Gregory of Tours, in his Histories (10.1), quotes in full the instructions of Pope Gregory the Great in 590 to the people of Rome, then suffering the plague, for a sevenfold litany (septiformis letania), with seven supplicatory processions through the city to the church of *Mary (Mother of Christ, S00033) [Santa Maria Maggiore], departing from different churches: of *Cosmas/Kosmas and Damianus (brothers, physician martyrs of Syria, S00385); *Gervasius and Protasius (brothers and martyrs of Milan, S00313); *Marcellinus and Petrus (priest and exorcist, martyrs of Rome, S00577); *Iohannes and Paulus (brothers and eunuchs, martyrs of Rome, S00384); *Stephen (the First Martyr, S00030); *Euphemia (martyr of Chalcedon, S00017); *Clemens/Clement, (bishop of Rome, martyr of the Crimea, S00111). Written in Latin in Tours (north-west Gaul), 590/594.
E02397
Literary - Other narrative texts (including Histories)
Gregory of Tours
Gregory of Tours, Histories (Historiae) 10.1
This chapter is based on information that Gregory gained from his deacon, Agiulf, who was present in Rome during most of the events described. It opens with an account of a terrible flood that hit Rome in 589, followed by the plague, which then killed Pope Pelagius II in 590. It continues with an account of the election of Pope Gregory [the Great] and of Gregory's actions to end the plague, quoting in full a long admonition issued by Gregory, which Gregory of Tours entitled the 'Oratio Gregorii papae ad plebem', 'The Oration of Pope Gregory to his people'.
The Oration opens with a grim account of the affliction of the plague, but tells the people not to despair, but, with due repentance for their sins, to seek God's mercy. It closes with the following practical instructions:
"Proinde, fratres karissimi, contrito corde et correctis operibus, ab ipso feriae quartae dilucolo septiformis laetaniae iuxta distributionem inferius designatam devota ad lacrimas mente veniamus, ut districtus iudex, cum culpas nostras nos punire considerat, ipse a sententia propositae damnationis parcat. Clerus igitur egrediatur ab eclesia sanctorum martyrum Cosmae et Damiani cum praesbyteris regionis sextae. Omnes vero abbatis cum monachis suis ab eclesia sanctorum martyrum Protasi et Gervasi cum praesbyteris regionis quartae. Omnes abbatissae cum congregationibus suis egrediantur ab eclesia sanctorum martyrum Marcellini et Petri cum praesbyteris regionis primae. Omnes infantes ab eclesia sanctorum martyrum Iohannis et Pauli cum praesbyteris regionis secundae. Omnes vero laici ab eclesia sancti protomartyris Stephani cum praesbyteris regionis septimae. Omnes mulieres viduae ab eclesia sanctae Eufimiae cum praesbyteris regionis quintae. Omnes autem mulieres coniugatae egrediantur ab eclesia sancti martyris Clementis cum praesbyteris regionis tertiae, ut, de singulis eclesiis exeuntes cum praecibus ac lacrimis, ad beatae Mariae semper virginis genetricis domini nostri Iesu Christi basilicam congregemur, ut, ibi diutius cum fletu ac gemitu Domino supplicantes, peccatorum nostrorum veniam promerire valeamus."
Haec eo dicente, congregatis clericorum catervis, psallere iussit per triduum ac depraecare Domini misericordiam. De hora quoque tertia veniebant utrique chori psallentium ad eclesiam, clamantes per plateas urbis Kyrie eleison. Asserebat autem diaconus noster, qui aderat, in unius horae spatio, dum voces plebs ad Dominum supplicationis emisit, octoaginta homines ad terram conruisse et spiritum exalasse. Sed non distitit sacerdos dandus praedicare populo, ne ab oratione cessarent.
