Letter CCLXXXVI.1509    Placed in the episcopate.

To the Commentariensis.1510    A registrar of prisons, or prison superintendent.  Cod. Just. ix. 4. 4.  Dis. xlviii. 20. 6.

Whereas certain vagabonds have been arrested in the church for stealing, in defiance of God’s commandment, some poor men’s clothing, of little value otherwise, yet such as they had rather have on than off their backs; and whereas you consider that in virtue of your office you yourself should have the custody of the offenders:—I hereby declare, that I would have you know that for offences committed in the church it is our business to mete out punishment, and that the intervention of the civil authorities is in these cases superfluous.  Wherefore, the stolen property, as set forth in the document in your possession and in the transcript made in the presence of eyewitnesses, I enjoin you to retain, reserving part for future claims, and distributing the rest among the present applicants.

As for the offenders,—that they be corrected in the discipline and admonition of the Lord.  By this means I hope to work their successive reformations.  For where the stripes of human tribunals have failed, I have often known the fearful judgments of God to be effectual.  If it is, however, your wish to refer this matter also to the count, such is my confidence in his justice and uprightness that I leave you to follow your own counsels.

ΚΟΜΕΝΤΑΡΗΣΙῼ

[1] Ἐπειδή τινες ἐν τῇ συνόδῳ τῇδε συνελήφθησαν τῶν τὰ πονηρὰ ἐργαζομένων καὶ κλεπτόντων παρὰ τὴν ἐντολὴν τοῦ Κυρίου ἱμάτια εὐτελῆ πτωχῶν ἀνθρώπων οὓς ἐνδύειν μᾶλλον ἐχρῆν ἢ ἀποδύειν, συνελάβοντο μὲν αὐτοὺς οἱ τῆς εὐταξίας ἐπιμελόμενοι τῆς ἐκκλησιαστικῆς, νομίσας δὲ αὐτῷ σοι διαφέρειν ὡς τὰ δημόσια πράττοντι τὴν τῶν τοιούτων ὑποδοχήν, ἐπέστειλά σοι γνωρίζων ὅτι τὰ ἐν ταῖς ἐκκλησίαις ἁμαρτανόμενα ὑφ' ἡμῶν προσήκει τῆς πρεπούσης τυγχάνειν διορθώσεως, δικαστὰς δὲ περὶ τούτων μὴ παρενοχλεῖσθαι. Διὰ τοῦτο καὶ τὰ σῦλα αὐτῶν, ἃ δηλοῖ τὸ παρὰ σοὶ κείμενον καὶ ἡ ἐπὶ πάντων τῶν παρόντων γενομένη ἀντιγραφή, ὑποδεχθῆναι προσέταξα καὶ τὰ μὲν ταμιευθῆναι τοῖς ἐπερχομένοις, τὰ δὲ διαδοθῆναι τοῖς παροῦσι: τοὺς δὲ ἀνθρώπους ἐπιστρέψαι ἐν παιδείᾳ καὶ νουθεσίᾳ Κυρίου, οὓς οἶμαι ἐν τῷ ὀνόματι τοῦ Θεοῦ βελτίους ποιήσειν πρὸς τὸ ἐφεξῆς. Ἃ γὰρ αἱ τῶν δικαστηρίων πληγαὶ οὐκ ἐργάζονται, ταῦτα ἔγνωμεν πολλάκις τὰ φοβερὰ κρίματα τοῦ Κυρίου κατορθοῦντα. Εἰ δὲ δοκεῖ σοι καὶ περὶ τούτων ἀνενεγκεῖν τῷ κόμητι, τοσοῦτον θαρροῦμεν τοῖς δικαίοις καὶ τῇ τοῦ ἀνδρὸς ὀρθότητι ὅτι ἐπιτρέπομέν σοι ποιεῖν ὃ βούλει.