Gregory the Great in two papal letters (Register 9.181 and 182) of 599, first authorises the consecration of an oratory in the diocese of Tyndari (Sicily) dedicated to *Severinus (hermit and monk of Noricum, S00848) and *Iuliana (martyr of Nicomedia, buried at Pozzuoli/Cumae, S01162); and, secondly, requests the bishop of Naples, of supply contact relics (sanctuaria) of these saints for this oratory. Written in Latin in Rome.
E06403
Literary - Letters
Gregory the Great (pope)
Pope Gregory the Great, Register of Letters 9.181
Full text of the letter:
GREGORIVS BENENATO EPISCOPO TYNDARITANO
Ianuaria religiosa femina petitorii nobis insinuatione suggessit, quod habetur in subditis, in massa Furiana iuris sui oratorium se pro sua deuotione fundasse, quod in honore sanctorum Seuerini confessoris et Iulianae martyris desiderat consecrari. Et ideo, frater carissime, si in tuae parrochiae memorata constructio iure consistit et nullum corpus ibidem constat humatum, percepta primitus donatione legitima, id est in reditu praestantes liberos a tributis fiscalibus solidos decem, gestis que municipalibus allegata, praedictum oratorium absque missas publicas sollemniter consecrabis, ita ut in eodem loco nec futuris temporibus baptisterium construatur nec presbyterum constituas cardinalem. Sed si missas sibi fieri suprascripta conditrix forte maluerit, a dilectione tua presbyterum nouerit postulandum, quatenus nihil tale a quolibet alio sacerdote ullatenus praesumatur. Sanctuaria uero suscepta sui cum reuerentia collocabis.
‘Gregory to Benenatus, bishop of Tyndari
Ianuaria, a nun, has reported to us, while notifying us of the claim included below, that she has founded an oratory on the Furianum estate, her legal property, for her devotion. She wants it to be consecrated in honour of the Saints Severinus the confessor and Iuliana the martyr. And for that reason, dearest brother, if the building mentioned is under the jurisdiction of your parish, and it is certain that no human body has been buried there, you will solemnly consecrate the aforesaid oratory without a public mass. But first receive the legal payment, that is ten gold coins, which will guarantee some income, and will be tax exempt, as mentioned in the municipal statutes. Do so in such a way that a baptistry [neither now] nor in the future is constructed there, and that you do not consecrate its own priest there. But if the founder mentioned above should wish masses to be held for her, she will know that a priest must be requested from your Beloved, so that nothing of that sort is ever presumed by any other priest. Once you have received their relics (sanctuaria), you will place them therein with due reverence.’
Pope Gregory the Great, Register of Letters 9.182
Full text of the letter:
GREGORIVS FORTVNATO EPISCOPO NEAPOLITANO
Ianuaria religiosa femina sanctuaria beatorum Seuerini confessoris et Iulianae martyris oblata petitione sibi postulat debere concedi, quatenus in eius nomine oratorium propriis constructum sumptibus possit sollemniter consecrari. Et ideo, frater carissime, praefatis desideriis ex nostra te praeceptione conuenit oboedire, ut deuotionis suae in consecratione quam postulat potiatur effectum.
‘Gregory to Fortunatus, bishop of Naples
Ianuaria, a nun, made a petition requesting that relics (sanctuaria) of Saints Severinus the confessor and Iuliana the martyr ought to be granted her, so that an oratory might be solemnly consecrated in their name, built at her own expense. And for that reason, dearest brother, it is right for you to respond to the aforesaid desires according to our injunction, so that she may obtain the outcome for her devotion in the consecration that she requests.’
Text: Norberg 1982, vol. 2, 738-9.
Translation: Martyn 2004, vol. 2, 656, modified.
Ceremony of dedication
Cult PlacesCult building - dependent (chapel, baptistery, etc.)
Non Liturgical ActivityConstruction of cult buildings
RelicsContact relic - cloth
Transfer, translation and deposition of relics
Protagonists in Cult and NarrativesEcclesiastics - bishops
Ecclesiastics - monks/nuns/hermits
Women
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
The first letter is one of a number of surviving papal letters - two from Pelagius I (556-561) and four from Gregory the Great (590-604) - permitting, while also carefully regulating, the consecration and dedication to saints of private oratories, either on aristocratic estates or in monasteries, by the use of a set form of wording: E06878 and E06880 (both from Pelagius); E06377, E06390, E06399, E06403 (all from Gregory).The second letter seeks relics of the specific saints to whom the oratory is dedicated: Severinus, buried at the castellum Lucullanum just outside Naples; and Iuliana in the area of Pozzuoli/Cumae; both within Fortunatus' diocese. The use of the term sanctuaria strongly suggests that the relics being sought 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).
Frances Trzeciak
12/12/2020
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00848 | Severinus, hermit and monk in Noricum, ob. 482 | Seuerinus | Certain | S01162 | Iuliana/Juliana, martyr of Nicomedia, buried at Pozzuoli/Cumae | Iuliana | Certain |
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Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL:
Frances Trzeciak, Cult of Saints, E06403 - http://csla.history.ox.ac.uk/record.php?recid=E06403