Letters275 Letter CCLXXV. To pope Eugenius, about the election of a bishop at Auxerre. (A.D. 1151)
Letter CCLXXV. To pope Eugenius, about the election of a bishop at Auxerre. (A.D. 1151)
He makes the Pope aware of the bad faith which had been shown in this election.
When I first wrote to you about the church at Auxerre I had heard of the first election, but not of the second. And lo! just as if I were a prophet, the scandal which I suspected has followed, and the fear which I feared has come. Recollect what took place at Nevers, and see if it is not in like manner, by a very similar artifice, by double-dealing, and, as they say, with the very same person as promoter, that a second election has now been ventured on: when, after one candidate was nominated, both were rejected, and finally a third, whom they wished to elect, craftily brought forward. They sent to me to ask me to write to you on their behalf, and I thought it good to send a brother from my side, to learn something more certain about both actions, and to acquaint me with the facts. When he had entered the church, and made diligent inquiries about everything, he found on the testimony of all who had come together that there were on that side none of the presbyters except one, viz., Hugh, the brother of Brother Geoffrey,' and none of the deacons except Stephen only; I must except, of course, those officials of the church who had been the chief agents in the matter, the precentor, the archdeacon, and, as it seemed, the treasurer, for he was not himself present at the time. Further, he found that there were on the other side, besides others of the lower order, nine deacons and eleven presbyters. The twelfth, who is also arch-priest, declared that he had not subscribed, and would not subscribe, for either side, although he was in favour of the first. The above-named Hugh held the seal of the church, a man not of peace, but of discord, and one who in giving his account paid more attention to his own wishes than to the truth. So the matter stands. And with my usual presumption say one thing: wickedness ought not to be allowed to boast itself, it is unseemly for wisdom to be deceived, inexpedient for a church to have its functions longer suspended.
Cum primum vobis pro Antissiodorensi Ecclesia scripsi, de prima audieram electione, de secunda nihil. Et ecce me veluti prophetante, opprobrium quod suspicatus sum, secutum est: et timor quem timebam, evenit. Mementote quomodo actum sit Nivernis, et videte si non simili arte, imo fraude non dissimili, eodemque auctore, ut aiunt, et nunc secunda electio praesumpta est: ut scilicet uno nominato duos ejiciant, et sic demum tertium, quem volunt, subinducant. Miserunt et isti ad me, ut pro sua parte scriberem, et visum est mihi mittere fratrem a latere meo, qui de utraque certius actione cognosceret, nosque certificaret. Qui intrans ecclesiam, et de omnibus diligenter explorans, testimonio omnium qui convenerant, invenit nullum presbyterorum, praeter unum, fratrem scilicet ipsius fratris Gaufridi, Hugonem; nullum de diaconibus praeter Stephanum solum, ex parte illa esse: exceptis his, qui auctores exstiterant, personis ecclesiae, cantore, archidiacono, et, ut dicebatur, thesaurario: neque enim ipse praesens tunc adfuit. Porro in parte altera, preter alios inferioris ordinis, diaconos novem, et presbyteros undecim consentire. Duodecimus, qui et archipresbyter est, pro neutra parte velle se subscribere, pro neutra scripsisse testabatur: quanquam priorem plus vellet. Sigillum Ecclesiae praefatus Hugo tenebat, homo non pacis, sed partis alienae: nec consideravit in tradendo quod debuit, sed quod voluit. Sic se res habet. Et ego solita praesumptione unum infero: nec malitiam gloriari oportet, nec sapientiam decipi decet, nec Ecclesiam suspendi diutius expedit.