Letters61 Letter LXI. To Ricuin, bishop of Toul, in Lorraine (Circa A.D. 1125)
Letter LXI. To Ricuin, bishop of Toul, in Lorraine (Circa A.D. 1125)
He sends back to the Bishop a man who had been sent to him for the purpose of undergoing penitence, and charges him "with his restoration.
To the Reverend Lord and Father RiCUiN, by the grace of God, Bishop of Toul, Brother BERNARD, Abbot of Clairvaux, health and prayers.
For this sinner whom your Worthiness has thought fit to send to me, who am myself a sinner, for spiritual advice, as he says, I have no wiser counsel at the present than that he should return to the bosom of your fatherly goodness, and should learn his duty from the mouth of the priest; for I, in order to remain within the narrow limits of my powers and my office, which I ought not to transgress, am not at all accustomed to impose penance, especially for great faults, on anyone but those alone who are under my jurisdiction. For what rashness would it be in me, a sinner, and inexperienced as I am, to undertake episcopal functions and matters so important? Ought I not also, just as other men, to have recourse, as is proper, to the opinion of the bishop, as often as there presents itself among us some affair more weighty than usual, which either I know not, or dare not, or am unable to settle by myself; and am I not far from secure until I have been fortified by the opinion and advice of my bishop? Let this poor diseased sheep be provided for, then, by his own pastor, who is one who well knows the canons, with a suitable medicine of penance, that a soul for which Christ died may not (which God forbid) die in sin, and the Chief Pastor require his blood at your hand. But I have persuaded him to leave the world since God has given him a thought of so doing; if by your intercession he may obtain the favour of being received, LETTER LXII.
though an old man and poor, into some monastery of holy men within your diocese. May God one day receive you, holy and venerable father, full of days and good works, into the sacred habitations in which one day is better than a thousand passed elsewhere.
Reverendo patri, domino RICUINO, gratia Dei Tullensi episcopo, frater BERNARDUS dictus abbas de Clara-Valle, salutem et orationes.
Peccatori huic, quem ad nos peccatores ob animae suae consilium vestra, ut ipse perhibuit, dirigere curavit dignatio - nihil ad praesens sanius consulere in promptu habuimus, quam ut ad sinum paternae pietatis rediret, et ex ore sacerdotis legem requireret. Nos enim nostrae parvitatis et officii mensuram attendentes, nec nos ultra nos extendentes, dare poenitentiam, maxime in criminalibus, nulli hominum praesumere omnino solemus, nisi solis, quos in nostram curam suscepimus. Qua namque temeritate tractanda episcoporum negotia, et hujusmodi negotia, peccatores et imperiti suscipiemus, qui ipsi quoque, sicut et caeteri hominum, quoties gravior aliqua causa inter nos oboritur, quam per nos definire aut nescimus, aut nequimus, aut non audemus; episcopali, ut dignum est, sententiae reservamus: et nisi summi prius Sacerdotis vel judicio vel consilio confirmati, securi non sumus? Provideatur igitur morbidae ovi a proprio pastore, et tali pastore, qui canones non ignorat, congrua poenitentiae medicina: ne si in peccato, quod absit, anima pro qua Christus mortuus est, moriatur; sanguinem ejus de manu vestra summus Pastor requirat. Verum nos Deo illi inspirante mundum relinquere persuasimus: si tamen homo senex et pauper in aliquo se recipi intra dioecesim vestram sanctorum conventu, vestro obtinere potuerit interventu. Plenum vos dierum suscipiat dies una illa melior in atriis Domini super millia, sancte ac venerabilis Pater.