E06384: Two letters and a memorandum of Pope Gregory the Great (Register 9.178, 9.179, and Appendix V) of 598/599, require and describe the oath that Maximus, bishop of Salona, had to swear, in order to absolve himself of excommunication, at the grave of *Apollinaris (bishop and martyr of Ravenna, S00331) at Classe (by Ravenna, northern Italy). Written in Latin in Rome.

Pope Gregory the Great, Register of Letters

Extracts:

9.178
[...] si isdem Maximus coram uobis et praedicto cartulario nostro de haeresi praestito se sacramento purgauerit atque de aliis ante corpus sancti Apolloinaris, sicut scripsimus, tantummodo requisitus liberum se esse responderit [...]

'... if the same Maximus purges himself of his simoniacal heresy in the presence of you and of our aforesaid secretary, discharging an oath, and replies before the body of Saint Apollinaris that he is free of the other charges, when asked to do so, as we have written ...'


9.179
Proinde si Maximus Salonitanus praestito sacramento firmauerit simoniaca se haeresi non teneri atque de aliis ante corpus sancti Apollinaris tantummodo requisitus innoxium se esse responderit [...]

'Therefore, if Maximus of Salona takes an oath to confirm that he is innocent of simoniacal heresy, and when asked about other matters before the body of Saint Apollinaris, replies that he is innocent ... '


Appendix V
Tunc duxit eos ad sanctum corpus beati Apollinaris et iuravit se de omnia quae adversus eum dicta de mulieribus uel esacismate simoniaco fuerant mixtum se non esse.

‘Then he [Maximus] led them to the sacred body of Saint Apollinaris, and swore that he had not been involved in all the charges brought against him, about women and the simoniacal schism.’


Text: Norberg 1982, vol. 2, 735-6, 1097. Translation: Martyn 2004, vol. 2, 654, 531.