The Letters of St. Jerome 137
137 From Pope Innocent to John, Bishop of Jerusalem PL 22, 1163
Innocent censures John for having allowed the Pelagians to effuse the disturbance at Bethlehem mentioned in the two preceding letters and exhorts him to be more watchful over his diocese in future. The date of the letter is a.d. 417. This was the year of the death of both John and Innocent, and it is probable that John never received the letter.
Innocent to his most highly esteemed brother John.
The holy virgins Eustochium and Paula have deplored to me the ravages, murders, fires and outrages of all kinds, which they say that the devil has perpetrated in the district belonging to their church; for with wonderful clemency and generosity they have left untold the name and motive of his human agent. Now although there can be no doubt as to who is the guilty person; yet you, my brother, ought to have taken precautions and to have been more careful of your flock so that no disturbance of the kind might arise; for others suffer by your negligence, and you encourage men by it to make havoc of the Lord’s flock till His tender lambs, fleeced and weakened by fire, sword and persecution, their relations murdered and dead, are, as we are informed, themselves scarce alive. Does it not touch your sacred responsibility as a priest that the devil has shewn himself so powerful against you and yours? Against you, I say; for surely it speaks ill of your capacity as a priest that a crime so terrible should have been committed in the pale of your church. Where were your precautions? Where, after the blow had been struck, were your attempts at relief? Where too were your words of comfort? These ladies tell me that up to the present they have been in a state of too great apprehension to complain of what they have already suffered. I should judge more gravely of the matter had they spoken to me concerning it more freely than they have. Beware then, brother, of the wiles of the old enemy, and in the spirit of a good ruler be vigilant either to correct or to repress such evils. For they have reached my ears in the shape of rumours rather than as specific accusations. If nothing is done, the law of the Church on the subject of injuries may compel the person who has failed to defend his flock to shew cause for his negligence.
Joannem Jerosolymitanum prospicere debuisse, ne tot ac tantis malis, quibus afflicti sunt Hieronymus, Eustochium et Paula, opprimerentur, ac nisi haec deinceps aut corrigantur, aut retundantur, rationem inde redditurum.
Dilectissimo fratri JOANNI INNOCENTIUS.
Direptiones, caedes, incendia, omne facinus extremae clementiae, generosissimae sanctae virgines Eustochium et Paula deploraverunt in locis ecclesiae suae perpetrasse 1046 Diabolum: nomen enim hominis causamque reticuerunt. Quod etsi ambiguum non sit a quo commissum, oportuit tamen custodire germanitatem tuam, et gregi illius sollicitius providere, ne quid hujusmodi oriretur, quod cum aliorum pericula tua lacescit negligentia admittere in gregem Domini, et tales agnas incendio, armis et persecutionibus, nudas, debiles, post suorum caedes et mortes, vix vivere audivimus. Nihil movet pietatem illam sacerdotii tui de tanta diaboli in te atque in tuos potestate admissa? in te, inquam, prorsus enim Sacerdotis gravitatem condemnat tantum nefas in ecclesia fuisse completum. Ubi provisiones tuae? ubi certe, si casus evenerant, auxilia, vel consolationes, cum plus se adhuc metuere dicant, quam conqueruntur esse perpessas? Altius censerem, si essent aliquid de hac re mecum apertius collocutae. Vide, frater, antiqui hostis insidias, et spiritu boni rectoris pervigila, ut haec, quae ad nos opinione magis quam accusatione manifesta delata sunt, vel corrigantur, vel retundantur; ne jus ecclesiasticum de labefactatis causas, eum, qui non defenderit, praestare compellat.