A document of Pope Gregory the Great (Register 11.15), of AD 600, grants Probus, abbot of the monastery of *Andrew (the apostle, S00288) and *Lucia (virgin and martyr of Syracuse, S00846) in Rome, the right to make a will, in front of witnesses, many of them priests of the titular churches of Rome. Written in Latin in Rome.
E06417
Literary - Letters
Gregory the Great (pope)
Pope Gregory the Great, Register of Letters 11.15
Extract from the opening of the document:
Praesidente beatissimo et apostolico papa Gregorio atque consedentibus reuerentissimis episcopis Menna Telesino, Basilio Capuano, Constantio Numentano, Montano Saonense, Victore Fausanense, Iohanne presbytero tituli sanctorum Protasi et Geruasi, Deusdedit presbyter tituli sanctorum Iohannis et Pauli, Andromacus presbyter tituli Eudoxiae, Rusticus presbyter tituli sanctae Susannae, Viuulus presbyter tituli sancti Marcelli, Probinus presbyter tituli sancti Cyriaci, Iohannes presbyter tituli sanctorum Iohannis et Pauli, Agapitus presbyter tituli Eudoxiae, Felix presbyter tituli sanctae Sabinae, Gratiosus presbyter tituli sanctorum Nerei et Achillei, Bonifatius presbyter tituli sancti Xisti, astantibus etiam diaconibus et clero, Paterius secundicerius dixit: "Probus abbas monasterii sanctorum Andreae et Luciae uestris, si praecipitis, desiderat aspectibus praesentari."
‘With the most blessed and apostolic Pope Gregory presiding, and sitting with him the most reverent Bishop Menas of Toulon, Basil of Capua, Constantius of Numenta, Montanus of Saona and Victor of Fausiana, also Iohannes, priest of the titulus of Saints Protasius and Gervasius, Deusdedit, priest of the titulus of Saints Iohannes and Paulus, Andromacus, priest of the titulus of Eudoxia, Rusticus, priest of the titulus of Saint Susanna, Vibulus, priest of the titulus of Saint Marcellus, Probinus, priest of the titulus of Saint Cyriacus, Iohannes, priest of the titulus of Saints Iohannes and Paulus, Agapitus, priest of the titulus of Eudoxia, Felix, priest of the titulus of Saint Sabina, Gratiosus, priest of the titulus of Saints Nereus and Achilleus and Bonifatius, priest of the titulus of Saint Xistus, and with deacons and clergy also attending, Paterius, the secundicerius, said: "Probus, abbot of the monastery of Saints Andrew and Lucia, desires to be presented in your sight, if you advise it"’
The document continues, to allow Probus, although a monk, the right to make a will.
Text: Norberg 1982, vol. 2, 881.
Translation: Martyn 2004, vol. 3, 749.
Cult building - independent (church)
Cult building - monastic
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
For Probus, abbot of the monastery in Rome of Saints Andrew and Lucia, see Pietri and Pietri 2000, and for the monastery of Sts Andrew and Lucia, and its location in Rome, see Duchesne 1892, vol. 2, 39, n. 47.Several of the Roman foundations are also mentioned in 5.57a (E06361).
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:
Duchesne, L., Le Liber pontificalis, 2 vols (Paris: E. Thorin, 1886-1892).
Neil, B., and Dal Santo, M. (eds.), A Companion to Gregory the Great (Leiden: Brill, 2013).
Pietri, C. and Pietri, L., Prosopographie chrétienne du Bas-Empire, 2 Prosopographie de l’Italie chrétienne (313-604), 2 vols. (École française de Rome, 1999 and 2000), vol. 2, 1845-1846, 'Probus 13'.
Frances Trzeciak
20/12/2020
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00201 | Xystus/Sixtus II, bishop and martyr of Rome | Xistus | Certain | S00288 | Andrew, the Apostle | Andreas | 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 | S00529 | Marcellus, bishop and martyr of Rome | Marcellus | Certain | S00678 | Cyriacus, Smaragdus, Largus and their companions, martyrs of Rome | Cyriacus | Certain | S00846 | Lucia, virgin and martyr of Syracuse | Lucia | Certain | S00873 | Eudokia, martyr of Heliopolis-Baalbek (Phoenicia Libanensis), ob. 107 | Eudoxia | Certain | S00892 | Susanna, virgin and martyr of Rome | Susanna | Certain | S01546 | Sabina, martyr of Rome, with church on the Aventine hill | Sabina | Certain |
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Frances Trzeciak, Cult of Saints, E06417 - http://csla.history.ox.ac.uk/record.php?recid=E06417