Distinction LXXXVII

GRATIAN. Part I. Bishops ought to be present for widows and orphans who implore the aid of the Church, and they ought not to deny them the patronage of protection against the violence of wicked men. Hence Gelasius to Bishops Gerontius and Peter:

Although we ought not, insofar as we are able, to deny ourselves to any who hope in us, nevertheless we consider that the causes of widows are to be prosecuted all the more and more earnestly, since the divine declaration manifests that they are to be protected by us, or by all.

The same to Bishop Anastasius. It befits a pontiff, when entreated, to assist those who are deprived of the aid of their own defense and who, because of the weakness of age, cannot benefit themselves by their own actions, because divinity also commanded that protection be bestowed upon wards. And therefore you will, by our delegation, furnish aid to Maximus and Januarius of the clerical office, who assert that they have been deprived of the assistance of parents or relatives, so that, protected against the wicked acts of their adversaries by the exertion of your execution, they may not experience harmful contrivances.

The same to Bishops Leontius and Peter. Whoever hopes that remedies can be conferred upon him in his affairs by the intercession of our name, it befits us to furnish them with a ready spirit.

The same to Bishop Honorius. Mindful of divine recompense, do not doubt that it pertains to the pontifical conscience not to deny pious solicitude for the advantage of the needy.

The same to Bishop Fortunatus. We judge it altogether irreligious and execrable if anyone, even a stranger, has not brought up with all fidelity and with the entire sanctity of his mind those received under his protection. And since the deacon Olympius of your affection is reported to be the maternal uncle of Felix and Olympius, and to have received them as little children to be nourished in the place of a guardian, we judge it to be beyond robbery that he has left them bereft of the small goods of their parents, as they assert, retaining some things and selling others contrary to laws and rights.

Likewise from the Council of Orange, [I, c. 5 and following]. Those who flee to a church ought not to be surrendered, but are to be defended by reverence for the holy place and by intercession. § 1. But if anyone believes that the slaves of clerics are to be seized in return for his own slaves who flee to a church, let him be struck with the strictest condemnation throughout all the churches. § 2. If anyone attempts to recall into servitude or service or the condition of a tenant farmer those manumitted in the church and commended to the Church by testament, let him be restrained by ecclesiastical punishment.

Likewise from the Council of Agde, [c. 29]. Part II. Let the Church, if necessity demands, protect freedmen lawfully made free by their lords; but if anyone, before a hearing, presumes either to seize them or to despoil them, let him be repelled from the Church.

Likewise from the Fourth Council of Toledo, [c. 72]. Freedmen who have been manumitted by any persons and are commended to the patronage of the Church, as the rules of the ancient Fathers established, are to be protected by priestly defense from the insolence of anyone, whether in their status of freedom or in the peculium which they are known to have.

Likewise from the Council of Toledo. Part III. If an exposed child is taken up before a church by the compassion of anyone, let a written attestation be posted, so that if the one taken up has not been sought and recognized within ten days, the one who took him up may possess him securely. Certainly, one who arises as a claimant after the aforesaid time will be condemned by ecclesiastical strictness as a murderer, as the authority of the Fathers sanctioned.