¹ To the most excellent of all, the head of the churches of all Europe, to the most sweet Pope, the most exalted prelate, the shepherd of shepherds, the most reverend overseer: the most humble to the most lofty, the least to the greatest, the rustic to the urbane, the small to the most eloquent, the last to the first, the pilgrim to the native, the most impoverished to the most powerful—wonderful to say, a strange thing! A rare bird!—dares to write, Palumbus, to Boniface, his father.

² Who will be able to hear this feeble voice? Who will not immediately say: Who is this presumptuous chatterer who dares to write such things without being asked? What avenger of retaliation will not at once burst forth with that old reproachful saying with which the Hebrew, who wronged his brother, answered Moses: “Who made you a prince or a judge over us?” To which I first respond that there is no presumption where necessity for the edification of the Church is evident; and if anyone cavils about the person, let him consider not who speaks, but what is said. What will a Christian pilgrim remain silent about when a neighboring Arian has long been declaiming it? “For the wounds of a friend are better than the deceitful kisses of an enemy”. Others slander joyfully in secret; I, sad and grieving, will rebuke in public—not the good of the peaceful, but the evils of the harmful schism. Therefore, it is neither vanity nor boldness that compels this man of the lowest rank to presume to write to such exalted men; rather, it is grief, not pride, that compels me to humbly suggest, as is fitting, that the name of God is blasphemed among the nations because of your mutual disputes.

³ I confess that I grieve over the disgrace brought upon the chair of Saint Peter; yet I know that the matter is beyond me, and that at first glance I may, as they say, put my face to the burning coals. But what does it matter to me before men when the zeal for faith must be proclaimed? Before God and the angels, I shall not be ashamed; for it is a glory to be shamed before men for the sake of God. If I am heard, it will be for the common good; if I am despised, my reward will be my own. For I speak as a friend, as a disciple, as your follower—not as an outsider. Therefore, I will speak freely to you, my teachers, as the steersmen and spiritual pilots of the mystical ship, saying: Watch, for the sea is stormy and is agitated by deadly gusts. It is not only the threatening waves, which, though stirred, always carve out the sea with foaming whirlpools for the cautious, swelling exaggeratedly from afar and rising high, driving the sails before them with furrowed masses into the abyss.

⁴ The storm of the entire element, undoubtedly rising and stirred from all sides, threatens the shipwreck of the mystical ship; therefore, as a fearful sailor, I dare to cry out: “Watch, for the water has already entered the ship of the Church, and the ship is in danger.” For we, the disciples of the divine canon written by the Holy Spirit through the holy apostles Peter and Paul and all their disciples, we who are the Iberians, the last inhabitants of the world, accept nothing outside the evangelical and apostolic doctrine. No heretic, no Jew, no schismatic has been among us; rather, the Catholic faith, as it was first handed down by you—the successors of the holy apostles—has been firmly held. Strengthened by this confidence, I have dared, as if spurred on, to stir you up against those who blaspheme you and call you supporters of heretics and label you as schismatics, so that my boast, in which I have faithfully responded to them on your behalf, may not be in vain and that they may be put to shame, not us. For I have promised on your behalf that the Roman Church defends no heretic against the Catholic faith, just as it is fitting for disciples to think of their master. Therefore, receive with a willing heart and pious ears the necessary declaration of my presumption; for whatever I say that is either useful or orthodox will be credited to you. Indeed, “the praise of the master is in the doctrine of his disciples”; therefore, “if the son speaks wisely, the father will rejoice,” and the praise will be yours, because, as I have said, it has proceeded from you. For purity is not to be attributed to the stream, but to the fountain. However, if you find any words in this letter or in another written against Agrippinus—who moved me to write—that exceed the bounds of zeal, do not attribute them to pride, but to my lack of discretion.

