Gregory the Great in a papal letter (Register 9.49) of 598, to Bishop Chrysantus of Rieti, asks him to consecrate contact relics (sanctuaria) of *Hermes (martyr of Rome, buried on the via Salaria vetus, S00404), *Hyacinthus (companion of Protus, and martyr of Rome, S01556) and *Maximus (martyr of Rome, buried on the via Salaria vetus, S00173) at a font in a church dedicated to Christ and to *Mary (the mother of Christ, S00033) in Rieti (central Italy). Written in Latin in Rome.
Evidence ID
E06388
Type of Evidence
Literary - Letters
Major author/Major anonymous work
Gregory the Great (pope)
Pope Gregory the Great, Register of Letters 9.49
Full text of the letter:
GREGORIVS CHRYSANTO EPISCOPO
Paulus ecclesiae Reatinae diaconus petitoria nobis insinuatione poposcit ut ad fontes in basilica beatae Mariae semper uirginis genetricis Dei et domini nostri Iesu Christi, quae est intra ciuitatem Reatinam posita, reliquiae beatorum martyrum Hermes, Hyacinthi et Maximi debeant collocari. Et ideo, frater carissime, si in eodem loco nullum corpus constat humatum, sanctuaria praedictorum martyrum cum reuerentia sine ambiguitate suscepta diligenter consecrabis.
‘GREGORY TO BISHOP CHRYSANTUS
Paul, deacon of the church of Rieti, requested in a petition to us that relics (reliquiae) of the blessed martyrs Hermes, Hyacinthus and Maximus should be located at the font of the church of Saint Mary, ever virgin and mother of God, and of our Lord Jesus Christ, which lies inside the city of Rieti. And so, dearest brother, if it is established that no human body has been buried in the same place, you will diligently consecrate the contact relics (sanctuaria) of the aforesaid martyrs with reverence and without any equivocation.’
Text: Norberg 1982, vol. 2, 608.
Translation: Martyn 2004, vol. 2, 575, lightly modified.
Liturgical ActivitiesContact relic - cloth
Protagonists in Cult and NarrativesEcclesiastics - bishops
Ceremony of dedication
Cult PlacesCult building - secondary installation (fountain, pilgrims’ hostel)
RelicsContact relic - cloth
Transfer, translation and deposition of relics
Protagonists in Cult and NarrativesEcclesiastics - bishops
Ecclesiastics - lesser clergy
Source
Gregory's Register is a collection of some 854 of his letters as pope, collected into 14 books (each book representing an indictional year of his pontificate, from 1 September to 31 August) of varied length and deriving from the file-copies that were made in Rome and kept in the papal archive. The original copies survived into the 9th century, but were subsequently lost. From the late 8th century onwards, however, because of the exceptional stature that Gregory had by then attained, various collections were assembled from the original copies (the largest under Pope Hadrian I at the end of the 8th century), and these constitute the Register as we have it today.The Register does not contain all the letters that Gregory despatched as pope, since some whose text survives refer to others which are lost; but the collection we have is unique from the late antique period, and only matched in quantity and range of subjects by the registers of high-medieval popes. Recipients range from papal administrators, through prominent churchmen and aristocrats, to kings and the imperial family, and treat a wide variety of topics, from the mundane administrative affairs of the papal patrimony to deep theological and moral considerations.
For the cult of saints, there is much that is of interest in the letters, but two particular concentrations of evidence stand out. The first is a clutch of around a dozen letters that mention requests for relics from Rome, or that accompanied small personal relics as gifts to influential correspondents. The second concentration of evidence relates to the dedications of churches and other ecclesiastical institutions in southern Italy, Sicily and Sardinia. Because the papacy owned extensive estates in these regions, and exercised particular authority there, many of Gregory's letters mention churches and other ecclesiastical institutions by the name of the saint to whom they were dedicated, thereby providing us with a rich panorama of the spread of both local and imported saintly cults.
Gregory's Register has been the subject of two substantial critical editions: the first by Ewald and Hartmann for the Monumenta Germaniae Historica; the second by Dag Norberg for Corpus Christianorum. The numbering of the letters is often the same in both editions, but it can differ, because Norberg removed letters (and other passages) that appear to have been added at a later date to the original Register, assigning them instead to Appendices. We have used Norberg's numbering, which is that now generally used.
(Bryan Ward-Perkins)
Discussion
Hermes, Maximus/Maximilianus and Hyacinthus were all martyrs buried in the same cemetery of the via Salaria (see, for instance, E06999).The use of the term sanctuaria strongly suggests that the relics mentioned here were contact relics, made by placing a piece of cloth in close contact with the grave of the saint. For more detail about the process, see E00615 and E00617, and on the word, McCulloh 1976, 158-165.
Bibliography
Edition:Ewald, P. and L.M. Hartmann (eds), Gregorii I papae Registrum epistolarum, 2 vols. (Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Epistolae I and II, Berlin 1891 and 1899).
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:
McCulloh, J., "The Cult of Relics in the Letters and Dialogues of Gregory the Great," Traditio 32 (1976), 145-184.
Neil, B., and Dal Santo, M. (eds.), A Companion to Gregory the Great (Leiden: Brill, 2013).
Record Created By
Frances Trzeciak
Date of Entry
30/11/2020
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00033 | Mary, Mother of Christ | Maria | Certain | S00173 | Maximus/Maximilianus, martyr of Rome, buried on the via Salaria vetus | Maximus | Certain | S00404 | Hermes, martyr of Rome, buried on the via Salaria vetus | Hermes | Certain | S00464 | Protus and Hyacinthus, eunuchs and martyrs of Rome | Certain | S02341 | 310 martyrs of Persia | Certain |
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