To Virgilius, Bishop of Arles, Granting the Pallium and the Vicariate

Gregory to Virgilius, bishop of Arles. Oh, how good is love! Through an image in the mind it shows us what is absent as though it were present; through love it unites what is divided, settles what is confused, joins together things that are unequal, completes things that are imperfect. Rightly does the excellent preacher call it the bond of perfection, since, though the other virtues do produce perfection, it is love that binds them together, so that they can no longer be loosened from the heart of one who loves. Of this virtue, then, most dear brother, I find you full, as both those who came from the regions of Gaul and the words of your own letter to me testify to me about you. [a]

Now you have asked in it, according to ancient custom, for the use of the pallium and the vicariate of the Apostolic See. Far be it from me to suspect that you have sought, in our vicariate and in the pallium, the eminence of passing power or the adornment of outward worship. But since it is well known to all from where the holy faith came into the regions of Gaul, when your fraternity asks for the old custom of the Apostolic See to be renewed, what is this but a good child returning to its mother’s lap? With a willing mind, therefore, we grant what has been asked, so that we may not seem either to withhold from you any of the honor due to you or to have despised the request of our most excellent son, King Childebert. But the present state of things calls for all the greater earnestness: that as dignity increases, care may also advance; that watchfulness in guarding others may grow; that the merits of your life may serve as an example to those under you; and that your fraternity may never seek your own interests through the dignity granted you, but the gains of the heavenly homeland. For you know what the blessed apostle says with a groan: “For they all seek their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ” (Philippians 2, verse 21). [b]

For I have learned from information given me by certain persons that in the regions of Gaul and Germany no one comes to holy orders except for a payment given. If this is so, I say it with tears, I declare it with groans: when the priestly order has fallen inwardly, it will not be able to stand outwardly for long either. For we know from the Gospel what our Redeemer did in person: how he went into the temple and overturned the seats of those who sold doves (Matthew 21, verse 12). For to sell doves is to take a payment in this world for the Holy Spirit, who is of one substance with Almighty God himself, and whom God gives to people through the laying on of hands. What follows from this evil is already hinted at: the seats of those who presumed to sell doves in the temple of God fell by God’s judgment. [e] And indeed this offense spreads and grows among those below. For he who is promoted to any sacred order for a price is already corrupted at the very root of his advancement, and he is all the readier to sell to others what he has bought. And where then is what is written, “Freely you have received, freely give” (Matthew 10, verse 8)? And since the heresy of simony was the first to arise against the holy church, why is it not considered, why is it not seen, that whoever ordains anyone for money, in advancing him, makes him a heretic? [f]

Another very detestable thing has also been reported to us: that some men who are laymen, out of desire for worldly glory, are tonsured when bishops die and all at once are made priests. In such cases it is already plain what kind of man attains the priesthood, passing suddenly from the lay state to sacred leadership. One who has never served as a soldier is not afraid to become a leader of the religious. How is that man to preach who has perhaps never heard anyone else preach? Or how will he correct the ills of others who has never yet wept over his own? And where the apostle Paul forbids a neophyte to come to sacred orders, we are to understand that, just as one was then called a neophyte who had been newly planted in the faith, so we now count among neophytes one who is still new in a holy way of life. [g] Moreover, we know that walls, once built, are not made to carry the weight of the beams until they have dried out from the moisture of their newness, lest, if a weight is put on them before they have settled, it bring the whole building down to the ground together. And when we cut trees for a building, we wait for the moisture of their greenness to dry out first, lest, if the weight of the building is laid on them while they are still fresh, they bend from their very newness, and break and fall the sooner for having been raised up too early. Why, then, is this not carefully seen to among men, when it is so carefully considered even with timber and stones? For this reason your fraternity must take care to urge our most excellent son, King Childebert, to remove the stain of this sin entirely from his kingdom, so that Almighty God may give him a greater reward with himself, as he sees him both love what God loves and shun what God hates.

And so, according to ancient custom, under God, we commit to your fraternity our vicariate in the churches that are under the rule of our most excellent son Childebert, on the understanding that each metropolitan is to keep his proper dignity, according to the earliest usage. We have also sent a pallium for your fraternity to wear within the church, for the celebration of mass only. Further, if any of the bishops should happen to wish to travel any considerable distance, let him not be allowed to go off to other places without the authority of your holiness. If any question of faith, or perhaps about other matters, should arise among the bishops that cannot easily be settled, let it be discussed and decided in an assembly of twelve bishops. But if it cannot be decided after the truth has been investigated, let it be referred to our judgment. Now may Almighty God keep you under his protection, and grant you to preserve by your conduct the dignity you have received. Given on the 12th of August, in the thirteenth indiction. [i]