To Januarius, Bishop of Cagliari, on Theodosia’s Monastery

Gregory to Januarius, bishop of Cagliari. Theodosia, a religious lady, wishes to carry out the intention of her late husband Stephen by building a monastery, and she has begged us to send our letter to your fraternity, so that through our recommendation she may the more readily be thought worthy of your help. She states that her husband had given directions for the monastery to be built on the farm called Piscenas, which has come into the possession of the guesthouse of the late bishop Thomas. Now, though the holder of the property would allow her to found it on land that is not her own, yet since the owner objects, and with reason, we have thought it right to grant her petition. It is that, with the Lord’s help, she should build a monastery for handmaids of God in a house of her own, which she says she has at Cagliari. But since she says that this house is burdened with guests and visitors, we urge your fraternity to take pains to help her in every way and to lend the aid of your protection to her devotion, so that your help and diligence may make you a sharer in the reward of her own earnestness and her late husband’s. As to the relics she asks to have placed there, we want them laid there with due reverence by your fraternity. [a]