Gregory to Boniface, bishop of Reggio. Just as the Church ought not to lose her own possessions, so neither is it fitting that she should, in the heat of rapacity, invade those of others. Now Stephania, the bearer of these presents, complains that certain properties of hers were, in the times of your predecessor Lucius, the late bishop, forcibly seized by his agents. And since she has petitioned that they ought, with justice favoring her, to be restored to her, therefore let Your Fraternity, in the fear of God, take care to learn carefully the things she asserts. And if you find them to be as the aforesaid woman states, cause whatever has been wrongfully taken away to be restored without any loss or delay. For it is exceedingly hard for the Church to retain the property of others contrary to reason.
Hasten therefore to soothe the complaint of the aforesaid woman in a wholesome manner, so that neither may we thereafter suffer annoyance anew, nor may this matter show you to be either greedy or slothful.