To sir l, the most blessed patriarch,² the monk Peter the sinner offers his servitude.

(2) The devout bishop of the church at Forlimpopoli³ related to me that he had heard from the lips of the most reverend Dominic, patriarch of Grado,⁴ that you had posed a question of great importance for the Catholic faith in your letter to the Apostolic See, and that with vigilance becoming the episcopal office, you had requested of Pope Alexander that it be resolved with unimpeachable evidence from the testimonies of the Scriptures. This question was: Why do the Latins say that the Holy...

To his most beloved brother Adam,² the monk Peter the sinner offers humble servitude in the Lord.

(2) Dearest brother, in questioning me on what took place before the creation of the world, on what will happen to the world after the Judgment yet to come, and in ingeniously asking about the Judgment itself, you are indeed behaving devoutly and prudently, but you draw me into the unknown and compel me to teach what I have not yet learned. Clearly, you are inquiring about something I do not know; you are searching for information in a matter of which I...

To his sweetest and most illustrious sister,² the monk Peter the sinner offers humble servitude in the Lord.

(2) Dearest sister, in asking me to make known to you what took place before the creation of the world, what will happen to the world after the Judgment yet to come, and in ingeniously asking about the Judgment itself, you are indeed behaving devoutly and prudently, but you draw me into the unknown and compel me to teach what I have not yet learned. Clearly, you are inquiring about something I do not know; you are searching for information in a...

To my dearest sisters in Christ, Rodelinda² and Sufficia,³ the monk Peter the sinner sends the deep affection of a brother.

(2) I render many thanks to divine providence, as I learn from the news that has spread abroad, that you are of like mind in eagerly practicing the spiritual virtues, even though you are still subjected to various afflictions in the world. It is well-known, of course, that in the normal pattern of higher justice the invisible Judge in this life instructs by inflicting temporal distress on those to whom he is disposed to grant the rights of an...

To the most reverend abbot , Desiderius,² the monk Peter the sinner sends greetings in the Lord.

(2) Sacred history relates that Absalom summoned Joab, the commander of the troops, by sending a messenger, but he refused to come. When he sent for him a second time and the latter obstinately and firmly declined, Absalom promptly sent his men to Joab’s barley field that was ready for the harvest, and set fire to it.³ At that, Joab came to Absalom to demand an explanation from him; but the latter was pleased that with such favors he had succeeded in having...

To sir alexander,² bishop of the highest see, the monk Peter the sinner offers his service.

(2) When the letter³ from your holiness arrived, brought by some ill-tempered priest, I received it with joy, kissed it as I opened it, and eagerly read it with great haste. But since the burden of office weighing on you is so great, that it would have sufficed had you directed someone under your authority to write a few lines, I find in it such flowery eloquence, such pleasant words filled with paternal grace and not, I should say, with masterful command, that what...

To the cardinal bishops of the Apostolic See,² the monk Peter the sinner sends greetings in the Lord.

(2) Just as words serve to disclose one’s ideas to those who are present, so to those who are absent a letter is the instrument of one’s words. And as a man learns the arts of war in combat that later they may be taught in times of peace, thus as one afterwards teaches at leisure, one acts with greater caution in battle. In the struggles of the Apostolic See in which you are still unanimously engaged, I was also once your...

To the blessed pope, Sir Alexander,² the monk Peter the sinner offers his service.

(2) According to my limited way of thinking, venerable father, there is no evil perpetrated by the human race that is so pernicious a crime as the defense of depravity. To this point David says, “Turn not my heart to evil words, to offer excuses for my sins.”³ Offending God, to be sure, deserves his wrath, but excuses provoke him to vengeance. Now this vice, proceeding as it does from the very roots of mankind, spreads daily and never ceases to grow like branches sprouting from...

To sir anno,² the most reverend archbishop, the monk Peter the sinner sends the homage of his proper service.

(2) Since I am presently on the road,³ I am unable with my own hands to give proper attention to the niceties of style, and because of the constant motion of the horses, to be of service to you as is becoming. But although clear speech is preferable to mumbling, when necessity demands, it is at times better to mumble than to remain absolutely dumb. Venerable father, when I recall your diligence and effort, the noble faith and prudence of the...

To the truly holy brethren of the monastery of Cluny, worthy of angelic honor, the monk Peter the sinner sends his constant servitude in the Lord.

(2) I would like you to know, my dearest friends, that, as I was returning home from my visit with you,² I felt great sadness and frustration. Many dark thoughts and impatience caused me to languish and lose heart. Indeed, as I recalled having been enticed like a boy with an egg, and thus bound by caressing words as with purple or delicately blue folds of the softest silk, in having been promised one...

To sir wido, the most reverend archbishop of Milan, the monk Peter the sinner sends the devotion of his most faithful service.

(2) Your holiness should know, venerable father, that it grieved me very much and my heart, so to say, gave me great pain because I did not spare your generous and bounteous liberality. As if I were already enjoying the future resurrection, you have decided to invest me with two stoles.² Overwhelmed by your authority, I have offered no resistance, did not withdraw my hand, but forgetful of the natural inflexibility of the servants of God, I easily...

To sir desiderius, the abbot of this venerable community, and to the other holy brethren,² the monk Peter the sinner sends the submission of his most dedicated service.

