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XXX. A copy of the letter which Pope Gregory sent to the Abbot Mellitus, then going into Britain. [601 A.D.]
CHAP. XXX. A copy of the letter which Pope Gregory sent to the Abbot Mellitus,
then going into Britain. [601 A.D.]
The aforesaid envoys having departed, the blessed Father Gregory sent after them
a letter worthy to be recorded, wherein he plainly shows how carefully he
watched over the salvation of our country. The letter was as follows:
"To his most beloved son, the Abbot Mellitus; Gregory, the servant of the
servants of God. We have been much concerned, since the departure of our people
that are with you, because we have received no account of the success of your
journey. Howbeit, when Almighty God has led, you to the most reverend Bishop
Augustine, our brother, tell him what I have long been considering in my own
mind concerning the matter of the English people; to wit, that the temples of
the idols in that nation ought not to be destroyed; but let the idols that are
in them be destroyed; let water be consecrated and sprinkled in the said
temples, let altars be erected, and relics placed there. For if those temples
are well built, it is requisite that they be converted from the worship of
devils to the service of the true God; that the nation, seeing that their
temples are not destroyed, may remove error from their hearts, and knowing and
adoring the true God, may the more freely resort to the places to which they
have been accustomed. And because they are used to slaughter many oxen in
sacrifice to devils, some solemnity must be given them in exchange for this, as
that on the day of the dedication, or the nativities of the holy martyrs, whose
relics are there deposited, they should build themselves huts of the boughs of
trees about those churches which have been turned to that use from being
temples, and celebrate the solemnity with religious feasting, and no more offer
animals to the Devil, but kill cattle and glorify God in their feast, and return
thanks to the Giver of all things for their abundance; to the end that, whilst
some outward gratifications are retained, they may the more easily consent to
the inward joys. For there is no doubt that it is impossible to cut off every
thing at once from their rude natures; because he who endeavours to ascend to
the highest place rises by degrees or steps, and not by leaps. Thus the Lord
made Himself known to the people of Israel in Egypt; and yet He allowed them the
use, in His own worship, of the sacrifices which they were wont to offer to the
Devil, commanding them in His sacrifice to kill animals, to the end that, with
changed hearts, they might lay aside one part of the sacrifice, whilst they
retained another; and although the animals were the same as those which they
were wont to offer, they should offer them to the true God, and not to idols;
and thus they would no longer be the same sacrifices. This then, dearly beloved,
it behoves you to communicate to our aforesaid brother, that he, being placed
where he is at present, may consider how he is to order all things. God preserve
you in safety, most beloved son.
"Given the 17th of June, in the nineteenth year of the reign of our most
religious lord, Mauritius Tiberius Augustus, the eighteenth year after the
consulship of our said lord, and the fourth indiction."
