To Januarius, Bishop of Cagliari, on Charging for Burials

Gregory to Januarius, and so on.

The most distinguished lady Nereida has complained to us that your fraternity does not blush to demand a hundred solidi from her for the burial of her daughter, and so would add to her groans of sorrow the further vexation of expense. Now if this is true, since it is a very serious thing, and far from a priest’s office, to demand a price for earth that is granted to decay, and to want to make a profit out of another’s grief, let your fraternity drop this demand and trouble her no more, especially since she tells us that Hortulanus, by whom she says she bore this daughter, was once generous to your church in no small degree. [a]

As for this abuse, we ourselves, after we had by God’s permission come to the dignity of the episcopate, forbade it entirely in our own church, and by no means allowed the evil custom to be taken up again. For we remembered that when Abraham asked to buy a tomb from the sons of Hamor, that is, from Ephron the son of Zohar, to bury his wife’s body, Ephron refused to take a price, so as not to seem to have made a profit out of a corpse. If, then, a man who was a pagan showed such great consideration, how much more ought we, who are called priests, not to do this? So I admonish you never again to venture on this abuse, which comes from greed, even in the case of strangers. But if at any time you allow someone to be buried in your church, and the parents, relatives or heirs of that person wish of their own accord to offer something for lights, we do not forbid it to be accepted. But we absolutely forbid anything to be asked for or demanded, since this is a thoroughly irreligious practice. Otherwise, God forbid, the church might be spoken of as being for sale, or you might seem to take joy in people’s deaths, if you try in any way whatever to make a profit out of their corpses.

As for the other matters in the aforesaid Nereida’s petition, we urge you, if possible, to settle them by friendly agreement, or at least not to fail to send a properly instructed representative to the court we have appointed. For this purpose we have sent to your region Redemptus our defensor, the bearer of this letter, to make the parties appear for trial and to carry out at once whatever is decided.