A letter from Gregory IX (05/09/1238)

Translated letter:

To his beloved daughter Agnes, handmaid of Christ and of the glorious Virgin blessed among women, greetings and apostolic blessing. From the ineffable grace and power of the creator of all things proceeds that the Spirit of his contemplation is lifted so to the heights of the heavens, that from him the depth of the abyss is penetrated; as was intimated in the wondrous variety of the miracles of God that you expressed long ago in the letters of your sincerity. From which we gathered, exulting, that fixed in the regions of the north, having left the confines of earth, that are greed, vanity, and pleasure, which have the eyes of fools fixed on them, you went forth with the queen of the south to hear the wisdom of the true Solomon, at whose feet, as in a school of virtues, persevering wakeful and diligent, you learned there so fully goodness, discipline, and knowledge, that having drunk from the torrent of its pleasure, you rose from this to that, now producing from the treasury of your breast the fervor of new desire, now laying out the unchangeable will of the old in performance. On this, indeed, to the son of the glorious Virgin to whom, by his mercy, you offered the whiteness of virginal purity, giving thanks from the deepest affection of the heart, we urge you daughter of benediction, that in those things which it is recognized the power of God alone worked in you, you strive to ascribe nothing to man but all to the creator, from whom wondrously dispensing all goods, the ministries of angels and men receive their beginning and fulfillment of achievement, by means of the crown of perennial glory of devotion and faith for their subject followers, through whom as if by the instrument of his will his will is carried out; so glorying in the Lord we contemplate in St. Francis, the mirror of moderns, who having put aside the errors of the world, crossing to the worship of continuous purity committed himself faithfully acting beyond the office of mission, at the command of the eternal king was translated suddenly from a thorn to a flower, attained the great reward of souls from the son of the eternal father, instituted by him in the form of the stigmata of the redeemer, signed by the faith as revealed to many worthy through the breadth of the world in three orders in which every day the almighty is multiply rendered glorious. For within as if unwillingly contained in three disseminations, which the Pharaoh's butler saw before him in a dream, the colleges/communities are designated minor orders of brothers, of enclosed sisters, and of penitents which are dedicated to the worship of the holy and individual trinity; while they put forth the flowers of laudable opinion and the grapes of honorable conversation and the wine of sacred remorse is poured out; to many from the universality of the faithful is produced as they perceive those serving the lord in holiness and justice, the prize/reward of eternal happiness eternally prepared for you, dearest daughter in Christ, as we believe by divine piety. For who would not hold as regards the constancy of the faithful, that when you consider the habit of poverty, in which for the salvation of the human race the creator of individuals wished to be held, you changed a humble queen once abounding in many delights and honors to a poor handmaid, you perceive the necklaces of perennial treasure which the Virgin giving herself to the embraces of virtues and the very blessed martyr Agnes is believed to have pursued? Who of those fearing God would not say with full lips that you giving yourself over to virginal purity in the bride, chose for herself the excellences of the redeemer? And we ask your devotion and urge in the Lord Jesus Christ that solicitous for these you frequently sing praises; which the one presiding over the court on high is recognized to have provided to the angels rejoicing, you may be zealous to direct the height of your intention to this end without intermission; that you discern what is established as an example of salvation for many, accompanied by the assembly of the holy virgins, you may deserve to be placed in the eternal fatherland; this will bring an immensity of happiness to us as produces the glory of stable honor to a father from a virtuous son. Dated at the Lateran, 7th ides of May in the 12th year of our pontificate.

Original letter:

