E06349: A letter of Pope Gregory the Great (Register 4.18) of 593, to Maurus, abbot of Saint Pancratius, entrusts the care of the burial church at Rome of *Pancratius (martyr of Rome, S00307) to him and a newly established monastery, and orders that divine office be held daily before the saint's body. Written in Latin in Rome.

Pope Gregory the Great, Register of Letters 4.18


From the opening of the letter:

Ecclesiarum cura, quae sacerdotalibus officiis euidenter infixa est, ita nos cogit esse sollicitos, ut nulla in eis culpa neglectus appareat. Quoniam uero ecclesiam sancti Pancratii, quae erat commissa presbyteris, frequenter neglectum habuisse cognouimus, ita ut uenientes dominicorum die populi missarum sollemnia celebraturi, non inuento presbytero, murmurantes redirent.

‘The care of churches, which has clearly been established among priestly duties, forces us to be very much concerned that no fault of neglect should appear in them. But we have learnt that the church of Saint Pancratius, which was entrusted to priests, has frequently suffered from neglect, to the extent that when the people came on a Sunday to celebrate solemn Mass, they found no priest and went home muttering.’


Gregory continues, entrusting the church, and its property, to a new monastery under Maurus as abbot. Towards the end of the letter he writes:

Sed et hoc prae omnibus curae tuae sit ut ibidem ad sacratissimum corpus beati Pancratii cotidie opus dei proculdubio peragatur.

‘But take care over this before all else, that each day the work of God [the Opus Dei or Divine Office] is carried out there without question, before the most sacred body of Saint Pancratius’.


Text: Norberg 1982, vol.1, 236-7. Translation: Martyn 2004, vol. 1, 301, lightly modified.