To Felix, Bishop of Messina, on Marriage Between Relatives

To our most reverend brother, Bishop Felix, from Gregory, servant of the servants of God. [a]

Our Head, who is Christ, has willed us to be his members for this purpose: that through his great love and faithfulness he might make us one body in himself. We ought so to cling to him that, since without him we can do nothing, through him we may be enabled to be what we are called. Let nothing divide us from the citadel of the Head, so that we may not be deserted by him if we refuse to be his members, and wither like branches cut off from the vine. So, that we may be counted worthy to be the dwelling place of our Redeemer, let us remain in his love with the whole desire of our heart. For he says, “He who loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will make our home with him.” Now your love, dearest brother, has asked us to reply to your inquiries with the authority of the Apostolic See. And though we hurry to do so, not at length but briefly, because of certain pressing cares that have come on us through the hindrance of our sins, we still commit what follows to your attention for wider inquiry and for the study of other rulings of the holy fathers. For a mind worn out and weighed down with burdens and pressing cares cannot do so much good, or speak of these things so freely, as one that is joyful and free from depression. We have not, then, put such cares first because we wish to deny your holiness this or any other information we might find needful, but so that whatever is found lacking here may be inquired into more fully. [c]

For, following the example of your predecessors, you have thought it right to consult the Apostolic See, in which you were brought up and educated, on three points: on marriages between blood relatives, on the harassment of bishops by those under them, and on doubt about the consecration of churches. Know, then, that what I wrote about marriages between blood relatives to Augustine, bishop of the nation of the Angles, who was, as you remember, your pupil, was written to him in particular and to the nation of the Angles, which had recently come to the faith, so that they would not fall back from their good beginning out of alarm at anything too severe. It was not written to others in general. The whole city of Rome is my witness to this. Nor did I give that order in those writings with the intention that, once they were settled in the faith with a firm root, they should not be separated if they were found to be below the proper degree of blood relationship, or should be joined together if below the proper line of relationship by marriage, that is, as far as the seventh generation. But for those who are still new converts it is very often right first to teach them, and by word and example to instruct them to avoid unlawful things, and then afterward, reasonably and faithfully, to exclude whatever they may have done in matters of this kind. For in keeping with the apostle, who says, “I fed you with milk, not with solid food,” we have allowed these concessions to them alone, and not, as we said above, for times to come, so that the good that had so far been planted with a weak root would not be pulled up, but so that what had been begun would rather be made firm and guarded until it reached perfection. Certainly, if in these things we have done anything other than we ought, know that it was done not out of willfulness but out of compassion. For this reason, too, I call on God as my witness, who knows the thoughts of all people, and to whom all things are naked and open. For if I were to destroy what those who came before me established, I would rightly be convicted of being not a builder but an overthrower, as the voice of the Truth testifies, saying, “Every kingdom divided against itself will not stand”; and every branch of knowledge and every law divided against itself will be destroyed. So it is needful for all of us, with one accord, to hold to the ordinances of our holy fathers, doing nothing in contention, but, of one mind in every aim of good devotion, to obey, with the Lord’s help, the divine and apostolic decrees. [d]

Oh, how good is love, which through affection pictures absent things to oneself as though they were present, unites what is divided, sets in order what is confused, joins what is unequal, and completes what is imperfect! How rightly the excellent preacher calls it the bond of perfection, since the other virtues indeed produce perfection, but love binds them together so that they can no longer be loosed from the mind of one who loves. With this duly considered, in what has already been spoken of I made a concession out of love. I did not give a command, but advice; I did not hand down a rule to be held by any who should come after, but showed which of two dangers might more easily be avoided. If, then, in worldly affairs everyone ought to have his own right and his proper rank kept for him, how much more ought no confusion to be brought into the arrangements of the church, so that discord may not find a place where the blessings of peace ought to come from. And this will be secured if nothing is yielded to power, but everything to fairness. For this reason our heart rejoices greatly with your greatness, because we find you so earnest in your doings as to have a care for us, and to take pains to inquire about such things by questioning us, so that such things may gain for you not only glory among people, but also rewards in recompense from the Almighty Lord. [e]

