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| To Marinianus, Archbishop.
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Epistle XIX.
To Marinianus, Archbishop.
Gregory to Marinianus, Archbishop of
Ravenna1694
| 1694 Concerning the
election of Marinianus, see V. 48. | .
Your Fraternity has been long aware after what
manner the Church of Ariminum has been hitherto deprived of pastoral
government by reason of the known bodily affliction of the priest who
was ordained by us1695
| 1695 Viz.
Castorius. See II. 41. | . Now we,
moved by the prayers of the inhabitants of that place, having
frequently exhorted him to return with the help of the Lord to his Church, if he should feel himself relieved
from this affliction of the head whereby he was kept away, he has been
expected now for four years since the leave of absence given him.
And, when at the instance of clergy and citizens who have come from
thence and urged us with
entreaties, we urgently exhorted him to
return with them, the Lord helping him, if
able to do so, he begged of us by a supplication in writing1696
| 1696 Cf. XI. 47 as to
the supersession of a bishop incapacitated by illness, except at his
own written request, being uncanonical. | , that, inasmuch as by reason of this
affliction wherewith he is held he can in no wise rise to the
government of the same Church, or to the office undertaken by him, we
should ordain a bishop to this same Church. Hence, seeing that
the charge laid upon us of caring for all the Churches constrains us to
see that pastoral guardianship be no longer wanting to the flock of the
faithful, and being compelled by their entreaties, and by his
renunciation on the ground of his own inability, we have resolved that
a bishop should be ordained to this same Church of Ariminum: and,
having issued our precept according to custom, we have not failed to
admonish the clergy and people of the same Church, to the end that they
may concur with concordant provision to choose for themselves a
prelate1697
| 1697 See Ep. XX., which
follows. | . We
therefore exhort your Fraternity that him whom all with one consent
shall choose (as they themselves also have requested leave to do) you
cause to be summoned before you; and test him by cautious enquiry on
all sides. And if, by favour of the Lord, none of the things that are punished with death in
the text of the Heptateuch are found in him, and if, on the report of
trustworthy persons, his life should approve itself to you, send him to
us with the certification of his election, adding your own letter of
testification, to the end that a prelate of this same Church may, under
the ordering of the Lord, be by us
consecrated.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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