, the Bishop of Ravenna, in the presence of this or
that apocrisiarius of the Apostolic See, on such and such days,
had the custom of using the pallium, and I am not aware that he had
herein usurped latently, or in the absence of the
apocrisiarius. E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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