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E06352: A letter of Pope Gregory the Great (Register 5.4) of 594, to Victor, bishop of Palermo (Sicily), mentions monasteries dedicated to *Theodore (soldier and martyr of Amaseia and Euchaita, S00480) and *Martin (ascetic and bishop of Tours, S00050), both in Sicily. Written in Latin in Rome.

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posted on 2018-09-11, 00:00 authored by frances
Pope Gregory the Great, Register of Letters 5.4


Two extracts from a letter dealing with ecclesiastical ill-discipline in Sicily:

Lator praesentium Gregorius, abbas atque presbyter monasterii sancti Theodori, nulla quidem ratio permittebat ut, post lapsum cellae illius paene generalem, ultra ei praeesse debuisset.
[...]
Praeterea de monasterio ancillarum dei, quod est sancti Martini, Marciam sanctimonialem feminam in monasterio alio iniuste audio fuisse migratam.


‘No reason at all allowed the bearer of this letter, Gregory, once abbot and priest of the monastery of Saint Theodore, to have the right to be in charge of that place any longer following the almost total lapse by that community.
[...]
Furthermore, I hear that Marcia, a pious woman, has moved unlawfully from the monastery dedicated to Saint Martin into another monastery.’


Text: Norberg 1982, vol. 1, 269. Translation: Martyn 2004, vol. 2, 325.

History

Evidence ID

E06352

Saint Name

Martin, ascetic and bishop of Tours, ob. 397 : S00050 Theodore, soldier and martyr of Amaseia and Euchaita : S00480

Saint Name in Source

Martinus Theodorus

Type of Evidence

Literary - Letters

Language

  • Latin

Evidence not before

594

Evidence not after

594

Activity not before

594

Activity not after

594

Place of Evidence - Region

Rome and region

Place of Evidence - City, village, etc

Rome

Place of evidence - City name in other Language(s)

Rome Rome Rome Roma Ῥώμη Rhōmē

Major author/Major anonymous work

Gregory the Great (pope)

Cult activities - Places

Cult building - monastic

Source

A letter transmitted as part of Gregory the Great’s Register of Letters. This letter collection, organised into fourteen books, is large and contains letters to a variety of recipients, including prominent aristocrats, members of the clergy and royalty. The issues touched on in the letters are equally varied, ranging from theological considerations to mundane administrative matters. This collection of letters, which was possibly curated by Gregory, was originally much larger. The surviving Register comprises several groups of letters which were extracted at several later moments in history, the largest of which took place in the papacy of Hadrian I (772-795).

Discussion

Gregory refers to the monasteries dedicated to Theodore elsewhere in the Register. See E02823.

Bibliography

Edition: Norberg, D., S. Gregorii Magni, Registrum epistularum. 2 vols. (Corpus Christianorum Series Latina 140-140A; Turnhout: Brepols, 1982). English translation: Martyn, J.R.C., The Letters of Gregory the Great, 3 vols. (Toronto: Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, 2004). Further Reading: Neil, B., and Dal Santo, M. (eds.), A Companion to Gregory the Great (Leiden: Brill, 2013).

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    Evidence -  The Cult of Saints in Late Antiquity

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