Dilectae filae Agneti ancillae Christi, & gloriosae Virginis in mulieribus benedictae Salutem, & Apostolicam Benedictionem. De Conditoris omnium ineffabili gratia, & virtute procedit quod contemplationis suae Spiritus sic in alta Coelorum erigitur, ut ab ipso & abyssi profunditas penetretur; prout innuitur ex Dei magnalium varietate mirabili, quam pridem in tuae sinceritatis litteris expressisti. Ex ipsa enim collegimus exultantes, quod tu in Aquilonis partibus constituta, relictis Terrae finibus, qui sunt cupiditas, vanitas, & voluptas in se stultorum oculos defixos habentes, cum Regina Austri audire processeris veri sapientiam Salomonis, circa cujus pedes, tamquam in schola virtutum, pervigil, & sedula perseverans ibi sic ad plenum bonitatem, disciplinam, & scientiam didicisti, ut suae voluptatis torrente potata, ex hoc in illud eructes, nunc de thesauro tui pectoris fervorem desiderii novi proferens, nunc circa executionem veteris incommutabilem voluntatem exponens. Super hoc quidem nato gloriosae Virginis, cui, sua disponente clementia , obtulisti candorem munditiae Virginalis, quas possumus, gratias exhibentes ex intimo cordis affectu tibi benedictionis filia suademus, ut in his, quae sola, Dei virtus in te operata dignoscitur, nihil homini, sed totum adscribere studeas Creatori, a quo mirabiliter Angelorum, & hominum Ministeria dispensante cuncta bona, principium, & perfectionis suscipiunt complementum, coronam perennis gloriae obtentu devotionis, & Fidei consequentibus subditis, per quos idem quasi per instrumentum suae beneplacitum exequitur voluntatis; sicut in modernorum speculo Beato Francisco gloriantes in Domino contemplamur, qui nutu Regis aeterni de spina subito translatus in florem, postpositis Mundi fallaciis ad cultum continuae tranfiens puritatis, commissae sibi desuper gerendo fideliter legationis officium, Patris aeterni Filio grande lucrum attulit animarum, institutis per ipsum specie Stigmatum, Redemptoris , sicut pluribus dignis fide patuit infignitum, per orbis latitudinem tribus Ordinibus, in quibus perdies singulos cunctipotens redditur multipliciter gloriosus. Intus enim quasi tribus propaginibus invite contentis, quas coram se per somnium pincerna Pharaonis inspexit, Fratrum Ord.Min., Sororum inclusarum & Poenitentium Collegia defignantur, que Sancte, ac Individue Trinitatis dedicata cultui; dum flores opinionis laudabilis, & uvas conversationis honestae proferunt, ac vinum sacrae compunctionis effunditur; multis de, Fidelium universitate producitur, ut in Sanctitate, & justitia Domino servientes comprehendant felicitatis aeternae bravium tibi ab aeterno, filia in Christo carissima, sicut de pietate Divina confidimus, praeparatum. Quis enim Fidelium pro constanti non teneat, quod cum tu considerans paupertatis habibitum, in quo pro salute humani generis haberi voluit Conditor singulorum, in ancillam pauperem, & humilem Reginam transtuleris, olim multis deliciis, & honoribus abundantem, percipes perennis thesauri monilia, quae vacando virtutum amplexibus Virgo, & Martyr Agnes beatissima creditur consecuta Quis Deum timentium plenis non dicat labiis, quod te vacantem Virginali munditiae in Sponsam, sibi elegerit excellentia Redemptoris Rogamus itaque devotionem tuam, & hortamur in Domino Jesu Christo, quatenus sollicita super his, laudis frequentare canticum; gaudentibus Angelis de se providisse dignoscitur praesidens curiae supernorum, ad hoc sine intermissione intentionis tuae summam dirigere studeas; ut quae pluribus in salutis exemplum constituta, cerneris, Sanctarum concursu comitata Virginum in aeterna tandem collocari Patria merearis; Nobis super hoc illam percepturis immensitatem laetitiae, quae solet Patri de virtuoso filio, & stabilis honoris consequente gloriam, provenire. Datum Laterani VII. Idus Maii Pontificatus Nostri Anno Duodecimo.

Historical context:

The pope praises Agnes for her vocation and encourages her in rather involuted language to continue the traditional functions of a nun, pointedly avoiding the subject of Franciscan practices, though he does talk about Francis, the stigmata, and the three orders.

Printed source:

Bullarium Franciscanum Romanorum Pontificum, ed. J. H. Sbaralea, 1 (Rome: Sacrae Congregationis de Propaganda Fide, 1759, repr. Santa Maria degli Angeli: Proziuncola, 1983), 241-42, ep.263.

Date:

05/09/1238