Gregory to Romanus the defensor. Our most glorious son Faustus, by a letter sent to us, has petitioned us, asserting that the boundaries of his estate situated there within Sicily have lately been violently taken away by the agents of the Church of Syracuse. Wherefore, since we believe this to be altogether unknown to our brother and fellow-bishop John, we wish you to look into it. And if indeed the property has lately, as is asserted, been taken from its possessor, and this is made clear before you by manifest proof, let it be restored to the ownership of him from whom it was taken. And then, if the agents of the aforesaid Church believe that they can reasonably claim anything within their boundaries, let them without delay submit to the judgment of chosen arbiters, so that by the sentence of the judges it may be determined whose the property is;
so that by this means the odium of the episcopal party for the unlawful invasion that is alleged may be removed, and the case may be brought to an end in due legal order.