To the Empress Constantina, on the Relics of Saint Paul

Gregory to Constantina, and so on. [a]

Your Serene Piety, so plainly marked by religious zeal and love of holiness, has charged me with your command to send you the head of Saint Paul, or some other part of his body, for the church being built in honor of that same Saint Paul in the palace. I am eager to receive commands from you, so that by showing the readiest obedience I may win your favor toward me all the more; and so I am all the more distressed that I neither can nor dare do what you order. For the bodies of the apostles Saint Peter and Saint Paul shine with such great miracles and terrors in their churches that no one can even go there to pray without great fear. In short, when my predecessor of blessed memory wished to change the silver that was over the most sacred body of the blessed apostle Peter, though it was almost fifteen feet away from the body, a sign of no small dread appeared to him. I too, in the same way, wanted to improve something not far from the most sacred body of Saint Paul the apostle. Since it was necessary to dig to some depth near his tomb, the man in charge of that place found some bones, which were not in fact connected with that tomb. But because he presumed to lift them and move them to another place, certain fearful signs appeared, and he died suddenly. [b] Besides all this, my predecessor of holy memory likewise wished to make some improvements not far from the body of Saint Lawrence the martyr. No one knew where the venerable body lay, so digging was done to search for it, and suddenly, without anyone meaning it, his tomb was laid open. And those who were there and working, monks and custodians, who saw the body of that martyr, though they did not indeed presume to touch it, all died within ten days, so that no one who had seen the holy body of that righteous man might survive. [c]

Moreover, let my most tranquil lady know that it is not the custom of the Romans, when they give relics of saints, to presume to touch any part of the body. Only a cloth is put into a box and placed near the most sacred bodies of the saints. When it is taken up, it is laid with due reverence in the church that is to be dedicated, and such powerful works are done there by it as if their bodies had been brought to that particular place. That is how it came about in the times of Pope Leo of blessed memory, as has been handed down from our forefathers, that when certain Greeks were in doubt about such relics, that pontiff took scissors and cut this same cloth, and blood flowed from the very cut. For in the Roman parts and all the West it is unbearable and sacrilegious for anyone by any chance to wish to touch the bodies of saints. If anyone should presume to do it, it is certain that this rashness will by no means go unpunished. For this reason we greatly wonder at the custom of the Greeks, who say that they take up the bones of saints, and we scarcely believe it. For certain Greek monks who came here more than two years ago dug up, in the silence of the night, near the church of Saint Paul, the bodies of dead men lying in the open field, and stored away their bones to keep them in their own hands until they left. When they were caught and closely questioned as to why they were doing this, they confessed that they were going to carry those bones to Greece to pass them off as relics of saints. Because of this case, as has already been said, a still greater doubt has arisen in us whether it is true that they really take up the bones of saints, as they are said to do. [d]

But what shall I say of the bodies of the blessed apostles? For it is well known that at the time when they suffered, believers came from the East to recover their bodies as those of their own countrymen. The bodies were carried about two miles from the city and laid in the place called Catacumbas. But when the whole crowd gathered and tried to move them from there, such a violent storm of thunder and lightning terrified and scattered them that they never dared attempt such a thing again. Then the Romans, who by the Lord’s love for humankind were counted worthy to do it, went out and took up their bodies, and laid them in the places where they now rest. [e] Who, then, most serene lady, could be so daring as to know these things and still presume, I do not say to touch their bodies, but even to look at them at all? So these orders that you gave me, which I could by no means have obeyed, did not, as far as I can tell, come from your own impulse. Certain men have wished to stir up your piety against me, so as to take from me, God forbid, the favor of your goodwill, and so they have searched out a point on which I might be found disobedient to you, as it were. But I trust in Almighty God that your most kind goodwill is in no way being stolen from me, and that you will always have with you the power of the holy apostles, whom you love with all your heart and mind, not through their bodily presence but through their protection.

Moreover, the napkin, which you have also ordered to be sent to you, is with his body, and so it cannot be touched, just as his body cannot be approached. But since so devout a desire of my most serene lady ought not to go wholly unsatisfied, I will make haste to send you some part of the chains which Saint Peter the apostle himself wore on his neck and his hands, and through which many miracles are shown among the people, if indeed I manage to remove some of it with a file. For many people often come to seek a blessing from these chains, hoping to receive a little of the filings, and a priest stands by with a file. For some who seek it, a portion comes off these chains so quickly that there is no delay; but for others the file is drawn over the chains for a long time, and still nothing can be got from them. In the month of June, in the twelfth indiction. [f]