To Peter the Subdeacon, for the Blind Son of Godiscalchus

Gregory to Peter, and so on. [a]

The divine commands admonish us to love our neighbors as ourselves. Since we are told to love them with this love, how much more ought we to help them with supplies for their bodily needs, so that we may relieve their distress, if not in every respect, at least with some support. Now we have found that the son of the most worthy Godiscalchus is in distress, not only from loss of sight but also from lack of food, and we hold it necessary to provide for him as far as possible. So by this present order we direct your experience to supply him every year, to keep him alive, with about six bushels of wheat, about three bushels of beans, and twenty measures of wine, which may later be entered in your accounts. Act, then, in such a way that the bearer of this letter has no delay to complain of in receiving the gifts of the Lord, and that you may be found a sharer in the kindness well carried out. [b]