Works (excl. History) 2 part 4/5

But this which you yourself were able to say and to feel, I believe, you wished to be confirmed by my response in your hearing. For why ought not a pregnant woman to be baptized, since the fruitfulness of the flesh is no fault before the eyes of almighty God? For when our first parents had sinned in paradise, they lost, by the just judgement of God, the immortality which they had received. Since therefore almighty God did not will to extinguish the human race utterly for its fault, He both took immortality from man for his sin, and yet, for the kindness of His mercy, reserved to him the fruitfulness of offspring. That therefore which has been preserved to human nature by the gift of almighty God, by what reason can it bar a man from the grace of holy baptism?

For in that very mystery, in which every fault is utterly extinguished, it is exceedingly foolish if the gift of grace should seem able to be opposed. But when a woman has given birth, after how many days she ought to enter the church, you have learned from the precept of the Old Testament, that for a male she ought to abstain for thirty-three days, but for a female for sixty-six days. Yet it must be understood that this is taken in a mystery. For if at the very hour in which she has given birth she enters the church to give thanks, she is weighed down by no burden of sin; for it is the pleasure of the flesh, not the pain, that lies in fault. But in the union of the flesh there is pleasure; for in the bringing forth of offspring there is groaning. Whence also to that first mother of all it is said: In sorrows shalt thou bring forth.

If therefore we forbid a woman who has given birth to enter the church, we reckon her very punishment to her as a fault. But to baptize either the woman who has given birth, or that which she has borne, if it is pressed by danger of death, whether the woman herself at the very hour in which she gives birth, or that which is born at the very hour in which it is born, is by no means forbidden; because the grace of the holy mystery, just as it is to be provided with great discernment to the living and to those who can discern, so to those upon whom death presses it is to be offered without any delay; lest while time is still being sought for affording the mystery of redemption, with a little interval of delay intervening, there be found no one who can be redeemed.

But her husband ought not to approach her bed until that which is born is weaned. But a depraved custom has arisen in the conduct of married persons, that women scorn to nurse the children whom they bear, and hand them over to other women to be nursed; which is clearly seen to have been invented from the sole cause of incontinence; because, since they will not contain themselves, they disdain to suckle those whom they bear. These therefore, who from a depraved custom hand over their sons to others to be nursed, ought not to be joined to their husbands unless the time of purification has passed; for even apart from the cause of childbirth, when they are held in their accustomed monthly courses, they are forbidden to be joined to their husbands; so much so that the sacred Law smites with death any man who approaches a menstruous woman.

Yet such a woman, while she suffers the monthly custom, ought not to be forbidden to enter the church, because the superfluity of nature cannot be reckoned to her as a fault; and it is not just that, because of what she suffers unwillingly, she should be deprived of entrance to the church. For we know that the woman who suffered an issue of blood, coming humbly behind the Lord, touched the hem of His garment, and at once her infirmity departed from her. If then, set in an issue of blood, she could laudably touch the Lord's garment, why may not she who suffers the monthly issue of blood be permitted to enter the Lord's church? But you will say: That woman was compelled by infirmity; whereas these of whom we speak are constrained by custom.

But consider, dearest brother, that everything which we suffer in this mortal flesh from the infirmity of nature has been ordained, by the worthy judgement of God, after our fault. For to hunger, to thirst, to be hot, to be cold, to grow weary, comes from the infirmity of nature. And what else is it to seek food against hunger, drink against thirst, cool air against heat, clothing against cold, rest against weariness, than to seek out a remedy against sicknesses? The monthly flux of her own blood, then, is for woman a sickness. If therefore she presumed well who, set in languor, touched the Lord's garment, why should that which is conceded to one ailing person not be conceded to all women who are ailing by the fault of their own nature?

But she ought not to be forbidden to receive the mystery of holy communion in those same days. If, however, out of great reverence she does not presume to receive, she is to be praised; but if she does receive, she is not to be judged. For it belongs to good minds to acknowledge their faults in some manner even where there is no fault; because often that is done without fault which comes from fault; whence also, when we hunger, we eat without fault, for whom it has been brought about by the fault of the first man that we should hunger. The monthly custom in women, then, is no fault, namely that which comes naturally.