⁵ Therefore, watch for the peace of the Church, come to the aid of your sheep, now terrified as if by the threats of wolves, who, moreover, out of excessive fear, hesitate and turn back, some coming, others leaving, returning as they come, and always remaining in fear. Wherefore, use the whistle of the true shepherd and your well-known voice, O Pope, and stand between them and the wolves, so that, laying aside their fear, they may then for the first time fully recognize you as their shepherd. For the people I see, while they endure many heretics, are zealous and are quickly disturbed like a frightened flock, and therefore they do not soon regain security, since Italy has had so many wolves, whose whelps can scarcely be crushed completely, as they have been nurtured among such dens. Nevertheless, may God destroy such seed and nourish his flocks, and may he stir you to diligently pursue your pastoral duty, standing watch over your charge day and night, that you may see “that rod of almond wood,” which afterward you may deserve to see as a hook in the time of true harvest gathering. Therefore, so that you may not lack apostolic honor, preserve the apostolic faith, confirm it with testimony, strengthen it in writing, defend it by synod, so that no one may lawfully resist you. Do not despise the advice of a foreigner as one who is zealously instructing you. The world is already in decline; the Prince of Shepherds is drawing near; take care that he does not find you negligent and striking your fellow servants with “the fists of bad example,” eating and drinking with the Hebrews, in case the following words apply to your complacency: “For whoever is ignorant will be ignored.” It is not enough for you to be concerned for yourself alone, for you have taken upon yourself the care of many; “to whom much is entrusted, much will be required.” Therefore, watch, I beg you, Pope, watch, and again I say watch, for perhaps Vigilius, whom these people call “the source of scandal” and who cast blame upon you, did not watch well. First, watch over the faith, then over the works commanded by faith and the vices to be trampled underfoot, because your vigilance will be the salvation of many, just as, on the contrary, your negligence will be the ruin of many. May Isaiah send you up to “the mountain, you who bring good news to Zion,” or rather, through Isaiah, may God, according to the meaning of your name, place you in “the watchtower of true contemplation,” in which, as if for all to see, placed above mortals and made close to the heavenly beings, “lift up your voice like a trumpet and announce to my people,” to the people entrusted to you by your Lord, “their sins, and to the house of Jacob their iniquities.” Do not fear the guilt of falsehood, for you have what you must announce; for many, what is even more serious, have been cast down in these regions due to the negligence of shepherds, and many have been deceived by the prosperity of a most unfortunate abundance. Therefore, since according to the threats of the Lord the blood of so many will be required at the hands of the shepherds, one must be vigilant with diligence—that is, the word of the Lord must be preached frequently by the shepherds, who are the watchmen and teachers of the Church—so that no one perishes through ignorance; for if anyone perishes through negligence, his blood will be upon his own head.

⁶ But why I have long and sharply reminded all of these well-known matters, I will connect in what follows. For these also pertain to the kinds of suggestions proposed first; both are indeed bound together: for those things depend on these. And therefore, these must first be cut away. For one who does not care about religion does not care about error. Herein lies the whole struggle, herein stands the entire cause; here is that “double-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, of joints and marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intents of the heart,” which must cut to the very nerves of the mouth. From here “our speech is seasoned with divine salt,” for indeed, every sacrifice is commanded to be sprinkled with salt; from here sparks descend from that divine fire, which the Lord came to cast upon the earth, burning the wood, the hay, the stubble, which are poorly built by many upon this wondrous foundation, upon which we Christians are wholly built, beyond which no one can lay any other foundation than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Alas, how many fuels for hell are being prepared everywhere from these unfortunate structures, upon which must fall the kindling word of the Lord, descending from the immensity of that ever-living fire, saying: “Take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with dissipation, drunkenness, and the cares of this life, and that day come upon you unexpectedly; for it will come as a snare on all those who dwell on the face of the whole earth.”

