Free English Translation
Letter of Aurelius to Pope Damasus
Epistola Aurelii Damaso Papae
~1 min read · by Pseudo-Aurelius
About Letter of Aurelius to Pope Damasus
The Letter of Aurelius to Pope Damasus is a short petition written in the name of Aurelius, bishop of Carthage, though not actually his composition. The writer asks Pope Damasus I to have gathered in writing all the decrees issued from the apostolic see since the death of the apostle Peter down to Damasus' own pontificate. The stated purpose is to let the writer's church learn what had been decreed by the Roman see over that span and to identify anyone who had acted against the institutes of the apostolic canons. The letter closes with a farewell and a request for prayer, followed by two brief dating notices recording when it was issued and when it was read at Rome.
By Pseudo-Aurelius. Collected in Patrologia Latina, Volume 20.
Letter of Aurelius to Pope Damasus
To the most blessed Pope DAMASUS, AURELIUS bishop of Carthage. May our humility entreat the glory of the apostolic see and the grace of your sublimity, that you would deign to send to us in writing the decrees which you shall be able to find, from the end of the blessed prince of the apostles Peter, up to the beginning of your holiness, according to the authority of the apostolic see, which we know to be governed by the holiness of your wisdom: to the end that, through the nobility and prudence of your holiness, we may be able to know what has been decreed in the aforesaid holy see during the times aforementioned, and that those who have acted against the institutes of the canons of the apostles may be made known. Farewell, most holy pope, and pray for us, most loving father. Given the eighth day before the kalends of March. The same read at Rome, the fifth day before the nones of May.
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