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Friday, March 18, 2011

Abbo of Fleury, Letter to Desiderius


  Title page of one of Abbo of Fleury's tracts showing the word "ABBO". Created between 962 and 986 AD in Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire abbey. [Wikipedia, "Abbo of Fleury"]

Abbo Floriacensis [Abbo of Fleury]
945-1004 AD
translated by RmBullard
[Medieval Latin]

EPISTOLA ABBONIS AD DESIDERIUM.
(Desiderius Epistola XIII)

"Abbo's Letter to Desiderius"

Domno semper proprio Desiderio apostolico papae Abbo peccator.

1 [From Abbo, ever the sinner, to his apostolic lord and pope Desiderius.]

Litteras gratiae vestrae tam per anteriores missos, qui cum filio vestro Chedeno venerunt, quam et qui postea cum Babone accepi, per quas praecepisti,

2 [I have received your letters--so wonderful by the way--from the servants you have sent, and they arrived with son Chedenus, whom I welcomed alongside Babo, and I understand that you have instructed that...]

 ut de vestris conditionibus, juxta quod Deus posse dabat, sollicitudinem gererem, Deo soli sufficit non latere, quia cum integra fide et promptissima voluntate id assecutus sum, et ordinationes Dominicas infirmatas sunt, ut de res illas, quas leva tenebat praesentaliter Bobila revestita esse debeat.
3 [I should endure my state of anxiety according your orders, just as God was able to--it does not please God to hide oneself away--because he prevailed over this with his faith intact and the greatest willingness possible, and the laws of the Dominicans then grew more lax, and what was the result? That, in the present state of affairs, Bobila ought to be restored to his position for enduring these kind of things so easily.]


Nam per vestra gratia non nobis sine labore constavit.
4 [You see, I had no trouble, thanks to your kindness.]

Tamen dum scimus quod justitia est, credimus de Dei pietate, quod sic pro vestro prudentissimo consilio causa gubernetur, ut ad bonum perfectum perveniat.
5 [However, while I do believe in justice, I also trust in the piety of God, and it is because my situation has been guided by advice--the most prudent there can be--that it has turned out perfectly.]