⁷ Do you see with what terror the Lord rouses us from our sleep and harmful lethargy to vigilance, in case we be found unprepared? Therefore, I have said: “Pope, watch, it is time to rise from sleep;” The Lord is near, and we now stand at the end amid perilous times. Behold, the nations are in turmoil, the kingdoms are tottering; therefore, the Most High will soon give His voice, and the earth will be moved. I, as one timid, since I am not a strong warrior, because I see that the enemy has surrounded us, attempt to rouse you with importunate cries as the leader of commanders; for to you pertains the peril of the entire army of the Lord in these regions—on a field more slumbering than fighting, and in part, which is more lamentable, more inclined to surrender to the adversaries than to resist them. All await you, who have the power to order all things, to initiate war, to rouse leaders, to command the taking up of arms, to form battle lines, to sound trumpets from every side, and finally to enter the contest with you leading at the front. However, as it appears in this region, we Christians have long been defeated in this spiritual battle—first by carnal vices and pompous ways of life, then by the lukewarmness of wavering faith, through which, weakened, we have been surrounded by our enemies without realizing it. These enemies have been given to us as punishment for our luxurious security. For the root of all evils is the blind security of prosperity.

⁸ I am amazed, I confess, at such security, and I wonder where this deadly sleep has come from, which has almost completely covered—I do not know what hearts, what ears, what senses—that the fiery words of the Lord Himself have not roused to the vigilance of ever-burning zeal, to the contempt of the world, and to the poverty of Christ, as they have roused many peoples. For I, coming from the farthest part of the world, where I have seen spiritual leaders fighting the battles of the Lord, hoped to see even stronger and more skilled leaders in this holy conflict, but instead I find myself like one who contemplates a battlefield, dewy and soaked with corpses after the fight. I am stupefied, grieving, and fearful, and I look only to you, who are the sole hope among the princes, powerful through the honor of the holy Apostle Peter, and I lament the destruction of so great an army. But since the frail vessel of my intellect has not been carried into the deep, according to the word of the Lord, but still lingers in one place—for indeed, the letter cannot contain all that the mind, influenced by varying causes, wishes to express within the narrow limits of an epistle—I am urged by the king to lay before your pious ears his sorrowful concerns one by one. His sorrow is the schism of the people, for the queen, for his son, and perhaps even for himself; for it is reported that he said, if he were certain of it, he would himself believe.

⁹ Let us return to the book, which we left by the riverbank. In case, therefore, the ancient thief bind men with this exceedingly long rope of error, let the cause of the schism be cut off, I beg you, immediately, as if with the knife of Saint Peter—by the true confession of faith in a synod, by the abhorrence and anathema of all heretics—so that you may cleanse the chair of Peter from every error and horror, if any, as they say, has crept in, and if purity is not recognized by all. For it is a cause of sorrow and lamentation if the Catholic faith is not upheld in the Apostolic See. But to speak plainly, lest I seem to flatter you beyond what is fitting, it is also lamentable that you, who long ago ought to have condemned and excommunicated the party that withdrew from you—since you had the legitimate power—did not do so immediately after demonstrating the purity of your faith. Why, then, do they even dare to defame the principal seat of the orthodox faith? You know how severely the holy fathers in the Council of Nicaea condemned those who falsely accused the innocent. Yet, in saying this, I am not unaware that there are many reasons among the noisy and clamorous multitude that prevent these matters from being thoroughly investigated. Not that I would believe them, but I say they should now be addressed. If there are any among your fellow bishops who are rebellious against the truth, let their guilt confine them alone; for a mouth full of flour or any other substance cannot blow fire, since everything near its opposite is harmed. Therefore, I beg you for the sake of Christ: come to the aid of your reputation, which is being torn apart among the nations, lest your silence be attributed to perfidy by your adversaries. Do not, therefore, dissimulate any longer; do not remain silent; but rather, let the voice of the true shepherd be heard, “which His sheep recognize, and they do not hear the voice of strangers, but flee from him.”

