1. First of all I pay my tribute of congratulation to your merits that the Lord our God has placed you in that apostolic chair with (as we are informed) no division among His people. In the next place, I lay before your Holiness the state of affairs with us,-so that you may come to our assistance not only by praying for us, but also by giving us your counsel and assistance, c for I am writing to your Holiness under deep affliction: by my lack of foresight and caution I have brought a great disaster upon certain members of Christ in our neighbourhood, though I had intended only their benefit.
1. Primum gratulationem reddo meritis tuis, quod te in illa sede dominus deus noster sine ulla, sicut audivimus, plebis suae discissione constituit. Deinde insinuo sanctitati tuae quae sint circa nos, ut non solum orando pro nobis, verum etiam consulendo et opitulando sub venias. In magna quippe tribulatione positus haec ad tuam beatitudinem scripta direxi, quoniam volens prodesse quibusdem in nostra vicinitate membris Christi, magnam illis cladem inprovidus et incautus ingessi.
2. Fussala d is the name of a small town not far from the district of Hippo; formerly there was never a bishop there, but along with the adjoining country it belonged to the diocese a of the church of Hippo. Of Catholics that region had but few; all the other congregations there, located among a fairly dense population, were under the wretched influence of the Donatist error, so that in this town there was no Catholic at all. In the mercy of God it came about that all those districts became attached to the unity of the Church; it would take too long to tell you what toil and danger that involved us in, such that the priests there, who were originally appointed by us to gather them b together, were robbed, beaten, maimed, blinded, and killed; yet their sufferings were not ineffectual or unfruitful, for by them unity was there securely achieved. But since the aforesaid town is forty miles distant from Hippo, and in the superintendence of the people and the gathering together of the remnants, however small, of the wandering bands, composed of both sexes, who were no longer threatening others but fleeing for their own safety, I saw myself drawn farther afield than was fitting, and unable to exercise that careful oversight which I perceived and was thoroughly convinced should be exercised, I arranged that a bishop should be ordained and appointed there.
2. Fussala dicitur Hipponiensi territorio confine castellum. Antea ibi numquam episcopus fuit, sed simul cum contigua sibi regione ad parochiam Hipponiensis ecclesiae pertinebat. Paucos habebat illa terra catholicos; ceteras plebes illic in magna multitudine hominum constitutas Donatistarum error miserabiliter obtinebat, ita ut in eodem castello nullus esset omnino catholicus. Actum est in dei misericordia, ut omnia ipsa loca unitati ecclesiae cohaererent; per quantos labores et pericula nostra, longum est explicare, ita ut ibi presbyteri qui eis congregandis a nobis primitus constituti sunt, expoliarentur, caederentur, debilitarentur, excaecarentur, occiderentur. Quorum tamen passiones inutiles ac steriles non fuerunt, mutatis illic securitate perfecta. Sed quod ab Hippone memoratum castellum milibus quadraginta seiungitur, cum in eis regendis et eorum reliquiis licet exiguis colligendis, quae in utroque sexu oberrabant non minaces ulterius sed fugaces, me viderem latius quam oportebat extendi, nec adhibendae sufficere diligentiae, quam certissima ratione adhiberi debere cernebam, episcopum ibi ordinandum constituendumque curavi.
3. For this purpose I needed a man fitted and suitable for the place, one, too, possessing a knowledge of Punic, and I had in my mind a priest ready for the post, for whose ordination I wrote asking the holy Senior who at the time held the office of Primate of Numidia to make the long journey to us, and he agreed. When he was already with us and the minds of all were exalted in expectation of the solemn cere- mony, at the last minute a the man who had appeared to me to be ready left me in the lurch by absolutely opposing our plans. As the event proved, I ought certainly to have postponed a matter fraught with such dangers, instead of hurrying it on; however, not wanting the very eminent and holy Senior, after being at the trouble of coming all the way to us, to go back home without accomplishing the purpose for which he had made such a long journey, I put forward, without waiting to be asked, a certain young man Antoninus, who was with me at the time. He had been brought up by me in the monastery from his earliest years, but beyond holding the office of reader, he had no experience of any of the ranks or labours of clerical life; yet those unfortunate people, not knowing what lay before them, very dutifully acquiesced in my offer of him. Why say more? The deed was done; he began his career as their bishop. b What am I to do?