But yet that nature itself is so vitiated that it seems polluted even without any striving of the will, this defect comes from fault, in which human nature may recognize itself, what it has been made by judgement. And man, who committed the fault willingly, bears the guilt of the fault unwillingly. And therefore when women consider with themselves, if in the monthly custom they do not presume to approach the sacrament of the Lord's body and blood, they are to be praised for their right consideration; but when, in receiving it, they are carried away by love of that same mystery out of a habit of religious life, they are not, as we have said before, to be repressed.

For just as in the Old Testament outward works are observed, so in the New Testament not so much what is done outwardly as what is thought inwardly is attended to with anxious intent, that it may be punished by a subtle sentence. For whereas the Law forbids many things to be eaten as unclean, yet in the Gospel the Lord says: Not that which enters into the mouth defiles a man; but the things which come out of the mouth, these are the things that defile a man. And a little later He added, expounding it: Out of the heart come evil thoughts. Wherein it is plentifully shown that that is shown by almighty God to be polluted in deed which is generated from the root of polluted thought. Whence also Paul the Apostle says:

To the clean all things are clean, but to the defiled and unbelieving nothing is clean. And presently, announcing the cause of that same defilement, he adds: For both their mind and their conscience are defiled. If therefore food is not unclean to him whose mind has not been unclean, why should that which a woman suffers from nature with a clean mind be reckoned to her as uncleanness? But a man sleeping with his own wife ought not to enter the church unless washed with water; but neither, though washed, ought he to enter at once. The Law, however, commanded the people of old that a man who had united with a woman should both be washed with water, and not enter the church before sunset; which yet can be understood spiritually.

For a man is united to a woman when the mind is joined in thought to unlawful concupiscence through delight; for unless the fire of concupiscence first cools from the mind, he ought not to esteem himself worthy of the congregation of the brethren who sees himself burdened through the wickedness of a depraved will. Although different nations of men think differently about this matter, and seem to observe different things, yet it was always the custom of the Romans from the more ancient times, after union with one's own wife, both to seek the purification of washing, and reverently to abstain a little from entering the church. Nor in saying these things do we reckon marriage to be a fault;

but because that very lawful union of a spouse cannot take place without the will of the flesh, one must abstain from entering the holy place; because the will itself can in no way be without fault. For it was not from adultery or fornication, but from lawful marriage, that he had been born who said: Behold, I was conceived in iniquities, and in sins did my mother bear me. For he who knew himself conceived in iniquities groaned that he was born from a fault; because he carries in the branch the moisture of the vice which he drew from the root. Yet in these words he does not name the union of spouses as iniquity, but plainly that very will of union. For there are many things which, though lawful and legitimate, yet in the doing of them we are to some degree defiled;

as often when in anger we pursue faults, and disturb the tranquillity of mind within us; and although what is done be right, yet it is not commendable that in it the mind is disturbed. For he had been angry against the vices of offenders who said: My eye is troubled because of anger. For since the mind cannot, unless tranquil, suspend itself in the light of contemplation, he grieved that his eye was troubled in anger; because, while he pursues evil deeds downward, he was compelled to be confounded and troubled away from the contemplation of the highest things. And therefore anger against vice is praiseworthy, and yet troublesome, in which he reckoned that he, being troubled, had incurred some guilt. It is fitting, then, that the lawful union of the flesh be for the sake of offspring, not of will;

and the union of the flesh should be for the sake of begetting children, not the satisfaction of vices. If anyone, however, makes use of his wife not snatched away by the greed of pleasure, but solely for the sake of begetting children, that man assuredly, whether concerning entrance to the church or concerning receiving the mystery of the Lord's body and blood, is to be left to his own judgement; because he ought not to be forbidden by us to receive who, set in the fire, knows not how to burn. But when not love of begetting offspring, but the will, holds sway in the work of union, married persons have, even from their union, what they may bewail. For holy preaching grants them this, and yet, concerning that very concession, it shakes the mind with fear. For when Paul the Apostle said:

He who cannot contain himself, let him have his own wife, he took care at once to add: But this I say by indulgence, not by command. For that which is lawful, because it is just, is not granted by indulgence. That therefore which he said he granted by indulgence, he showed to be a fault. But it must be weighed with a watchful mind that on Mount Sinai the Lord, about to speak to the people, first commanded that same people to abstain from women. And if there, where the Lord spoke to men through a creature subject to Him, such purity of body was required with such great provision, that those who were to receive the words of God should not be united with women:

how much more ought women, who receive the body of the almighty Lord, to keep the purity of the flesh within themselves, lest they be weighed down by the very greatness of the inestimable mystery? Hence also it is said to David through the priest concerning his young men, that if they were clean from women, they should receive the loaves of proposition, which they should by no means receive unless David first confessed them clean from women. But then the man who, after union with his wife, has been washed with water, is able also to receive the mystery of holy communion, when, according to the aforesaid sentence, it has been lawful for him also to enter the church. IX. Augustine's question: Whether after the illusion which is wont to come through a dream, anyone whatever may receive the body of the Lord:

or, if he be a priest, may he celebrate the sacred mysteries? Gregory answered: This indeed the testament of the old Law, as we have already said in the chapter above, calls polluted, and does not grant him to enter the church until evening unless washed with water. But this the spiritual people, understanding otherwise, will receive under the same understanding which we set forth before; because he is, as it were, deluded through a dream who, tempted by uncleanness, is defiled in thought by true images; but he is to be washed with water, that he may wash away the faults of thought with tears; and unless the fire of temptation first subsides, let him know himself guilty, as it were, until evening.

But in that same illusion there is a very necessary discernment, which ought to be weighed subtly, from what cause it comes upon the mind of the sleeper; for sometimes it happens from surfeit, sometimes from the superfluity or infirmity of nature, sometimes from thought. And indeed, when it comes from the superfluity or infirmity of nature, this illusion is by no means to be feared; because it is rather to be grieved over that the mind unknowingly endured it than that it did it. But when, through excessive appetite of gluttony, one is snatched away in taking food, and thereby the receptacles of the humours are burdened, the mind has thence some guilt, yet not so far as to the prohibition of receiving the holy mystery or of celebrating the solemnities of the Mass;

when perhaps either a festal day demands it, or necessity itself compels the mystery to be exhibited (because there is no other priest in the place). For if there are others present who are able to fulfil the ministry, the illusion brought about by surfeit ought not to forbid from the receiving of the holy mystery; but he ought, as I think, humbly to abstain from the offering of the sacred mystery, provided that it has not shaken the mind of the sleeper with foul imagination. For there are some in whom an illusion generally arises in such a way that their mind, even though set in the sleep of the body, is not defiled by foul imaginations.

In which matter this one thing is shown, that the mind itself is guilty, yet not free even by its own judgement, since, though it remembers it saw nothing while the body slept, it nevertheless remembers in the wakefulness of the body that it fell into gluttony. But if from the foul thought of one waking arises the illusion of one sleeping, his guilt is plain to the mind; for it sees from what root that defilement proceeded, because what it thought knowingly, this it endured unknowingly. But it must be weighed whether that thought came about by suggestion, or by delight, or, what is greater, by consent to sin. For in three ways is every sin accomplished, namely by suggestion, by delight, by consent. For suggestion comes through the devil, delight through the flesh, consent through the spirit;

because the serpent also suggested the first fault, Eve as flesh was delighted, but Adam as spirit consented; and great discernment is necessary, that between suggestion and delight, between delight and consent, the mind, judge of itself, may preside. For when the malignant spirit suggests sin in the mind, if no delight of sin follows, the sin is in no way perpetrated; but when the flesh begins to be delighted, then sin begins to be born; but if it also consents from deliberation, then sin is known to be completed. In the suggestion of sin, then, is the seed; in delight is its nourishment; in consent, its perfection.

And it often happens that what the malignant spirit sows in thought, the flesh draws into delight; nor yet does the soul consent to that same delight. And although the flesh cannot be delighted without the soul, yet the soul itself, struggling against the pleasures of the flesh, is in some manner bound unwillingly in carnal delight, so that by reason it contradicts it, lest it consent; and yet is bound by delight, but vehemently groans that it is bound. Whence also that foremost soldier of the heavenly host groaned, saying: I see another law in my members warring against the law of my mind, and leading me captive in the law of sin, which is in my members. But if he was a captive, he was not fighting; yet he was fighting too;

wherefore he was both a captive, and was fighting therefore against the law of the mind, to which the law that is in the members was warring. But if he was fighting, he was not a captive. Behold therefore man is, so to speak, both captive and free; free from the justice which he loves, captive from the delight which he carries unwillingly. [28] Thus far the responses of the blessed pope Gregory to the inquiries of the most reverend bishop Augustine. But the letter which he records that he had written to the bishop of Arles, he had given to Vergilius, the successor of Aetherius; of which this is the form: To the most reverend and most holy brother and fellow-bishop Vergilius, Gregory, servant of the servants of God.

