Alcuin frequently presses upon his correspondents the value of a careful study of Pope Gregory’s treatise on Pastoral Care. It was this book that King Alfred selected to have translated into English for the benefit of the clergy of England. Inasmuch as Alfred was born only fifty years after the death of Alcuin, there is no great improbability in the idea that Alcuin’s influence in regard of this book survived to Alfred’s time. The fact that it is chiefly on English bishops that he urges its frequent study may point in this direction. It was, however, not always the English bishops who received this advice.
Ep. 71. A.D. 796.
To Arno, Bishop of Salzburg, Alcuin wrote a long and very valuable letter of advice as to the manner in which the Huns whom Karl was conquering should be brought to the faith. He speaks strongly of the necessity of adapting the teaching and discipline to the character of each individual, as also of each race.
“There be some infirmities which are better treated by sweet potions than by bitter; others better by bitter than by sweet. Whence a teacher of the people of God, while he ought to shine clear with all the lights of virtues in the house of God, should specially excel in the utmost sagacity of discretion. He should know what treatment best suits the sex, the age, the aim, even the occasion, of each person. All which the blessed Gregory, the most lucid doctor, in his book on the Pastoral Care has most diligently investigated, has adapted to various persons, has driven home by examples, has made sure by the authority of the divine scriptures. To the study of which book I refer you, most holy prelate; beseeching you to have it very frequently in your hands as a manual, to keep it in your heart.”
To Higbald of Lindisfarne he writes:—
Ep. 81. A.D. 797.
“Read very often, I beseech you, the book of the blessed Gregory, who brought the Gospel to us, on the Pastoral Care, that in it you may learn the peril of the episcopal office and may not forget the reward of him who serves the office well. Let that book be very often in your hands, let its points be firmly fixed in your memory, that you may know how a man should attain to the office of a bishop, and, having attained, with what circumspection he should guide himself, how exemplary his life should be, how earnest his preaching. The author of the book has also given the most discreet advice as to the different ways of dealing with persons of different characters.”