' "Therefore, dearly beloved brethren, with contrite heart and with our affairs in order, let us come together, to concentrate our minds upon our troubles, in the order which I will explain in a minute, as day dawns on the Wednesday of this week, to celebrate the sevenfold procession (septiformis laetania). When He sees how we ourselves condemn our own sins, the stern Judge may acquit us of this sentence of damnation which He has proposed for us. Let the clergy go in procession from the church of the holy martyrs Cosmas and Damianus, with the priests of the sixth region. Let all the abbots with their monks process from the church of the holy martyrs Protasius and Gervasius, with the priests of the fourth region. Let all the abbesses and their assembled nuns walk from the church of the holy martyrs Marcellinus and Peter, with the priests of the first region. Let all the children go from the church of the holy martyrs John and Paul, with the priests of the second region. Let all the laymen go from the church of the protomartyr Stephen, with the priests of the seventh region. Let all the widows go from the church of Saint Euphemia, with the priests of the fifth region. Let all the married women go from the church of the holy martyr Clement, with the priests of the third region. Let us all process with prayers and lamentations from each of the churches thus appointed, to meet together at the basilica of the blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of our Lord Jesus Christ, so that there we may at great length make our supplication to the Lord with tears and groans, and so be held worthy to win pardon for our sins."
When he had finished speaking, Gregory assembled the different groups of churchmen, and ordered them to sing psalms for three days and to pray to our Lord for forgiveness. At three o’clock all the choirs singing psalms came into church, chanting the Kyrie eleison as they passed through the city streets. My deacon, who was present, said that while the people were making their supplication to the Lord, eighty individuals fell dead to the ground. The Pope never once stopped preaching to the people, nor did the people pause in their prayers.'
The chapter closes with Pope Gregory's enthronement, which Agiulf also witnessed in person.
Text: Krusch and Levison 1951, 480-81.
Translation: Thorpe 1974, 545-7, lightly modified.
Procession
Chant and religious singing
Sermon/homily
Cult PlacesCult building - independent (church)
Non Liturgical ActivityPrayer/supplication/invocation
Protagonists in Cult and NarrativesEcclesiastics - bishops
Ecclesiastics - lesser clergy
Ecclesiastics - abbots
Ecclesiastics - monks/nuns/hermits
Women
Children
Other lay individuals/ people
Source
Gregory of Tours wrote the Histories (Historiae) during his episcopate in Tours (573–594). They constitute the longest and most detailed historical work of the post-Roman West. Gregory's focus is Gaul under its Frankish kings, above all the territories of Tours and (to a lesser extent) Clermont, where he had been born and brought up. Much of his work tells of the years when, as bishop of an important see, he was himself centrally involved in Frankish politics. The Histories are often wrongly referred to as a History of the Franks. Although the work does contain a history of the rulers of Francia, it also includes much hagiographical material, and Gregory himself gave it the simple title the 'ten books of Histories' (decem libri historiarum), when he produced a list of his own writings (Histories 10.31).The Histories consist of ten books whose scope and contents differ considerably. Book 1 skims rapidly through world history, with biblical and secular material from the Creation to the death in AD 397 of Martin of Tours (Gregory’s hero and predecessor as bishop). It covers 5596 years. In Book 2, which covers 114 years, the focus moves firmly into Gaul, covering the years up to the death of Clovis in 511. Books 3 and 4, which cover 37 and 27 years respectively, then move fairly swiftly on, closing with the death of king Sigibert in 575. With Book 5, through to the final Book 10, the pace slows markedly, and the detail swells, with only between two and four years covered in each of the last six books, breaking off in 591. These books are organised in annual form, based on the regnal years of Childebert II (r. 575-595/6).
There continues to be much discussion over when precisely Gregory wrote specific parts of the Histories, though there is general agreement that none of it was written before 575 and, of course, none of it after Gregory's death, which is believed to have occurred in 594. Essentially, scholars are divided over whether Gregory wrote the Histories sequentially as the years from 575 unfolded, with little or no revision thereafter, or whether he composed the whole work over the space of a few years shortly before his death and after 585 (see Murray 2015 for the arguments on both sides). For an understanding of the political history of the time, and Gregory's attitude to it, precisely when the various books were written is of great importance; but for what he wrote about the saints, the precise date of composition is of little significance, because Gregory's attitude to saints, their relics and their miracles did not change significantly during his writing-life. We have therefore chosen to date Gregory's writing of our entries only within the broadest possible parameters: with a terminus post quem of 575 for the early books of the Histories, and thereafter the year of the events described, and a terminus ante quem of 594, set by Gregory's death.
(Bryan Ward-Perkins, David Lambert)
For general discussions of the Histories see:
Goffart, W., The Narrators of Barbarian History (A.D. 550–800): Jordanes, Gregory of Tours, Bede, and Paul the Deacon (Princeton, 1988), 119–127.
Murray, A.C., "The Composition of the Histories of Gregory of Tours and Its Bearing on the Political Narrative," in: A.C. Murray (ed.), A Companion to Gregory of Tours (Leiden and Boston, 2015), 63–101.