¹⁰ I urge you, my fathers and my personal patrons, to remove the confusion from the faces of your sons and disciples, who are ashamed on your behalf, and—what is even greater than this—that the cloud of suspicion may be lifted from the chair of Saint Peter. Take action so that you may clear yourselves of the accusations made against you; for it is no trivial matter that is laid at your charge. It is said that you are accused of receiving heretics—may it never be believed to be true, whether in the past, present, or future. They claim that Eutyches, Nestorius, and Dioscorus—heretics of old, as we know—were received by Vigilius in some synod, supposedly the fifth. Behold the cause of the entire scandal, as they say. If you have received them in this manner, as it is alleged, or if you know that Vigilius himself died infected with such error, why do you invoke him against your conscience? For “everything that does not proceed from faith is sin.” It is now your fault if you have deviated from true confidence and have rendered the first faith void. Your juniors justly resist you and rightly refuse to communicate with you until the memory of the lost is erased and consigned to oblivion. If these things are certain rather than mere fables, your sons have turned against you and you have become the tail instead of the head, which is a cause for sorrow even to mention. Therefore, your judges will be those who have always upheld the orthodox faith, whoever they may be, even if they seem to be your juniors. They are, however, the true orthodox and Catholics, for they have never received nor defended any heretics or those under suspicion but have remained steadfast in their zeal for the true faith.

¹¹ If, therefore, they are not such as their seniority in rank might suggest, yet their greater guilt must be judged justly. Let both parties strive to seek forgiveness for such prolonged discord, and let neither side defend anything against reason—neither you heretics, nor they the suspected—so that, being both guilty, you may come to agreement more swiftly.

¹² But forgive me if, in handling such rugged matters, any words from outside have offended pious ears, for the nature of historical sequence does not allow me to omit anything in this inquiry. The freedom of paternal custom, so to speak, compels me to speak boldly in part. For among us, it is not personal standing but reason that prevails. However, the love of evangelical peace compels me to say everything, so that you may both be struck with astonishment, you who ought to have been a single chorus, and so that my great concern for your concord and peace may be clear. “If one member suffers, all the members suffer together.”

¹³ For, as I have said before, we are bound to the chair of Saint Peter. Although Rome is great and renowned, it is great and glorious among us solely because of this chair. Even though the grandeur of Ausonia, as if something most august and separated far from the climates of the earth, has spread the name of the once-founded city with the immense favor of nearly all nations throughout the entire world, even to the distant regions beyond the Western limit—though, hyperbolically, the swirling waves of the sea rising everywhere could not prevent it—nevertheless, from the time when God, the Son of God, deigned to be among us, riding upon those two fiery steeds of the Spirit of God, namely, the Apostles Peter and Paul, whose precious relics have made you blessed, He stirred the waters of the sea of nations and multiplied the chariots with the thousands of innumerable peoples. The supreme charioteer of that chariot, who is Christ, the true Father and leader of Israel, has crossed beyond the flow of the Euripus, beyond the backs of dolphins, beyond the swelling seas, and has reached us. From that time, you have been great and glorious, and Rome itself has become more noble and renowned. If it may be said, it is because of Christ’s twin apostles—whom the heavens, proclaimed by the Holy Spirit, declare the glory of God, as it is written: “Their sound has gone out into all the earth and their words to the ends of the world.”

¹⁴ “Their words have reached the ends of the earth.” You are almost heavenly, and Rome is the head of the churches of the world, with the unique prerogative of the place of the Lord’s resurrection preserved. Therefore, as great as your honor is because of the dignity of your see, so too great care is necessary for you, in case you lose your dignity due to any perversity. For power will remain with you as long as right reason endures; indeed, he is the true keeper of the keys of the kingdom of heaven who opens to the worthy through true knowledge and shuts to the unworthy; otherwise, if he does the opposite, he will be unable either to open or to shut.

