To Thalassia, Abbess of Saint Mary’s at Autun, Granting Privileges

Gregory to Thalassia, and so on. [a]

When the hearts of catholic kings are so inflamed with ardent desire, by divine grace going before them, that of their own accord they ask for the very things a pontiff’s admonitions ought to have urged them to, such things should be granted with a cheerful and joyful mind; all the more because what they desire is what ought to have been demanded of them had they been unwilling to do it. Accordingly, in keeping with the letters of our most excellent royal children, Brunhild and her grandson Theodoric, we grant, give and confirm, by the decree of our present authority, the following privileges to the monastery of Saint Mary over which you preside, where a community of handmaids of God has been established, and which was founded in the city of Autun by Bishop Syagrius of reverend memory. We order that no king, no bishop, no one endowed with any rank whatever, nor anyone else at all, shall have power, on the pretext of any cause or occasion whatever, to reduce, or take away, or apply to his own uses, or grant to other uses as though pious, as a cover for his own greed, anything of what has been given to this monastery by the king’s own children named above, or of what shall be bestowed on it in future by any others whatever from their own possessions. But all things that have been offered there, or may come to be offered, it is our will that you, and those who succeed you in your office and place, possess them from this time on, unviolated and undisturbed; provided that you apply them in every way to the uses of those for whose support and government they have been granted. [b]

We also decree that on the death of an abbess of this monastery no other shall be ordained by any kind of craftiness or secret scheming, but only one whom the king of that province, with the consent of the nuns, has chosen in the fear of God and has had ordained. Under this head we also add, in order to shut out every opening for greed, that no one of the kings, no one of the priests, nor anyone else, in person or through another, shall dare to accept anything in gold, or any kind of payment whatever, for the ordination of the abbess, or for any matters whatever touching this monastery; and that the abbess herself presume not to give anything on account of her ordination, lest by such an occasion what is offered, or has been offered, to places of piety be used up. And since, as we are told, bad men in your parts seek out many occasions for deceiving women vowed to religious life, we order that an abbess of this monastery shall in no way be deprived or deposed except in a case of crime that requires it. So, if any complaint of this kind should arise against her, it is necessary not only that the bishop of the city of Autun examine the case, but that he call to his aid six others of his fellow bishops, and so investigate the matter fully, so that, all judging with one accord, a strict decision according to the canons may either strike her if guilty or absolve her if innocent.

All these things, then, which the page of this our order and decree contains, we decree to be kept forever, for you as well as for all who may succeed you in the same rank and place, and for all whom they may concern. Moreover, if anyone, whether king, priest, judge or person living in the world, knowing of this our written constitution, should attempt to go against it, let him be deprived of the rank of his power and honor, and let him know that he stands guilty before the judgment of God for the wrong he has done. And unless he either restores what he has wrongly taken away, or laments what he has unlawfully done with fitting penitence, let him be barred from the most sacred body and blood of our God and Lord, the Redeemer Jesus Christ, and be subject to strict vengeance in the eternal judgment. But the peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with all who keep what is just toward this place, so that they may both receive the fruit of their good deeds here and find the rewards of eternal peace from the strict Judge.