3. Quod ut fieret, aptum loco illi congruumque requirebam, qui et Punica lingua esset instructus. Et habebam, de quo cogitabam, paratum presbyterum, propter quem ordinandum sanctum senem qui tunc primatum Numidiae gerebat, de longinquo ut veniret, rogans litteris impetravi. Quo iam praesente omniumque in re tanta suspensis animis, ad horam nos ille, qui mihi paratus videbatur, omni modo resistendo destituit. Ego autem, qui utique, sicut exitus docuit, differre potius debui quam periculosum praecipitare negotium, dum nolo gravissimum et sanctissimum senem ad nos usque fatigatum sine effectu propter quem venerat tam longe, ad propria remeare, obtuli non petentibus quendam adulescentem Antoninum, qui mecum tunc erat, in monasterio quidem a nobis a parvula aetate nutritum, sed praeter lectionis officium nullis clericatus gradibus et laboribus notum. At illi miseri, quod futurum fuerat ignorantes, offerenti eum mihi oboedientissime crediderunt. Quid plura? Factum est; esse illis episcopus coepit.
4. I do not want to charge before your Reverence one whom I gathered in and fostered, nor do I want to abandon those for whose in-gathering I travailed with anxiety and pain; and how I am to do both I cannot discover. The matter has indeed come to such a scandalous pass that those who yielded to my wish to have him undertake episcopal office, in the belief that it was to their own best interest, have approached me here and laid charges against him. Among these charges the most serious offence of gross immorality made against him, not by those over whom he was bishop, but by certain others, was found to be quite unproved, and, apparently cleared of the most malicious of the imputations made against him, he was reduced to what we and others thought such a pitiful state that whatever complaint the town's-people and those of the district made about his intolerable tyranny, his rapacity and oppression and abuses of various kinds, seemed to me by no means so grievous that, because of it or of all of them put together, we should reckon it necessary to deprive him of his office as bishop; it seemed enough to make him restore the things that were proved to have been taken away.
4. Quid faciam? Nolo apud tuam venerationem gravare quem nutriendum collegi, nolo deserere quos colligendos timoribus et doloribus parturivi, et quo modo utrumque agam, reperire non possum. Res quippe ad tantum scandalum venit, ut cum eo hic apud nos causas dicerent, qui de illius episcopatu suscipiendo tamquam bene sibi consulentibus obtemperaverant nobis. In quibus causis cum stuprorum crimina capitalia, quae non ab ipsis quibus episcopus erat, sed ab aliis quibusdam obiecta fuerant, probari minime potuissent, atque ab eis quae invidiosissime laetabantur, videretur esse purgatus, tam miserandus factus est et nobis et aliis, ut, quicquid a castellanis et illius regionis hominibus de intolerabili dominatione, de rapinis et diversis oppressionibus et contritionibus obiciebatur, nequaquam nobis tale videretur, ut propter hoc vel propter simul cuncta congesta episcopatu eum putaremus esse privandum, sed restituenda quae probarentur ablata.
5. In short. I so tempered my judgement with mercy that he was not deprived of office, although his faults were yet not left altogether unpunished; they were not of a kind either to be repeated by him in the future or held up to others as a model. In correcting the young man, we therefore left him his rank unimpaired, but as a punishment we limited his authority, so that he should no longer be over those whom he had treated in such a way that from justified resentment it might have been impossible for them to endure having him over them at all; they might perhaps show their impatience and resentment by breaking out into some misdeed fraught with danger to themselves and to him. That this was the state of their mind even at the time when the bishops were discussing his case with them appeared very clearly, although by now the eminent Celer, a of whose very influential interference against him he complained, exercises no authority either in Africa or anywhere else.
