Kirchenakte Documented events from judgments, reports and church documents
590-604 · 14 years · show in timeline

Pope Gregory I (590 to 604): pagans in Sardinia were to be forced into conversion with crushing payments, blows, torments and confinement

In letters to Sardinia Pope Gregory the Great directed that peasants of the Church who remained pagan be burdened with payments so heavy that the very pain of the exaction would compel them to convert. Idolaters, soothsayers and diviners who would not amend were, if slaves, to be chastised with blows and torments, and if free, to be put in strict confinement. The Catholic Encyclopedia confirms that Gregory used compulsion against heretics and pagans and invoked the secular arm for it.

Period
590-604 (14 years)
Country
Italy
Institutions
Pope Gregory I
Bishop Januarius of Cagliari
landowners in Sardinia
Category
Torture, Persecution
Level of evidence
A Primary source · what does this mean?
Persons
Gregory I (pope (Gregory the Great), ordered coercive measures against pagans in Sardinia)

What happened to the people

Who was affected? Victims and numbers

  1. To the nobles and proprietors of Sardinia Gregory wrote that nearly all of them had peasants on their estates given to idolatry, and urged them to restrain them from it.
    Evidence: Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, Bd. 13 (1898), Ausgabe New Advent, Registrum, Buch 4, Brief 25
    „nearly all of you have peasants ( rusticos ) on your estates given to idolatry“
    Gregor I., Registrum Epistolarum, Buch 4, Brief 25 an die Adligen und Grundbesitzer Sardiniens, Registrum, Buch 4, Brief 25. Original · Archive copy
    Evidence: Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, Bd. 13 (1898), Ausgabe New Advent, Registrum, Buch 4, Brief 25
    „restrain them from the error of idolatry“
    Gregor I., Registrum Epistolarum, Buch 4, Brief 25 an die Adligen und Grundbesitzer Sardiniens, Registrum, Buch 4, Brief 25. Original · Archive copy

How were they charged and sentenced?

  1. To Bishop Januarius of Cagliari Gregory wrote that it was much to be deplored that his negligence had allowed the peasants belonging to the Church to remain in infidelity up to that time. Should he find a pagan peasant belonging to any bishop in Sardinia, he would visit it severely on that bishop. A peasant who refused to come to God must be weighted with so great a burden of payment as to be compelled by the very pain of the exaction to hasten to the right way.
    Evidence: Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, Bd. 13 (1898), Ausgabe New Advent, Registrum, Buch 4, Brief 26
    „the negligence of your Fraternity has allowed the peasants ( rusticos ) belonging to holy Church to remain up to the present time in infidelity“
    Gregor I., Registrum Epistolarum, Buch 4, Brief 26 an Januarius, Bischof von Cagliari, Registrum, Buch 4, Brief 26. Original · Archive copy
    Evidence: Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, Bd. 13 (1898), Ausgabe New Advent, Registrum, Buch 4, Brief 26
    „For, should I succeed in finding a pagan peasant belonging to any bishop whatever in the island of Sardinia, I will visit it severely on that bishop .“
    Gregor I., Registrum Epistolarum, Buch 4, Brief 26 an Januarius, Bischof von Cagliari, Registrum, Buch 4, Brief 26. Original · Archive copy
    Evidence: Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, Bd. 13 (1898), Ausgabe New Advent, Registrum, Buch 4, Brief 26
    „if any peasant should be found so perfidious and obstinate as to refuse to come to the Lord God , he must be weighted with so great a burden of payment as to be compelled by the very pain of the exaction to hasten to the right way“
    Gregor I., Registrum Epistolarum, Buch 4, Brief 26 an Januarius, Bischof von Cagliari, Registrum, Buch 4, Brief 26. Original · Archive copy

What happened to those affected?

