To Januarius, Archbishop of Cagliari, on Behalf of Catella

Gregory to Januarius, and so on. [b]

Our Lord himself, by the witness of Holy Scripture, declares that he is the husband of widows and the father of orphans. If that is so, then we, the members of his body, ought to give ourselves with the soul’s highest affection to imitating the head, and to stand by orphans and widows when there is need, always without injury to justice. We have been given to understand that Catella, a religious woman whose son serves here in the holy Roman church, over which we preside under God, is being troubled by the demands and harassment of certain people. So we think it necessary to urge your fraternity by this letter not to refuse this woman your protection, justice always being kept. You know that by things of this kind you both make the Lord your debtor and bind us to you all the more in the bonds of love. For we wish this woman’s cases, whether now or in the future, to be settled by your judgment, so that she may be spared the trouble of lawsuits, and yet in no way be excused from submitting to a just judgment. And now I pray the Lord to guide your life on a prosperous course toward himself, and in his mercy to bring you himself to the kingdom of glory that is to come. [c]