How great affection is to be bestowed upon brethren who come of their own accord is recognized from this, that for the most part they are wont to be invited for charity's sake. And therefore, if it should happen that our common brother bishop Augustine comes to you, let your love receive him, as is fitting, so affectionately and sweetly that it may both refresh him with the good of its consolation, and teach others how brotherly charity is to be cultivated. And since it often happens that those who are placed far off learn first from others the things that are to be amended;

if perchance he should bring to your fraternity any faults of priests or of others, sitting together with him, search out all things with subtle investigation, and so show yourselves strict and solicitous in those things which offend God and provoke to wrath, that punishment may smite the guilty for the amendment of others, and false opinion may not afflict the innocent. May God keep you safe, most reverend brother. Given on the tenth day before the Kalends of July, in the nineteenth year of the reign of our lord Maurice Tiberius, most pious Augustus, in the eighteenth year after the consulship of the same lord, in the fourth indiction.

[29] Moreover, the same pope Gregory, because Augustine the bishop had suggested to him that the harvest was indeed great for him, but the labourers few, sent with his aforesaid legates more fellow-workers and ministers of the word; among whom the first and foremost were Mellitus, Justus, Paulinus, and Rufinianus; and through them generally all things which were necessary for the worship and ministry of the church, namely sacred vessels, and altar coverings, ornaments also for the churches, and priestly and clerical vestments, relics likewise of the holy apostles and martyrs, and also very many books.

He also sent letters, in which he signifies that he had directed the pallium to him, and at the same time intimates how he ought to constitute bishops in Britain; of which letters this is the text: To the most reverend and most holy brother and fellow-bishop Augustine, Gregory, servant of the servants of God. Since it is certain that ineffable rewards of the eternal kingdom are reserved for those who labour for the almighty God; yet it is necessary for us to bestow upon them the benefits of honours, that in the pursuit of spiritual work they may be able, from the recompense, to toil the more abundantly.

And since the new church of the English has been brought to the grace of almighty God, by the bounty of the same Lord and by your labour, we grant you the use of the pallium in it for the performing of the solemnities of the Mass alone, so that throughout the several places you may ordain twelve bishops who shall be subject to your jurisdiction; in such wise that the bishop of the city of London shall always henceforth be consecrated by his own synod, and shall receive the pallium of honour from this holy and apostolic see, which by God's authorship I serve. But to the city of York we wish you to send a bishop whom you yourself shall have judged to ordain; in such manner only that, if that same city with its neighbouring places shall have received the word of God, he too may ordain twelve bishops, and enjoy the honour of a metropolitan;

because to him also, if life be his companion, we dispose, the Lord favouring, to grant the pallium, whom yet we wish to be subject to the disposition of your fraternity; but after your death let him so preside over the bishops whom he shall have ordained, that he be in no way subject to the jurisdiction of the bishop of London. But let there be henceforth, between the bishops of the cities of London and York, this distinction of honour, that he be held the elder who shall have been first ordained; but by common counsel and by harmonious action let them dispose unanimously whatever things are to be done for the zeal of Christ; let them think rightly, and the things which they shall have thought, let them carry out without disagreeing with one another.

But let your fraternity have subject, by the authorship of God our Lord Jesus Christ, not only those bishops whom you shall have ordained, nor those only who shall have been ordained by the bishop of York, but also all the priests of Britain; that from the tongue and life of your holiness they may receive the pattern both of believing rightly and of living well, and, fulfilling their office in faith and morals, may attain to the heavenly kingdoms when the Lord shall will. May God keep you safe, most reverend brother. Given on the tenth day before the Kalends of July, in the nineteenth year of the reign of our lord Maurice Tiberius, most pious Augustus, in the eighteenth year after the consulship of the same lord, in the fourth indiction.

