From John, Bishop of Ravenna, to Pope Gregory

My most reverend fellow servant Castorius, notary of your Apostolic See, has delivered to me my lord’s letter, made up of honey and of poison, which has yet driven in its stings in such a way as still to leave room for healing remedies. For while my lord rebukes pride and speaks of the divine judgment that follows it, in a certain way he declares himself, and with reason, to be mild and calm. [a]

You have charged, then, that I, eager for novelty, have usurped the use of the pallium beyond what was allowed my predecessors. Let not my own lord’s conscience, which is guided by God’s right hand, allow itself to believe this in any way, and let him not open his most sacred ears to the uncertainty of common rumor. First, because I, though a sinner, still know how grave a thing it is to cross the limits set for us by the fathers, and that all pride leads only to a fall. For if our forefathers would not tolerate pride in kings, how much less is it to be endured in priests! Then, I remember how I was nourished in the lap and in the bosom of your most holy Roman church, and advanced there with God’s help. And how should I be so daring as to presume to oppose that most holy see, which hands on its laws to the universal church, and for upholding whose authority, as God knows, I have stirred up against myself the ill will of many enemies? But let not my most blessed lord suppose that I have attempted anything against ancient custom. Many people, nearly all the citizens of this city, bear witness to this, and the most reverend notary written of above could have testified to it too, even though he took no part in the proceedings. For it was not until the sons of the church were coming down from the sacristy, and the deacons were coming in to go up at once to the altar, that the first deacon has been accustomed to clothe the bishop of the church of Ravenna with the pallium; and the bishop has likewise been accustomed to wear it in solemn litanies. [b]

So let no one try to slip in anything against me with my lord; for if anyone wants to do so, he cannot prove that any novelty has been brought in by me. How I have obeyed your commands and served your interests when the cause required it, may Almighty God make plain to your most sincere heart. I put it down to my sins that after so many labors and difficulties, which I endure within and without, I should deserve to meet with such a change. But this among other things consoles me again: that most holy fathers sometimes chastise their sons only so as to advance them the more, and that, after this devotion and satisfaction, you will not only keep for the holy church of Ravenna her ancient privileges, but even grant her greater ones in your own time.

As for the napkins, whose use by my presbyters and deacons your apostleship charges is a presumption, I confess truly that it irks me to say anything on the subject, since the truth by itself, which alone carries weight with my lord, is enough. This is allowed to the smaller churches set up around the city. And if my lord’s Apostleship will deign to ask the venerable clergy of his own first Apostolic See, he will be able to find out in every way that whenever priests or Levites of the church of Ravenna have come to Rome for the ordination of bishops or on business, they have all gone up in procession with napkins before the eyes of your most holy predecessors, without any blame. That is also why, at the time when I, sinner that I am, was ordained there by your predecessor, all my presbyters and deacons used them as they went up in procession in attendance on the lord pope. And since our God in his providence has put all things in your hand and in your most pure conscience, I charge you by the very Apostolic See, which you once adorned by your character and now govern with due dignity, that you in no way lessen, on account of my deserts, the privileges of the church of Ravenna, which is so closely your own; but rather, in the words of the prophecy, let it be laid on me and on my father’s house, as it deserves. So, for your fuller satisfaction, I have attached all the privileges granted by your predecessors to the holy church of Ravenna, though I am none the less confident in your venerable archives as regards the times of the consecration of my predecessors. But now, whatever you may command to be done after finding out the truth is in God’s power and yours; for I, wishing to obey the commands of my lord’s Apostleship, have taken care, despite the ancient custom, to abstain until I receive further orders. [c]