5. Denique sententias nostras sic temperavimus, ut salvo episcopatu non tamen omnino inpunita relinquerentur, quae non deberent vel eidem ipsi deinceps iterumque facienda vel ceteris imitanda proponi. Honorem itaque integrum servavimus iuveni corrigendo, sed corripiendo minuimus potestatem, ne scilicet eis praeesset ulterius, cum quibus sic egerat, ut dolore iusto eum sibi praeesse ferre omnino non possent et cum suo illiusque periculo in aliquod scelus forsitan erupturam inpatientiam sui doloris ostenderent. Quorum talis animus etiam tunc. quando cum eis de illo episcopi egerunt, evidenter apparuit, cum iam vir spectabilis Celer, de cuius adversum se praepotenti administratione conquestus est, nullam gerat vel in Africa vel uspiam potestatem.
6. But why make a long story of it? I beseech you to lend me your assistance, my saintly lord venerable for your piety and holy father revered with all due affection, and give orders that all the documents sent you be read to you. See how he conducted himself in his office as bishop, how, when deprived of communion until after everything had been restored to the people of Fussala, he so far accepted our decision, then later set aside a sum in compensation for the things, quite apart from the legal decision, so that he might regain the privilege of communion; see too with what crafty persuasion he led the holy Senior, that very excellent man our Primate, to believe all his statements and to recommend him to the revered Pope Boniface as one in every way blameless. What need is there for me to rehearse all the rest, since the venerable Senior afore-mentioned will have reported the affair to your Holiness in all its details?
6. Sed quid multis morer? Conlabora, obsecro, nobiscum, pietate venerabili domine beatissime et debita caritate venerande sancte papa, et iube tibi quae directa sunt, omnia recitari. Vide episcopatum qualiter gesserit, quem ad modum iudicio nostro usque adeo consenserit communione privatus, nisi prius Fussalensibus omnia redderentur, iam postea citra acta aestimatis rebus solidos seposuerit, ut ei communio redderetur, quam versuta suasione sanctum senem primatem nostrum gravissimum virum, ut ei cuncta crederet, quem velut omni modo inculpatum venerando papae Bonifatio commendaret, induxerit, et cetera quae a me quid opus est recoli, cum memoratus venerabilis senex ad tuam sanctimoniam universa rettulerit?
7. From the numerous minutes, however, that contain our judgement upon him, I should rather fear to appear to you less severe in judging him than I ought to have been, if I did not know that you are so prone to mercy as to reckon it your duty to spare the man himself and us as well for sparing him. But what we did, either from kindness or from carelessness, he is now trying to turn to account and employ as a legal objection. His cry is, “Either I ought to be sitting in my own episcopal chair or else I ought not to be a bishop at all,” as if he were now sitting in any chair a but his own. For it was for this very reason that those districts in which he was bishop before were set apart and set under his care that he might not be said to have been illegally transferred to another see contrary to the statutes of the Fathers. a Or should anyone be so extreme an advocate of severity or of gentleness as either to exact absolutely no punishment from those who do not seem to merit deprivation of the honour of the bishop's office, or on the other hand to deprive of the honour of that office those who have been judged to deserve some punishment? b There are on record among the judgements given by the Apostolic See itself, or its confirmations of the judgements of others, precedents for not depriving certain bishops, tried for certain offences, of their episcopal rank, and yet for not leaving them altogether unpunished.
