E06365: A letter of Pope Gregory the Great (Register 6.19) of 595, to Dominicus, bishop of Carthage (North Africa), suggests that they pray for each other before the bodies, respectively, of *Peter (the Apostle, S00036) and *Cyprian (bishop and martyr of Carthage, S00411). Written in Latin in Rome.
online resource
posted on 2018-09-11, 00:00authored byfrances
Pope Gregory the Great, Register of Letters 6.19
Extract from the letter, suggesting that they each pray for each other before their respective greatest saints:
Et me pro uobis apud sacratissimum beati Petri apostoli corpus et uos pro me apud sanctum Cyprianum martyrem orationibus decet incumbere.
‘It is fitting that I should devote myself to praying for you before the most sacred body of Saint Peter the apostle, and that you should do so for me before the holy martyr Cyprian.’
Place of evidence - City name in other Language(s)
Rome
Rome
Rome
Roma
Ῥώμη
Rhōmē
Major author/Major anonymous work
Gregory the Great (pope)
Cult activities - Non Liturgical Practices and Customs
Prayer/supplication/invocation
Cult Activities - Protagonists in Cult and Narratives
Ecclesiastics - bishops
Cult Activities - Relics
Bodily relic - entire body
Source
A letter transmitted as part of Gregory the Great’s Register of Letters. This letter collection, organised into fourteen books, is large and contains letters to a variety of recipients, including prominent aristocrats, members of the clergy and royalty. The issues touched on in the letters are equally varied, ranging from theological considerations to mundane administrative matters. This collection of letters, which was possibly curated by Gregory, was originally much larger. The surviving Register comprises several groups of letters which were extracted at several later moments in history, the largest of which took place in the papacy of Hadrian I (772-795).
Bibliography
Edition:
Norberg, D., S. Gregorii Magni, Registrum epistularum. 2 vols. (Corpus Christianorum Series Latina 140-140A; Turnhout: Brepols, 1982).
English translation:
Martyn, J.R.C., The Letters of Gregory the Great, 3 vols. (Toronto: Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, 2004).
Further Reading:
Dal Santo, M., Debating the Saints' Cult in the Age of Gregory the Great (Oxford: OUP, 2012).
McCulloch, J., "The Cult of Relics in the Letters and Dialogues of Gregory the Great," Traditio 32 (1976), 145-184.
Neil, B., and Dal Santo, M. (eds.), A Companion to Gregory the Great (Leiden: Brill, 2013).