Quinquaginta quinque millia quingenta quinque
Omnes canonizati a te sunt translati.
Est monachus sanctus. Caput vero Benedictus.—
(Birck de Monast. Campidonens. c. 25.)
Bishop Trithemius is more moderate, his estimate amounting to only 15,559. (Miræi Orig. Benedict.)
[237] Gregor. PP. I. Lib. I. Epist. 42. Six years later he had to repeat his commands in stronger terms. (Cf. Lib. VII. Epist. 35. Lib. II. Epist. 28. Lib. IV. Epist. 27. Lib. X. Epist. 8.) Yet when the offender was a man of rank and power, as in the case of Venantius, Patrician of Syracuse, Gregory could lay aside the tone of lofty command and condescend to tender entreaty and earnest exhortation (Lib. I. Epist. 34), without even a threat of excommunication, and remain for years on the friendliest terms with him (Lib. XI. Epistt. 30, 35, 36), showing that the rule was as yet by no means firmly established. In another case, however, nothing can be more indignant and peremptory than his commands (Lib. VIII. Epistt. 8, 9).
[238] Gregor. PP. I. Lib. IV. Epist. 42.
[239] Gregor. PP. I. Lib. X. Epistt. 22, 23.—He states “ut etiam monachis ibidem degentibus mulieribus se jungere sine metu sit licitum” which he characterizes as “res ... omnino detestabilis et nefanda.”
[240] Gregor. PP. I. Lib. XI. Epist. 50.