  1. In a later letter to Januarius Gregory ordered that idolaters, soothsayers and diviners who would not amend be laid hold of with fervent zeal. Slaves among them were to be chastised with blows and torments, freemen directed to penitence by strict confinement, so that those who scorned salutary words might at any rate be brought back by bodily torments to the desired sanity of mind.
    Evidence: Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, Bd. 13 (1898), Ausgabe New Advent, Registrum, Buch 9, Brief 65
    „Also against worshippers of idols , and soothsayers, and diviners , we very earnestly exhort your Fraternity to be on the watch with pastoral vigilance“
    Gregor I., Registrum Epistolarum, Buch 9, Brief 65 an Januarius, Bischof von Cagliari, Registrum, Buch 9, Brief 65. Original · Archive copy
    Evidence: Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, Bd. 13 (1898), Ausgabe New Advent, Registrum, Buch 9, Brief 65
    „we desire you to lay hold of them with fervent zeal , and, in case of their being slaves, to chastise them with blows and torments, whereby they may be brought to amendment. But, if they are freemen, they should be directed to penitence by suitable and strict confinement; so that they who scorn to listen to salutary words reclaiming them from peril of death may at any rate be brought back by bodily torments to the desired sanity of mind.“
    Gregor I., Registrum Epistolarum, Buch 9, Brief 65 an Januarius, Bischof von Cagliari, Registrum, Buch 9, Brief 65. Original · Archive copy

Background

Response of the Church

  1. The Catholic Encyclopedia writes that towards heretics, schismatics and pagans Gregory first tried persuasion, exhortation and threats; if gentler treatment failed, he had no hesitation in resorting to compulsion and invoking the aid of the secular arm. Gregory died on 12 March 604 and is a Doctor of the Church.
    Evidence: The Catholic Encyclopedia, Bd. 6 (1909), Artikel Pope St. Gregory I, Abschnitt Missionary work
    „In his treatment of heretics , schismatics , and pagans his method was to try every means“
    Pope St. Gregory I ("the Great"), Artikel Pope St. Gregory I, Abschnitt Missionary work. Original
    Evidence: The Catholic Encyclopedia, Bd. 6 (1909), Artikel Pope St. Gregory I, Abschnitt Missionary work
    „resorting to compulsion, and invoking the aid of the secular arm therein“
    Pope St. Gregory I ("the Great"), Artikel Pope St. Gregory I, Abschnitt Missionary work. Original
    Evidence: The Catholic Encyclopedia, Bd. 6 (1909), Artikel Pope St. Gregory I
    „Doctor of the Church ; born at Rome about 540; died 12 March 604“
    Pope St. Gregory I ("the Great"), Artikel Pope St. Gregory I. Original

Original texts

Original text Gregory I to Bishop Januarius of Cagliari, Registrum Book 9, Letter 65 (English translation, NPNF 1898)

If, however, you should find them unwilling to amend and correct themselves from such doings, we desire you to lay hold of them with fervent zeal , and, in case of their being slaves, to chastise them with blows and torments, whereby they may be brought to amendment. But, if they are freemen, they should be directed to penitence by suitable and strict confinement; so that they who scorn to listen to salutary words reclaiming them from peril of death may at any rate be brought back by bodily torments to the desired sanity of mind.

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, Bd. 13 (1898), Ausgabe New Advent: Gregor I., Registrum Epistolarum, Buch 9, Brief 65 an Januarius, Bischof von Cagliari, Registrum, Buch 9, Brief 65. Original · Archive copy

See also

Original documents to read

  1. Church document
    Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, Bd. 13 (1898), Ausgabe New Advent: Gregor I., Registrum Epistolarum, Buch 4, Brief 26 an Januarius, Bischof von Cagliari, 1 January 1898. Original · Archive copy (retrieved 23 Oct 2026)
  2. Church document
    Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, Bd. 13 (1898), Ausgabe New Advent: Gregor I., Registrum Epistolarum, Buch 4, Brief 25 an die Adligen und Grundbesitzer Sardiniens, 1 January 1898. Original · Archive copy (retrieved 23 Oct 2026)
  3. Church document
    Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, Bd. 13 (1898), Ausgabe New Advent: Gregor I., Registrum Epistolarum, Buch 9, Brief 65 an Januarius, Bischof von Cagliari, 1 January 1898. Original · Archive copy (retrieved 23 Oct 2026)

Scholarly literature and reference works

  1. Reference work
    The Catholic Encyclopedia, Bd. 6 (1909): Pope St. Gregory I ("the Great"), 1 January 1909. Original (retrieved 23 Oct 2026)
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