7. In illis autem multiplicibus gestis, quibus de illo nostrum iudicium continetur, magis deberem vereri ne tibi minus severe, quam oporteret, iudicasse videamur, nisi scirem vos tam propensos ad misericordiam, ut non solum nobis, quia illi pepercimus, verum etiam ipsi existimetis esse parcendum. Sed ille, quod a nobis aut benigne aut remisse factum est, in praescriptionem vertere atque usurpare conatur; clamat: “Aut in mea cathedra sedere debui aut episcopus esse non debui,” quasi nunc sedeat nisi in sua. Propter hoc enim loca illa eidem dimissa atque permissa sunt, in quibus et prius episcopus erat, ne in alienam cathedram contra statuta patrum translatus inlicite diceretur. Aut vero quisquam ita esse debet sive severitatis sive lenitatis exactor, ut, qui non visi fuerint episcopatus honore privandi, nullo modo in eis aliquid vindicetur, aut in quibus aliquid visum fuerit vindicandum, episcopatus honore priventur?
8. Not to seek out examples that are far from our own day, I shall mention some of recent date. Hear the protest of Priscus, c a bishop of the province of Caesarea d: “Either the office of Primate ought to be open to me too. or else I ought not to retain my episcopal office.” Let the protest be heard of another bishop of the same province, Victor, who when left in the same fault as Priscus, is not allowed to receive communion from any bishop unless within his own diocese—let his protest, I repeat, be heard: “Either I ought to communicate anywhere, or else I ought not to communicate even in my own district.” Let the protest be heard of a third bishop of the same province, Laurentius, and heard indeed in the very words of Antoninus: “Either I ought to sit in the see to which I was ordained, or else I ought not to be a bishop at all.” But who would find fault with those sentences, except one who does not reflect that, on the one hand, all these offences must not be left unpunished, and on the other, that they are not all to be punished in the same way?
8. Existunt exempla, ipsa sede apostolica iudicante vel aliorum iudicata firmante quosdam pro culpis quibusdam nec episcopali spoliatos honore nec relictos omnimodis inpunitos. Quae ut a nostris temporibus remotissima non requiram, recentia memorabo. Clamet Priscus, provinciae Caesariensis episcopus: “Aut ad primatum locus sicut ceteris et mihi patere debuit aut episcopatus mihi remanere non debuit.” Clamet alius eiusdem provinciae Victor episcopus, cui relicto in eadem poena in qua etiam Priscus fuit, nusquam nisi in dioecesi eius ab aliquo communicatur episcopo. clamet, inquam: “Aut ubique communicare debui aut etiam in meis locis communicare non debui.” Clamet tertius eiusdem provinciae Lauren- tius episcopus et prorsus huius vocibus clamet: “Aut in cathedra, cui ordinatus sum, sedere debui aut episcopus esse non debui.” Sed quis ista vituperet, nisi qui parum adtendit nec inulta omnia relinquenda nec uno modo omnia vindicanda?
9. In his letter about Antoninus, addressed to his bishop, the saintly Pope Boniface, with the vigilance and caution of a true pastor, put the words, “Provided that he has faithfully revealed the sequence of events to us.” So now accept this statement of the sequence of events which he in his memorandum passed over in silence, and further, of what happened after the letter of that man of blessed memory was read in Africa; do you come to the aid of men who implore your aid in Christ's mercy more earnestly than did he, from whose harassment they seek deliverance. For threats are being made to the people, either by Antoninus himself or by oft-repeated rumours, a of legal processes and public officials and military attacks that are to enforce the decision of the Apostolic See: in consequence, those unfortunate people, though Catholic Christians, are in dread of heavier punishment from a Catholic bishop than what they feared from the laws of Catholic emperors when they were heretics. Do not let that be so, I implore you by the blood of Christ, by the memory of the apostle Peter who warned those placed in authority over Christian peoples not to lord it over their brethren. b For myself, I commend to the gracious love of your Holiness both the Catholics of Fussala, my children in Christ, and bishop Antoninus, my son in Christ, for both are dear to me. And I do not blame the people of Fussala for pouring into your ears their just complaint against me that I imposed upon them a man whom I had not tested and who was, in age at least, immature, to cause them such afflictions; nor do I wish any harm to Antoninus, whose vile greed I oppose all the more stubbornly because I hold him in such genuine affection. Let your compassion be extended to both—to them, so that they may suffer no harm, to him, that he may do none; to them, so that they may not hate the Catholic Church, a if Catholic bishops and especially the Apostolic See itself fail to come to their defence against a Catholic bishop; to him, so that he may not involve himself in such great wickedness as to alienate from Christ those whom he is striving to win for Him against their will.
