SS Leo I. Magnus, Epistolae

Quam laudabilifer pro catholicæ fidei veritate mo- vearis,et quam sollicite Dominico regi devotionem officii pastoralis impendas,tradita nobis per(t) dia- conem tuum fraternitatis tuæ scripta demonstrant, quibus notitiae nostrae insinuare curasti, 695 qualia in regionibus vestris(,j)de antiquae pestilentiae reli- quiis errorum morbus exarserit.Nam eUk) epistolæ sarmo, et commonitorii senes, et libelli tui textua eloquitur (l) Priscillianistarum fetidissimam apud vos recaluisse sentinam. Nihil est enim (a) sordium in quorumcumque sensibus impiorum, quod in hoc dogma non confluxit : quoniam de omni terrena- rum opinionum luto multiplicem sibi(b)fæculentiam miscuerunt : ut soli totum biberent quidquid alii ex parte gustassent.Denique si universae hæreses quae antePriscilliani tempus exortæ sunt diligentius retra- ctentur,(c) nullus pene invenietur error de quo non traxerit impietas ista contagium : quæ non contenta eorum recipere falsitates qui ab Evangelio sub Christi nomine deviarunt, tenebris se etiam paganitatis im- mersit,ut per magicarum artium profana secreta et mathematicorum vana mendacia, religionis fidem morumque rationem in potestate dæmonum, et in (d) efFectu siderum collocarent. Quod si et credi li- ceat et doceri,nec virtutibus præmium,nec vitiis pœ- na debebitur, omniaque non solum humanarum legum, sed etiam divinarum constitutionum decreta solventur: quia neque de bonis neque de malis actibus ullum poterit esse judicium, si in utramque partem fatalis necessitas motum mentis impellit,et quidquid ab hominibus agitur, non est hominum, sed astrorum. Ad hanc insaniam pertinet (e) prodigiosa illa totius humani corporis per duodecim caeli signa 696 distinctio, ut diversis partibus diversae praesideant potestates; et creatura quam Deus ad imaginem suam fecit, in tanta sit obligatione siderom, in quanta est connexione membrorum. Merito patres nostri,sub quorum temporibus hæresis hæc nefanda prorupit,per totum mundum instanter egere ut 1m- pius furor ab un:versa Ecclesia pelleretur : quando etiam mundiprincipes itahanc sacrilegamamentiamI detestati sunt.,(f) ut auctorem ejus cum plerisque discipulis legem publicarum ense prosternerent.Videbant enim omnem curam bonestatia auferri,omnem conjugiorum copulam sol vi, simulque divinum jus humanumque subverti,si hujusmodi hominibus ua- quam vivere cum tali professione licuisset. Profuit (g) diu ista districtio ecclesiasticæ lenitati,quæ etsi sacerdotali contenta judicio,cruentas refugit ultio- nes,severis tamen Christianorum principum constitutionibus adjuvatur,dum ad spiritale nonnumquam recurrunt remedium, qui timent corporale supplicium.Ex quo autem multas provincias hostilia oc- cupavit irruptio,(h) et executionem legum tempesta- tes interclusere bellorum .Ex quo inter sacerdotes Dei difficiles commeatus et rari coeperunt esse conventus,invenit ob publicam pertubationem secreta perfidia libertatem,etadmultarum mentium subversio. nem his malis est incitata, quibus dcbuit esse correcta. Quæ vero illic aut quanta pars plebium (i) a contagione pestis hujus aliena est ubi,sicut dilectio tua indicat,lethali morbo etiam 87 quorumdam sacerdotum corda corrupta sunt ;et per quos oppri- menda falsitas et defendenda veritas(j)credebatur, peripsos doctrinæ Priscillianæ Evangelium subditur Christi, ut ad profanos sensus pietate sanctorum vo. luminum depravata,sub nominibus prophetarum et apostolorum non hoc praedicetur quod Spiritus sanctus docuit,sed quod diaboli minister inseruit.Quia ergo dilectio tua fideli, quantum potuit, diligentia damnatas olim opiniones(k) sedecim capitulis com- prehendit, nos quoque strictim omnia retractamus, ne aliquid harum blasphemiarum aut tolerabile videatur aut dubium.

How laudably you are stirred on behalf of the truth of the catholic faith, and how carefully you devote the service of the pastoral office to the Lord’s flock, is shown by the writings of your fraternity delivered to us through your deacon, in which you have taken care to bring to our notice what kind of disease of errors has flared up in your regions from the remnants of an ancient plague. For the wording of your letter, the sequence of your memorandum and the text of your booklet declare that the most fetid cesspool of the Priscillianists has grown warm again among you. For there is no filth in the minds of any impious men whatever that has not flowed together into this doctrine, since from every mire of earthly opinions they have mixed for themselves a manifold sludge, so that they alone drank the whole of whatever others had tasted in part. In short, if all the heresies that arose before the time of Priscillian are reviewed more carefully, scarcely any error will be found from which this impiety has not drawn infection: not content to take up the falsehoods of those who have strayed from the Gospel under the name of Christ, it has also plunged itself into the darkness of paganism, so that through the profane secrets of the magic arts and the empty lies of the astrologers they placed the faith of religion and the rule of morals in the power of demons and in the influence of the stars. But if this may be both believed and taught, neither will reward be owed to virtues nor punishment to vices, and all the decrees not only of human laws but also of divine ordinances will be dissolved: for there could be no judgment of either good or evil acts, if a fatal necessity drives the motion of the mind one way or the other, and whatever is done by men is not men’s but the stars’. To this madness belongs that monstrous apportioning of the whole human body among the twelve signs of heaven, so that different powers preside over different parts, and the creature which God made in his own image would be as much bound to the stars as it is joined in its limbs. Rightly did our fathers, in whose times this abominable heresy broke out, act urgently throughout the whole world that the impious frenzy should be driven from the entire Church, when even the princes of the world so detested this sacrilegious madness that they struck down its author, with very many of his disciples, by the sword of the public laws. For they saw that all concern for decency was being removed, every bond of marriage dissolved, and divine and human law overturned together, if men of this kind had been allowed to live anywhere while professing such things. This severity long aided the Church’s mildness, which, though it is content with priestly judgment and shrinks from bloody punishments, is nevertheless helped by the strict constitutions of Christian princes, since those who fear bodily punishment sometimes run back to the spiritual remedy. But since hostile invasion has occupied many provinces, and the storms of wars have cut off the enforcement of the laws; since travel between the priests of God has become difficult and their meetings rare, secret perfidy has found freedom through the public turmoil, and has been spurred on to the overthrow of many minds by the very evils by which it ought to have been corrected. And what part of the people there, or how large a part, is free from the contagion of this plague, where, as your love reports, the hearts even of some priests have been corrupted by the deadly disease, and through the very men by whom falsehood was believed to be suppressed and truth defended, the Gospel of Christ is made subject to the doctrine of Priscillian; so that, the piety of the holy volumes being twisted into profane senses, there is preached under the names of prophets and apostles not what the Holy Spirit taught but what the devil’s minister inserted? Since, therefore, your love has, with faithful diligence as far as it could, gathered the opinions long ago condemned into sixteen chapters, we too review them all briefly, lest any of these blasphemies should seem either tolerable or doubtful.