But as for the harassment of bishops, about which you wish to consult us, we know that the life of those set over the church ought to be disturbed by no excesses, since it is most unfitting that those who are called thrones of God should be disturbed by any movement from kings or from subjects. For if David, the most righteous of kings, did not presume to lay his hand on Saul, who had clearly already been rejected by God, how much more must care be taken that no one lays the hand of slander or abuse or rashness or dishonor on the Lord’s anointed, or on the preachers of holy church, since harassing or slandering them touches Christ, in whose place they serve as ambassadors in the church! So all the faithful should be exceedingly careful not to tear at their bishop, that is, the Lord’s anointed, either secretly or publicly, by slanders or abuse, bearing in mind the example of Miriam, who for speaking against Moses the servant of God because of the Ethiopian woman was punished with the uncleanness of leprosy; and the word of the psalmist, “Do not touch my anointed ones, and do my prophets no harm.” And in the divine law we read, “You shall not revile the gods, nor curse the ruler of your people.” So those under them, whether clergy or lay, must take great care not to dare to blame the lives of their bishops or superiors rashly, if perhaps they see them doing anything blameworthy, so that from the position of rebuking evil they may not be sunk into greater depths by the impulse of pride. They are also to be warned that when they consider the faults of their superiors, they should not grow too bold against them. Instead, let them so weigh the bad things within themselves that, held back by the fear of God, they do not refuse to carry the yoke of reverence; since what bishops and superiors do is not to be struck with the sword of the mouth, even when it may seem to deserve blame. For we know that it has been laid down by our predecessors and by many other holy bishops that sheep should not readily blame their shepherds, or presume to charge or accuse them; because when we sin against our superiors, we go against the ordinance of him who gave them to us. That is why Moses, when he learned that the people were complaining against himself and Aaron, said, “For what are we? Your grumbling is not against us but against God.” So those under them, of either order, are to be warned that when they look at the deeds of their masters, they should return to their own hearts and not presume to reproach them, since “The disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above his lord.” [f]

As for the doubt about the dedication of churches, about which among other things you have wished to consult us, you ought properly to hold to what we have received as handed down to us from those who went before us. That is: whenever there is doubt about the baptism or confirmation of any persons, or about the consecration of churches, and no certain account can be given, either from writings or from witnesses, as to whether the persons have been baptized or confirmed, or whether the churches have been consecrated, then such persons should be baptized and confirmed, and such churches should be dedicated according to the canons, so that such doubt may not become the ruin of the faithful. For what does not appear by certain proofs to have been properly done is not, in such a case, done a second time. This, with the support of divine grace, we wish to hold, and we charge you, as you have asked, to hold and teach it. We do not wish to break lightly through what has been settled by the holy fathers before us, but to keep it faithfully. So we pray the mercy of our Redeemer to help you with his grace, and to grant you to carry out what he has given you to will; since in this matter the good gifts of reward come to us in greater measure the more the zeal of our labor increases. But we decree that every one of those who have been faithfully taught, and who now stand planted beyond uprooting with a firm root, shall observe his line of descent as far as the seventh generation. And as long as they know themselves to be related to each other by marriage, let them not presume to enter into this union. Nor is it lawful, nor will it be lawful, for any Christian to marry a woman of his own kindred whom he has lived with as a wife, or whom he has defiled by any unlawful pollution; since such intercourse is incestuous and abominable to God and to all good people. But we read that it was long ago settled by the holy fathers that incestuous persons are not to be counted under any title of marriage. And so we do not wish to be blamed by you or by any other of the faithful in this matter, since in our concession here to the nation of the Angles we acted not as laying down a rule but as taking care that they should not leave unfinished the good they had begun, and so on. [h]