[30] But after the aforesaid legates had departed, the blessed father Gregory sent after them a letter worthy of remembrance, in which he openly shows how zealously he kept watch over the salvation of our race, writing thus: To his most beloved son, abbot Mellitus, Gregory, servant of the servants of God. After the departure of our congregation which is with you, we have been left exceedingly anxious, because it has happened that we have heard nothing of the prosperity of your journey. When therefore almighty God shall have brought you to the most reverend man, our brother bishop Augustine, tell him what I, long pondering with myself concerning the cause of the English, have determined; namely, that the shrines of idols ought by no means to be destroyed in that nation;

but let the idols themselves which are in them be destroyed; let holy water be made, let it be sprinkled in those same shrines, let altars be constructed, let relics be placed. Because, if those same shrines are well built, it is necessary that they be changed from the worship of demons to the service of the true God; so that, while that same nation does not see its shrines destroyed, it may lay aside error from the heart, and, knowing and adoring the true God, may resort more familiarly to the places to which it has been accustomed. And because they are wont to slay many oxen in sacrifice to demons, some solemnity ought also for this reason to be changed for them;

that on the day of the dedication, or of the nativities of the holy martyrs whose relics are there placed, they may make for themselves booths of the branches of trees around those same churches which have been changed from shrines, and may celebrate the solemnity with religious feasts; and no longer sacrifice animals to the devil, but slay animals for their own eating to the praise of God, and render thanks to the Giver of all things for their fullness; so that, while some outward joys are reserved for them, they may be the more easily able to consent to inward joys. For it is no doubt impossible to cut away all things at once from hardened minds, since he too who strives to ascend to the highest place is raised by steps or paces, not by leaps.

Thus to the people of Israel in Egypt the Lord indeed made Himself known; but yet He reserved to them in His own worship the use of the sacrifices which they had been wont to offer to the devil, so that He commanded them to immolate animals in His own sacrifice; in order that, changing their heart, they might lose one part of the sacrifice and retain another; so that, although these were the very animals which they had been accustomed to offer, yet immolating these to the true God and not to idols, the sacrifices themselves should now no longer be the same. This therefore it is necessary that your love say to the aforesaid brother, that he himself, being there set in the present, may consider how he ought to dispense all things. May God keep you safe, most beloved son. Given on the fifteenth day

before the Kalends of July, in the nineteenth year of the reign of our lord Maurice Tiberius, most pious Augustus, in the eighteenth year after the consulship of the same lord, in the fourth indiction. [31] At which time he also sent to Augustine a letter concerning the miracles which he had learned to have been wrought through him, in which he exhorts him with these words, lest through their abundance he should incur the peril of elation: I know, dearest brother, that almighty God, through your love, shows great miracles upon the nation which He has willed to be chosen; whence it is necessary that you both rejoice with fear over that same heavenly gift, and fear greatly while rejoicing. Rejoice, namely, because the souls of the English are drawn through outward miracles to inward grace;

But you should greatly fear lest, amid the signs that are wrought, a weak mind exalt itself in presumption, and lest, from the very thing by which it is outwardly raised in honour, it inwardly fall through empty glory. For we ought to remember that, when the disciples returned with joy from their preaching and said to their heavenly Master, 'Lord, even the demons are subject to us in thy name,' they at once heard: 'Do not rejoice over this, but rather rejoice that your names are written in heaven.' For they had set their mind upon a private and temporal gladness, who rejoiced over the miracles; but they are called back from the private to the common, from the temporal to the eternal joy, when it is said to them: 'In this rejoice, that your names are written in heaven.'

For not all the elect work miracles, yet the names of them all are held inscribed in heaven. For the disciples of Truth ought to have no joy except in that good which they hold in common with all, and in which they have no end to their gladness. It remains therefore, dearest brother, that amid those things which you do outwardly by the Lord's working, you should always inwardly judge yourself subtly and understand subtly both who you yourself are and how great is the grace among that same people, for whose conversion you have received even the gifts of working signs. And if at any time you remember that you have offended our Creator, whether by tongue or by deed, always recall these things to memory, so that the remembrance of your guilt may press down the rising glory of your heart.

And whatever you have received, or shall receive, concerning the working of signs, count these as given not to yourself but to those for whose salvation they have been bestowed upon you. [32] At the same time the same blessed pope Gregory also sent a letter to king Aethelberht, together with many gifts of various kinds; being eager also to glorify the king with temporal honours, while he rejoiced that, through his own labour and diligence, the knowledge of heavenly glory had come to him. Now the copy of the aforesaid letter is this: To the most glorious and most excellent lord, his son Aethelberht, king of the Angles, Gregory the bishop. For this reason almighty God brings good men to the government of the peoples, that through them he may bestow the gifts of his goodness upon all over whom they have been set.