¹⁵ Since these things are true and have been accepted without contradiction by all who are truly wise, and since it is known to all, with no one ignorant of it, how our Savior granted the keys of the kingdom of heaven to Saint Peter, you may perhaps arrogantly claim for yourselves some special authority and power in divine matters above others. Know, however, that your power before the Lord will be lesser if you even think such things in your hearts, for the unity of faith throughout the whole world has brought about the unity of power and prerogative, so that liberty is given to truth everywhere by all, and access to error is denied everywhere in the same manner by all. For a correct confession also granted privilege to the holy key-bearer, but by common agreement, it is also allowed even for your juniors to urge you for the zeal of faith, for the love of peace, and for the unity of the Church, our common mother, who, like Rebecca, is torn apart within her maternal womb and grieves over the strife and internal conflict of her children, mourning sorrowfully the division of her own body. Tears are needed in this, rather than words.

¹⁶ How has the enemy of the Christian name prevailed after the living words of the Son of God, after the fullness of the Gospels, after apostolic teaching, after the recent writings of orthodox authors, who have revealed the sacraments of faith from both the New and Old Testaments in different discourse? To divide the body of Christ, to separate the members, and to tear apart the tunic of the Son of God, the Savior of the world, which is unity—this is your work, devil, whom Christ, “our peace, who has made both one,” will conquer.

¹⁷ Therefore, beloved, quickly come to agreement and be united as one; do not argue over ancient disputes, but rather remain silent and consign them to eternal silence and oblivion. And if there are any uncertainties, leave them to divine judgment; but those things that are clear, about which men can judge, judge justly “without respect of persons,” and let your judgment be peaceful at your gates.Recognize one another, so that there may be joy in heaven and on earth for your peace and unity.

¹⁸ What else is there for you to defend besides the Catholic faith, if you are both true Christians? For I cannot understand how a Christian could contend against another Christian about faith; rather, whatever an orthodox Christian says, who rightly glorifies the Lord, the other should respond: “Amen,” because he also loves and believes the same. Therefore, let all of you speak with one voice and think with one mind, so that you may all be one, wholly Christian.

¹⁹ For if, as I have heard, some do not believe in two natures in Christ, they should rather be considered heretics than Christians. For Christ our Savior is true, eternal God, without beginning, and true man, born in time, without sin. According to His divinity, He is co-eternal with the Father; according to His humanity, He is younger than His mother. He who was born in the flesh was in no way absent from heaven; remaining in the Trinity, He lived on earth. Therefore, if it is written in the Fifth Council, as someone has told me, that “whoever worships two substances has a divided prayer,” the one who wrote it is divided from the saints and separated from God.

²⁰ For we believe in one Christ, in whom the fullness of divinity was pleased to dwell bodily, as it is written, “He who descended is the same one who ascended above all the heavens, to fill all things.” If anyone thinks otherwise about the incarnation of the Lord, he is an enemy of the faith and should be abhorred by all Christians.

²¹ Anathema is to be pronounced on anyone, regardless of their rank, status, or degree, for no one should honor a man to the detriment of God. Therefore, I beg you for Christ’s sake, spare no one who attempts to separate you from Christ. Rather, resist such a person to their face, if anyone, unwilling to believe rightly, seeks to draw you away from the Catholic faith.

²² I ask you to pardon me, overly harsh and severe as I may seem, for being verbose in my speech; I could not write otherwise on such a matter. For, while striving to please the truth in every way—knowing that unleavened bread must be eaten with bitterness—I have served God alone, who is blessed forever. I have demonstrated my sincerity and my zeal for the faith, preferring to yield to reproach rather than to remain silent, even with an untrained tongue, on such a matter.

