Gregory to Januarius, bishop of Cagliari. Theodosia, a religious woman, desiring to fulfill the will of Stephen, her late husband, in building a monastery, has petitioned us that we send our letters to your Fraternity, by which through our commendation she might more easily obtain your help. For she asserts that it was decreed by her husband that in the estate which is called Piscenae, which came under the jurisdiction of the Xenodochium of Thomas, a former bishop, a monastery ought to have been built.
Since therefore, although as possessor he might permit this to be founded on the property of others, yet the owner seems with reason to shrink from it, we have seen fit that her petition be granted — that is, that in a house of her own right, which she asserts she has at Cagliari, she ought, with the Lord's help, to build a monastery of handmaids of God. But since she says that her aforesaid house is burdened by guests and by those arriving, we exhort your Fraternity to strive to assist her in all things, and to afford your protection's help to her devotion, so that your concurrence and solicitude may make you a partaker of the deceased's reward and of her own zeal. As for the relics which she asks to be placed there, we wish that they be laid up by your Fraternity with due veneration.