9. Quia ergo pastorali vigilique cautela beatissimus papa Bonifatius in epistula sua posuit de Antonino loquens episcopo et ait: “Si ordinem rerum nobis fideliter indicavit,” accipe nunc ordinem rerum, quem ille in suo libello reticuit, ac deinde, quae post eius sanctae memoriae viri in Africa lectas litteras gesta sunt, et subveni hominibus opem tuam in Christi misericordia multo avidius quam ille poscentibus, a cuius inquietudine desiderant liberari. Iudicia quippe illis et publicas potestates et militares impetus tamquam executuros apostolicae sedis sententiam sive ipse sive rumores creberrimi comminantur, ut miseri homines Christiani catholici graviora formident a catholico episcopo, quam, cum essent haeretici. a catholicorum imperatorum legibus formidabant. Non sinas ista fieri, obsecro te per Christi sanguinem, per apostoli Petri memoriam, qui Christianorum praepositos populorum monuit, ne violenter dominentur in fratres. Ego Fussalenses catholicos filios in Christo meos et Antoninum epi- scopum filium in Christo meum benignitati caritatis sanctitatis tuae, quia utrosque diligo, utrosque commendo. Neque Fussalensibus suscenseo, quia iustam de me querimoniam ingerunt auribus tuis, quod eis hominem nondum mihi probatum, nondum saltem aetate firmatum, a quo sic affligerentur, innixi, neque huic noceri volo, cui quanto magis sinceram habeo caritatem, tanto magis pravae cupiditati eius obsisto. Utrique misericordiam mereantur tuam, illi, ne mala patiantur, iste, ne faciat, illi, ne oderint catholicam, si a catholicis episcopis maximeque ab ipsa sede apostolica contra catholicum non eis sub-venitur episcopum, iste autem, ne se tanto scelere obstringat, ut, quos molitur invitos facere suos, a Christo faciat alienos.
10. As for myself, however, I must confess to your Holiness that in the danger that threatens both I am racked by such great fear and grief that I contemplate retiring from the responsibility of carrying on my episcopal office and giving myself over to lamentation befitting my fault, if I see the Church of God despoiled through one whose election as bishop I supported through lack of foresight and even (which may God forbid) brought to destruction along with the destruction of the despoiler himself. For in remembrance of the Apostle's words, “If we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged by the Lord,” b I shall judge myself, so that I may be spared by Him “Who shall judge the quick and the dead.” c But if you secure the recovery of the members of Christ in that district from their deadly fear and sorrow and at the same time comfort my old age by administering justice tempered with mercy, He Who through you brings us deliverance in this trial and Who has set you in your See will recompense unto you good for good, both in this life and in the life to come.
10. Me sane, quod confitendum est beatitudini tuae, in isto utrorumque periculo tantus timor et maeror excruciat, ut ab officio cogitem gerendi episcopatus abscedere et me lamentis errori meo convenientibus dedere, si per eum cuius episcopatui per inprudentiam suffragatus sum vastari ecclesiam dei, et quod ipse deus avertat, etiam cum vastantis perditione perire conspexero. Recolens enim quod ait apostolus: Si nosmet ipsos diiudicaremus, a domino non iudicaremur, iudicabo me ipsum, ut parcat mihi qui iudicaturus est vivos et mortuos. Si autem et membra Christi, quae in illa regione sunt, ab exitiabili timore ac tristitia recreaveris et meam senectutem hac misericordi iustitia fueris consolatus, retribuet tibi et in praesenti et in futura vita bona pro bonis, qui per te nobis in ista tribulatione succurrit et qui te in illa sede constituit.