Pizarro, J.M., "Gregory of Tours and the Literary Imagination: Genre, Narrative Style, Sources, and Models in the Histories," in: Murray, A Companion to Gregory of Tours, 337–374.
Discussion
This text was brought to Gaul by Gregory of Tours' deacon Agiulf, who was in Rome to obtain relics (on which see E07784). It is presented in Gregory's Histories as an orally delivered sermon, and its message must indeed have been transmitted thus to the people of Rome; but it certainly also circulated as a written text (of which Agiulf obtained a copy). The only copy we have is this one incorporated into the Histories, but there is no doubt about its essential authenticity. In 603 Gregory the Great organised a similar sevenfold supplicatory procession, the instructions for which survive (E06449); they are very similar in both tone and detail to the text preserved by Gregory of Tours.Pope Gregory commands the people of Rome to seek God's intercession by processing from seven churches to the basilica of Mary (Santa Maria Maggiore). Each procession was to consist of the presbyters from one of the regions into which the city of Rome was divided, together with a particular section of the Christian community, organised as follows:
From the church of Cosmas and Damianus (= Santi Cosma e Damiano, on the Roman Forum): clergy, presbyters of the sixth region.
From the church of Protasius and Gervasius (= present-day San Vitale, west of Santa Maria Maggiore): monks, presbyters of the fourth region.
From the church of Petrus and Marcellinus (= Santi Marcellino e Pietro, near the Lateran): nuns, presbyters of the first region.
From the church of Iohannes and Paulus (= Santi Giovanni e Paolo, on the Caelian Hill): children, presbyters of the second region.
From the church of Stephen (= Santo Stefano Rotondo, also on the Caelian Hill): laymen, presbyters of the seventh region.
From the church of Euphemia (no longer extant, near the present-day church of Santa Pudenziana): widows, presbyters of the fifth region.
From the church of Clement (= San Clemente, between the Colosseum and the Lateran): married women, presbyters of the third region.
The decision to focus all the processions on Santa Maria Maggiore is almost certainly indicative of the growing status of Marian cult in the sixth century, though we should note that Mary herself is not invoked in Gregory's text and that her basilica was the only very large churches within the walls of Rome, suitable for a huge final gathering and mass, other than the somewhat peripheral San Giovanni in Laterano.
The choice of churches from which the seven processions originated was probably determined by population distribution and by the choreographing of a sevenfold convergence; there is no evidence that the various saints themselves influenced the choice of their churches.
For discussion of these events, see Andrews 2015; for later traditions about them, see Latham 2015.
Bibliography
Edition:Krusch, B., and Levison, W., Gregorii episcopi Turonensis Libri historiarum X (Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Scriptores rerum Merovingicarum I.1; 2nd ed.; Hannover, 1951).
Translation:
Thorpe, L., Gregory of Tours, The History of the Franks (Penguin Classics; London, 1974).
Further reading:
Andrews, M.M., "The Laetaniae Septiformes of Gregory I, S. Maria Maggiore and Early Marian Cult in Rome," in: I. Östenberg, S. Malmberg, and J. Bjørnbye (eds.), The Moving City: Processions, Passages and Promenades in Ancient Rome (London, 2015), 155-164.
Latham, J.A., "Inventing Gregory 'the Great': Memory, Authority, and the Afterlives of the Letania Septiformis," Church History 84:1 (2015), 1-31.
David Lambert, Katarzyna Wojtalik
02/10/2023
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00017 | Euphemia, martyr of Chalcedon | Eufimia | Certain | S00030 | Stephen, the First Martyr | Stephanus | Certain | S00033 | Mary, Mother of Christ | Maria | Certain | S00111 | Clemens/Clement, bishop of Rome, martyr of the Crimea | Clemens | Certain | S00313 | Gervasius and Protasius, brothers and martyrs of Milan | Gervasius, Protasius | Certain | S00384 | Iohannes and Paulus, brothers and eunuchs, martyrs of Rome under the emperor Julian | Iohannes, Paulus | Certain | S00385 | Kosmas and Damianos, brothers, physician martyrs of Syria | Cosmas, Damianus | Certain | S00577 | Marcellinus and Petrus, priest and exorcist, martyrs of Rome, buried on the via Labicana | Petrus, Marcellinus | Certain |
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