TO CLEMENT XII, SUPREME PONTIFF
MOST HOLY FATHER,
That preeminent defender of the Christian religion, Origen, whose remaining works, as many as could be found, are coming to light under the auspices of Your Holiness, so cherished and venerated the august and holy name of the Roman Pontiff that he is an example to others. He knew that the prince of the apostles had established that eternal See at Rome and had consecrated it with his own blood—a See which, ever ignorant of heresy, is always the head of religion and the Church, and the necessary center of Catholic unity. Hence, he burned with such a desire to see the most ancient Church of the Romans in person that neither the distance of places nor the recent slaughter of very many martyrs could deter him from coming to it while Zephyrinus was governing.
How much more splendidly, Most Holy Father, is it now acting with him [Origen], who, as he revives in this new edition of his works after so many centuries have passed, is granted the opportunity to behold that same Church, the Mother of all Churches—no longer groaning, as she was beneath the bitter yoke of Caracalla, that impious and avaricious emperor, but joyful and triumphant, especially since she has obtained, with the applause of the Christian world, a prince from the most ancient, most noble, and hero-prolific Corsini family, under whose strong and gentle governance of all things there is nothing that she could complain is lacking to her happiness.
For when, Most Blessed Father, could the times of Rome be happier than when, by your care, the majesty of the laws is restored, manners are amended, due honor is accorded to virtue, the grain supply of the people is abundantly provided for, the embezzlers of the treasury are severely punished, the liberal arts are promoted, and public buildings are so completed or restored by your truly royal munificence and liberality that modern Rome yields to ancient Rome in almost no kind of magnificence?
Nor is your mind, which is capable of embracing the world, contained within the narrower limits by which the Roman territory, once so vast, is now girded; but as your concern for all the Churches presses upon you, your providence extends to the individual parts of the Christian world, and under the shade of that nurturing Peace which you diligently foster among Catholic princes, the roots of vices are everywhere plucked out, dissensions arisen in the Churches are settled, the due obedience to the apostolic see is rendered, the truth gives its own laws to the nations, and the empire of Christ flourishes from day to day.
Obstructed by so many and such great concerns, Most Holy Father, which are truly worthy of the Pontiff of the Christians, you still abate nothing of that singular love with which you—yourself most learned—have always pursued men of letters.
A Spare times you have indeed, during which you deem them worthy of the fatherly address of Your Holiness, and those whom, before supreme virtue raised you to the supreme pontificate, you—another Maecenas—embraced with benevolence, these now, as arbiter of affairs, you do not cease to shower with perpetual benefits and to incite to greater endeavors. Hence the hope shone forth that Origen might not be entirely displeasing to Your Holiness, B a man "in whom there is such vigor of intellect, so keen, so profound, such magnificence of doctrine and of total erudition," that that Greece, so fertile in geniuses, scarcely seems to have produced his equal.
Nor is there substance to what they say, C that "while he indulges his intellect too much and trusts himself too readily, while he deserts the ancient simplicity of the Christian faith and ecclesiastical traditions and the teachings of the elders, he sometimes slips into monstrous deliriums, nor should the works of a man be decently dedicated to the venerable name of the Supreme Pontiff in whose condemnation the city of Rome consented, having convened a senate." But why, Most Holy Father, if Origen does not teem entirely with errors, but has nearly countless goods intermingled with a few evils; if neither is patronage sought for his erroneous opinions, nor did he himself stubbornly adhere to them? I am addressing a learned Pontiff, who knows first of all that he, accused of violated faith before the Apostolic See, signified his repentance in letters to the blessed Fabian. But if, later, Rome—the judge—approached him who had been condemned by the East, it is no wonder, at that time when the fame of this most celebrated man, concerning whom there was great discord of minds, was spreading more and more each day and was likely to win favor for his bolder inventions among D the unlearned plebs, who were greedy for novelty. But later, when the discords of the Churches concerning Origen had been quieted and his singular placita had fallen into universal contempt, it began to be dealt with more leniently, and bit by bit and gradually ecclesiastical decrees concerning the non-reading of his works fell into disuse, and eventually that most prudent opinion of Jerome prevailed, by which
he pronounces
that Origen should sometimes be read for his erudition, "just as we do with Tertullian, Novatus, Arnobius, Apollinaris, and some ecclesiastical writers, both Greek and Latin, so that we may love the good things in them and avoid the contrary; for one ought not to embrace wicked dogmas because of his doctrine, nor, because of the wickedness of his dogmas, should one entirely reject the commentaries which he published that are useful for the Holy Scriptures."Reflecting on these and other things of this kind, Most Holy Father, the supreme pontiff Nicholas V once moved heaven and earth to collect from every quarter the Greek relics of so great a man. He sent even to Constantinople for those who might bring back to him the eight books he purchased against Celsus, wherein he prostrates and overwhelms that Epicurean—who as a youth insulted the Christian religion—with immense erudition of every kind and an ineluctable force of arguments. When Christopher Persona had translated these books, even though sprinkled with some stain of error, from Greek into the Latin tongue, Sixtus IV desired them to be dedicated to himself, whose defense of Origen encourages the hope that you, too, Most Holy Father, may kindly accept this new edition of his remaining works—an eternal monument of the highest reverence and intimate obedience of myself and of the entire Congregation of Saint Maur toward you and the Holy See—and may impart the apostolic blessing which, as a suppliant, craves
Of Your Holiness The most obedient and most devoted servant, Brother Charles DELARUE, Presbyter and Benedictine monk of the Congregation of Saint Maur.