²³ Thus, even if a scorpion with a triple sting rises against me with its curved wound, or If those who, as the scripture says, “bend their tongues like a bow of lies,” accuse and criticize with hyperbolic exaggeration, or if envious detractors, who always oppose with shields of malice, combat writings they find neither witty nor polished—when the Gentile king asks a wandering Lombard to write to a dull-witted Scot, and when the waters of an ancient torrent flow backward—who would not marvel rather than criticize? Nevertheless, I will not tremble nor fear the tongues of men in matters of God, even if they lie more frequently than they speak the truth. For where necessity compels, it is better to resist shame than submit to cowardice.

²⁴ So, to return to the point from which I digressed: I urge you, because many doubt the purity of your faith, to quickly remove this stain from the clarity of the holy see. It is unbecoming of the Roman Church’s dignity that it should be tarnished by the reputation of such fickle levity, allowing itself to be moved from the firmness of true faith, for which so many martyrs shed their blood, choosing death rather than to be shaken. If, in our times, the ultimate persecution of that accursed serpent should come, whose hide could scarcely be borne by all the ships in the world, will we not resist sin unto the shedding of blood, as our fathers did—namely, the apostles and countless martyrs? If the persecution was severe at the beginning of the faith, how much more will it be at the end, of which the Lord said, “Do you think, when the Son of Man comes, he will find faith on the earth?” and again, “Unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved.” Blessed is the one whom death takes before weakness can cause them to deny!

²⁵ Yet, He says that there will be elect in those times, as He foretold to His disciples: “Behold, I am with you all days, even unto the end of the age.” Since the elect in those days—more perilous and incomparable to all before and after—will endure greater trials with the Lord’s strength, why should we, in safer and more secure times, not endure lesser ones for our faith, which distinguishes us from pagans, Jews, and heretics, with the Lord’s help?

²⁶ As for one advising such things, sluggish in action and more a talker than a doer, I, who am called Jonah in Hebrew, Peristera in Greek, and Columba in Latin, and now only referred to by your native tongue, ask you again, as I have often begged, to grant me pardon. I was compelled to write by necessity rather than by a desire for glory, even though I almost suffered shipwreck under my ancient Hebrew name.

²⁷ He seized upon the borders of this region and indicated to me that you must be guarded against, as though you were falling into the sect of Nestorius. Startled, I responded briefly as best I could, not believing his accusation. Yet, so as not to in any way oppose the truth, I adjusted my response, basing it both on his letter and on my favorable opinion of you. For I have always believed that the pillar of the Church remains steadfast in Rome. I sent my response to you to be read and verified, in case it should anywhere deviate from the truth, for I do not dare to claim myself among the irreproachable.

²⁸ After this occasion of writing, the insistence of King Agilulf’s command was added, placing me in great astonishment and concern. For I consider it no less than a miracle, what I now witness. These kings, having long inflicted Arian ruin upon this region, trampling upon the Catholic faith, now ask that our faith be strengthened. Perhaps Christ now looks upon us with mercy, by whose favor all good is born. We are indeed most wretched if further scandal arises from our side.

²⁹ The king, the queen, and all the people together beg you that, as quickly as it can be achieved, all may become one: that peace may come to the homeland, that peace may swiftly come to the faith, so that from now on the entire flock may become one in Christ. “O King of Kings, let the Church follow Peter entirely through you.” What could be sweeter than peace through war? What could be more delightful than the union of brothers long separated? How joyful is the father who greets his children after many years! How sweet it is to the mother, who has long awaited it, to hear of their return! Thus, peace among the children will be joy to God the Father for eternity, and the Church, their mother, will rejoice in the eternal triumph of joy.

³⁰ Beyond this, holy pope and brothers, pray for me, the most wretched sinner, and for my companions in pilgrimage near the holy places and the relics of the saints, especially near Peter and Paul—those great men, mighty leaders of the great King, and most valiant warriors of the most blessed battlefield, who followed the crucified Lord with their blood. May we deserve to cling to Christ, to please Him, to give Him thanks, and to praise Him without end along with the Father and the Holy Spirit, together with you and all the saints, here and in the eternal ages of ages. Amen.