Epistle
LXXIX.
To Martinus, Bishop in Corsica.
Gregory to Martinus, &c.
To those who ask for what is just it behoves us to
lend a kindly ear, to the end both that the petitioners may find the
remedies they hope for, and that the anxious care of a shepherd be not
wanting to the Church. And inasmuch as the church of Tanates, in
which thy Fraternity was formerly adorned with sacerdotal dignity, has
for its sins been so taken possession of and ruined by hostile savagery
that no further hope remains of thy returning thither, we appoint thee,
by authority of these presents, undisputed cardinal priest
1392
in the Church of Saona, which has now
been long deprived of the aid of a pontiff. Do thou therefore so
arrange and order all things according to the injunctions of the canons
with vigilant care in the love of
God
, that
both thy Fraternity may rejoice in having attained thy desires, and the
Church of
God
may be filled with answering joy
for having received thee as Cardinal pontiff.
1392
Cardinal bishops,
presbyters, or deacons, meant formerly such as were regularly
instituted and attached to some particular see, parish, or church,
which constituted their title (
titulas
). They were then
said to be
incardinati
, the act of so instituting them being
called
incardinatio
. Cf. II. 37; XIV. 7.