Clerical Celibacy

LETTER 36	EPISTOLA XXXVI.
To Leo, Bishop	AD LEONEM EPISCOPUM
Subdeacons may not have intercourse with their wives	Ne subdiaconi cum suis uxoribus misceantur. [...]
Gregory to Leo, Bishop of Catana.	[0710C] Gregorius Leoni episcopo Catanensi.
WE have found from the report of many that a custom has of old obtained among you, for subdeacons to be allowed to have intercourse with their wives. That any one should any more presume to do this was prohibited by the servant of God, the deacon of our see, under the authority of our predecessor, in this way;	Multorum relatione comperimus hanc apud vos olim consuetudinem tenuisse, ut subdiaconi suis licite miscerentur conjugibus (Grat. dist. 32, can. 2; et caus. 27, quaest. 2, c. 20). Quod ne denuo quisquam praesumeret, a servo Dei sedis nostrae diacono, ex auctoritate nostri decessoris, est isto modo prohibitum,
This order had been given by pope Pelagius in a.d. 588
that those who at that time had been coupled to wives should choose one of two things, that is, either to abstain from their wives, or on no account whatever presume to exercise their ministry. And, according to report, Speciosus, then a subdeacon, did for this reason suspend himself from the office of administration, and up to the time of his death bore indeed the office of a notary, but ceased from the ministry which a subdeacon should have exercised.	ut eodem tempore hi qui jam uxoribus fuerant copulati unum ex duobus eligerent, id est, aut a suis uxoribus abstinerent, aut certe nulla ratione ministrare praesumerent. Et quantum dicitur, Speciosus tunc subdiaconus pro hac re ab administrationis se suspendit officio, et usque in obitus sui tempus notarii quidem gessit officium, et a ministerio, quod subdiaconum oportuerat exhibere, cessavit.
After his death we have learnt that his widow, Honorata, has been relegated to a monastery by thy Fraternity for having associated herself with a husband. And so if, as is said, her husband suspended himself from ministration, it ought not to be to the prejudice of the aforesaid woman that she has contracted a second marriage, especially if she had not been joined to the subdeacon with the intention of abstaining from the pleasures of the flesh.	Post cujus [0710D] obitum, quia relicta ejus Honorata marito est sociata, a tua eam fraternitate 717 in monasterio cognovimus esse deputatam. Ideoque si, ut fertur, [0711A] ejus se maritus ab administratione suspendit, ante dictae mulieri non debet officere, quod ad secundam conjugii copulationem migravit, praesertim si non tali mente subdiacono juncta est, ut a carnis voluptatibus abstineret.
If, then, you find the truth to be as we have been informed, it is right for you to release altogether the aforesaid woman from the monastery, that she may be at liberty to return without any fear to her husband.	Si ergo ita se veritatem quemadmodum edocti sumus habere cognoscis, praedictam te mulierem de monasterio per omnia convenit relaxare, ut ad suum maritum sine aliqua possit formidine remeare.
But for the future let thy Fraternity be exceedingly careful, in the case of any who may be promoted to this office, to look to this with the utmost diligence, that, if they have wives, they shall enjoy no licence to have intercourse with them: but you must still strictly order them to observe all things after the pattern of the Apostolic See.	De caetero vero fraternitas tua sit omnino sollicita, ut quos ad hoc jam officium contigerit promoveri, hoc quam maxime diligenter inspiciat, ne si uxores habent, miscendi se cum eis licentia potiantur, sed ad similitudinem sedis apostolicae eos cuncta observare sua nihilominus districtione constituat.

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