A Work on the Proceedings of Pelagius 66
66 The Harsh Measures of the Pelagians Against the Holy Monks and Nuns Who Belonged to Jerome’s Charge PL 44, 358
Certain followers of Pelagius are said to have carried their support of his cause after these judicial proceedings to an incredible extent of perverseness and audacity. They are said to have most cruelly beaten and maltreated the servants and handmaidens of the Lord who lived under the care of the holy presbyter Jerome, slain his deacon, and burnt his monastic houses; whilst he himself, by God’s mercy, narrowly escaped the violent attacks of these impious assailants in the shelter of a well-defended fortress. However, I think it better becomes me to say nothing of these matters, but to wait and see what measures our brethren the bishops may deem it their duty to adopt concerning such scandalous enormities; for nobody can suppose that it is possible for them to pass them over without notice. Impious doctrines put forth by persons of this character it is no doubt the duty of all catholics, however remote their residence, to oppose and refute, and so to hinder all injury from such opinions wheresoever they may happen to find their way; but impious actions it belongs to the discipline of the episcopal authority on the spot to control, and they must be left for punishment to the bishops of the very place or immediate neighbourhood, to be dealt with as pastoral diligence and godly severity may suggest. We, therefore, who live at so great a distance, are bound to hope that such a stop may there be put to proceedings of this kind, that there may be no necessity elsewhere of further invoking judicial remedies. But what rather befits our personal activity is so to set forth the truth, that the minds of all those who have been severely wounded by the report, so widely spread everywhere, may be healed by the mercy of God following our efforts. With this desire, I must now at last terminate this work, which, should it succeed, as I hope, in commending itself to your mind, will, I trust, with the Lord’s blessing, become serviceable to its readers—recommended to them rather by your name than by my own, and through your care and diligence receiving a wider circulation.
De his autem quae post hoc judicium ibi a nescio quo cuneo perditorum, qui valde in perversum perhibentur Pelagio suffragari, incredibili audacia perpetrata dicuntur, ut Dei servi et ancillae ad curam sancti Hieronymi presbyteri pertinentes, sceleratissima caede afficerentur, diaconus occideretur, aedificia monasteriorum incenderentur, vix ipsum ab hoc impetu atque incursu impiorum in Dei misericordia turris munitior fueretur; tacendum nobis potius video, et exspectandum quid illic fratres nostri episcopi de his tantis malis agendum existiment, a quibus eos dissimulare posse, quis credat? Impia quippe dogmata hujuscemodi hominum, a quibuslibet Catholicis, etiam qui ab illis terris longe absunt, redarguenda sunt; ne ubicumque nocere possint, quo pervenire potuerint: impia vero facta, quorum coercitio ad episcopalem pertinet disciplinam, ubi committuntur, ibi potissimum a praesentibus vel in proximo constitutis, diligentia pastorali et pia severitate plectenda sunt. Nos itaque tam longe positi, optare debemus his causis talem illic finem dari, de quo non sit necesse ubilibet ulterius judicare; sed quae nobis potius praedicare conveniat: ut animi omnium, qui illorum scelerum fama usquequaque volitante graviter vulnerati sunt, Dei misericordia consequente sanentur. Unde jam hujus libri terminus iste sit, qui, ut spero, si sensibus tuis placere meruerit, adjuvante Domino, utilis erit legentibus; tuo quam meo nomine commendatior, et tua diligentia plurimis notior.