Lack of Room Was the Cause, and There Was Precedent

Believe me, Sire, and let Truth be my witness in this too, when I say that in the gatherings held during the season of Lent, because the places were so narrow and the crowds so vast, a great many children, not a few of the younger women and very many of the older ones, and several young men as well, suffered so much from the pressure of the crowd that they had to be carried home; though by the Providence of God no one died. All of them, however, complained and demanded the use of the great church. And if the crush was so great in the days before the feast, what would it have been during the feast itself? Things would of course have been far worse. So it was not right for me to turn the people’s joy into grief and their cheerfulness into sorrow, and to make the festival a season of mourning.

All the more so because I had a precedent in the conduct of our fathers. For the blessed Alexander, when the other places were too small and he was building what was then thought a very large church, the Church of Theonas, held his gatherings there because of the number of people, while he went on with the building at the same time. I have seen the same thing done at Trier and at Aquileia. In both places, while the building was going on, they gathered there at the feasts because of the number of people, and they never found anyone to accuse them like this. Indeed, your brother of blessed memory was present when a communion service was held in these circumstances at Aquileia. I followed the same course. There was no dedication, only a service of prayer. You at least, I am sure, as a lover of God, will approve the people’s zeal and will pardon me for being unwilling to hinder the prayers of so great a crowd. [a]