A letter from Lul (755-86)

Translated letter:

Lul, poor and humble bishop, to Swithan and those subject to her. It is an apostolic precept, o Swithan, that we pasture the flock of the lord preserving it with solicitude, lest it be found outside the sheeppen and perish by wolf bites. Trusting that you had done this and would do it — you who received the rule of religious life from that most holy man Boniface, martyr of Christ, and from his disciples — I reckoned according to the measure of your intelligence. But, and I am compelled to say this in sorrow and grief, you proved to have done far otherwise; neglecting those souls for whom Christ died, for whose life you will have to answer on the day of judgment before the tribunal of Christ, you permitted women covered by the holy veil, N. and N., against the statutes of the canons and the discipline of the holy rule, without permission or my advice, to go freely into a far region in the devil's snare to the perdition of their souls, to the injury of God and his blessed mother Mary ever virgin, to whom they should give service, to satisfy the arrogance and desire of laymen; not recalling the gospel: "if one blind person guides another, both will fall into a pit" [Matth.15:15], and "the soul that sins will die" [Ezek.18:4]. But lest you scorn this reproof, giving it little importance, I shall strike you with the apostolic words: "Reproach sinners in the presence of all, so the others will also fear" [1Tim.5:20]. You may know that you are excommunicated for this folly with all your [nuns] who committed this crime of negligence by consenting to it, until you emend the guilt with worthy satisfaction. You will not receive those aforesaid wandering and disobedient women within your cell. But let them, when they come, sit outside the monastery excommunicated from the church of Christ, doing penance in bread and water; and you abstain similarly from all flesh and all drink that is sweetened by honey; knowing that if you scorn this rebuke, you scorn him who was sent by God to save sinners, that is Christ, who said in the gospel: "Who rejects you rejects me; but who rejects me rejects him who sent me" [Lk.10:16], that is God the father omnipotent. We wish in Christ that you be converted to better.

Original letter:

Lullus exiguus atque humilis antestis Suithan eiusque subiectis. Apostolicum praeceptum est, o Suitha, ut gregem Domini sollicite servando pascamus, ne absque ovili repertus luporum morsibus pereat. Hoc quidem te egisse et acturam esse confidens — quae a sanctissimo viro Bonifacio, martyre Christi, eiusque discipulis regularis vitae disciplinam suscepisti — putabam iuxta modulum intellegentiae tuae. Sed, quod tristis ac merens dicere cogor, longe aliter fecisse conprobaris; quae, neglectis animabus, pro quibus Christus mortuus est, de quarum vita redditura es rationem in die iudicii ante tribunal Christi, dum sacro velamine palleatas feminas N. et N. contra statuta canonum et sanctae regulae disciplinam, sine licentia et consilio meo, ad iniuriam Dei eiusque matris beatae Mariae semper virginis, cuius famulatum exhibere debuerunt, in laqueum diaboli, propter arrogantiam ac voluptatem laicorum explendam, ad perditionem animarum suarum liberas ire permiseras in longinquam regionem; non recolens illud evangelicum: “Si cecus ceco ducatum praebet, ambo in foveam cadunt,” et illud: “Anima, quae peccaverit, ipsa morietur.” Sed ne forte hanc meam obiurgationem parvi pendens contempnas, apostolico te sermone percutiam, quo ait: “Peccantes coram omnibus argue, ut ceteri timorem habeant.” Pro huiusmodi stultitia excommunicatam te esse scias cum omnibus tuis, qui hunc neglegentiae reatum consentiendo perpetraverunt, usque dum digna satisfactione hanc emendetis culpam. Illas autem vagas et inoboedientes supra dictas feminas intra cellam vestram non recipiatis. Sed foras monasterium excommunicatae ab ecclesia Christi sedeant, penitentiam agentes, dum venerint, in pane et aqua; et vos similiter, abstinendo ab omni carne et ab omni potu qui melle indulcoratur; scientes, quia si spernitis istam increpationem, quod spernatis eum, qui a Deo missus est peccatores salvos facere, id est Christum, qui dixit in evangelio: “Qui vos spernit, me spernit; qui autem me spernit, spernit eum, qui me misit,” id est Deum patrem omnipotentem. Optamus in Christo, ad meliora vos converti.

Historical context:

Lul excommunicates the abbess and any others who consented to it for allowing two of her nuns to leave the monastery without episcopal permission, exposing them to sin. He gives her and them a penance of strict fasting. Suzanne Wemple points out that according to the Council of Verneuil, 755, monks were permitted to travel when ordered by their abbot, Women in Frankish Society, Marriage and the Cloister 500-900 (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania, 1981), 166.

Printed source:

MGH, Epistolae Merovingici et Karolini Aevi, 6, S.Bonifacii et Lulli Epistolae, ep.128

Date:

755-86