[261] Pelagii PP. II. Epist. xiv.
[262] Superstes uxor aut filii, per quos ecclesiastica solet periclitari substantia.—Pelagii PP. I. Cethego Patricio.
[263] L. Wisigoth. Lib. v. Tit. i. l. 2.
[264] Gregor. PP. I. Lib. XIII. Epist. 6.—This rule had come to be very generally neglected. The importance attached to it, however, by strict disciplinarians is well illustrated in the firmness displayed by John, Patriarch of Alexandria, a contemporary of Gregory, whose bountiful charity had earned for him the title of Eleemosynarius. In a time of extreme famine, a wealthy aspirant offered him 200,000 bushels of corn and 100 pounds of gold for the grade of deacon. He had unluckily been twice married, and John refused the dazzling bribe, although the episcopal treasury had been exhausted in relieving the necessities of the suffering people (Thomassin, Discip. de l’Église, Pt. II. Liv. 3, c. 15.)
[265] Gregor. PP. I. Lib. XIII. Epistt. 35, 36.
[266] Ibid. Lib. IV. Epist. 26; Lib. V. Epist. 3; Lib. VIII. Epist. 24.—Similar attempts had previously been made by sundry provincial councils. In the case of Andrew, Bishop of Tarentum, who was accused of maintaining relations with a former concubine, Gregory recognizing the impossibility of obtaining proof, leaves it to his own conscience. If he has had any commerce with her since his ordination, he is commanded at once to resign his position as the only mode of insuring his salvation (Ibid. Lib. III. Epistt. 45, 46).
[267] Ibid. Lib. I. Epist. 44; Lib. IV. Epistt. 5, 36.
[268] Ibid. Lib. XI. Epist. 69.
[269] Ibid. Lib. IX. Epist. 106.
[270] Udalric. Bamberg. Cod. Lib. II. Epist. 10.