(2) As the warmth of my affection for you glows in my heart, unable to be extinguished, not permitting me to grow lukewarm in my memory of you, something recently came to mind that prompted me to send you a letter. For, as I was so preoccupied in thinking about you that in imagination I was as if physically present in the midst of your holy and angelic community of brothers, I...

To sir hugh, the abbot of estimable holiness,² the monk Peter the sinner, his servant whatever it is worth.

(2) When a person looks for one thing and finds something quite different, the searcher’s purpose is not fulfilled. It was Paul who complained that when he asked that Satan’s messenger be taken from him, the sharp physical pain was not removed, as he had urged, but he was reminded that God’s grace was all that he needed.³ Moses, too, prayed to the Lord who spoke to him, asking him to appear to him face to face, but his prayer was...

To the empress agnes,² hedged round by the shield of God’s favor,³ the monk Peter the sinner sends his service.

(2) The Queen of Sheba came to Jerusalem to listen to the wisdomof Solomon;⁴ the empress Agnes traveled to Rome to learn the foolishness of the Fisherman. For as Paul says, “Since the world failed to find God by its wisdom, he chose to save those who have faith by the folly of the Gospel.”⁵ As sacred history reports, the former arrived with a large retinue and great riches, with camels laden with spices, gold in great quantity, and precious...

To the most ascetic abbot, Sir Bonizo,² the monk Peter the sinner sends all due respect and service.

(2) Dear father, I give proper thanks to God, the author of all good things, who through his Spirit taught you to lay aside the withered staff of empty honor and to hasten with quickened steps to provide for the care of your own soul. Now you have become my abbot after you ceased being in command of others. You have been freed from the yoke of various services, and by God’s mercy have been restored to genuine liberty. For, of necessity...

To the archangel of monks, Desiderius,² the monk Peter the sinner sends his service.

(2) I could not have you unaware, venerable father, how sharp was the sword of sorrow that pierced me to the heart when young Guido, my servant, arrived to relate how you had threatened me. He reported that you had said, that unless I visited the monastery of Monte Cassino, which you so nobly rule, I would not enjoy the prayer of this holy house were I to die while you were still alive.³ And when I recall these threats, they do not prick like needles,...

To father and son, the pope and the archdeacon,² the monk Peter the sinner offers his service.

(2) I am sending³ you the letter on account of which you have beaten me black and blue,⁸ that you may see and clearly verify what it contained, and what I did to oppose you. But if I have sent any other letter to anyone in this area, or if, to my knowledge, even one iota has been added or in any way changed in this letter, and was not sent to you just as it was forwarded to the lord archbishop of...

To sir alexander, the bishop of the highest see,² the monk Peter the sinner offers his service.

(2) Since I hear, venerable father, that on your return from the council of Mantua³ you are here in the neighborhood, I thought it proper to send you a literary gift by which you will be pleased. And as soon as your ship approached our shores, the good news greatly excited me to take to the road to meet you. Jacob, indeed, of whom Scripture says that “he led a settled life and stayed among the tents,”⁸ was therefore convinced that his brother...

To the blessed pope, Sir Alexander,² the monk Peter the sinner offers his service.

(2) Your blessedness, venerable father, commanded me never to send letters to you that might contain something trifling, frivolous, or properly forgettable, which the reader promptly throws into the devouring fire after a hurried perusal.³ But you stated that I should always write something for you that contributes to the edification of the readers and is deemed worthy of preservation among one’s important papers. And so we should give thanks to the Father of Lights⁴ who illumined the recesses of your heart with the fire of...

To sir mainardus,² the venerable and holy bishop of Urbino, the monk Peter the sinner sends greetings in the Lord.

(2) He who in the summertime takes his rest in the shade, and is then not engaged in battle, still does not act incongruously if he discusses the martial arts. We are not wasting our time if while resting we are concerned with our work. By so doing, its fruit is even sweeter and its results will grow more plentiful. If one is living at the royal court, he explores all his manly qualities to find out how he might...

To sir hugh, the most reverend archbishop,² the monk Peter the sinner offers his service.

(2) You should know, venerable father, that when I was with you, enjoying your hospitality, I so impressed everything on my mind as if it were a mental picture that nothing would ever be forgotten. I clearly recall the cloister behind the apse of the church where you live alone, where you can engage in such private and secluded prayer and reading that you would seem to have no need for eremitic solitude. I did not, moreover, overlook the other cloister erected to the right...

To sir cunibert,² the most reverend bishop, the monk Peter the sinner sends his humble service.

(2) It is the norm of true love and friendship that brothers should foster such mutual affection that if anything reproachful be found in either of them, one will not hide it from the other. Such urgency proves to be both useful and upright, for as it brings everything into the open, it repairs that which needs correction and safeguards what is conducive to their wellbeing by a pure and sincere exchange of love. And so it happens, that as the delinquent’s fault is...

To sir hugh, the archangel of monks,² and to his holy community, the monk Peter the sinner, their most humble servant.

(2) After once the hunter has snared his prey and shackled its feet, he allows the animal a certain amount of freedom to move about, without fear of losing it. He, too, who enjoys fowling, after binding the bird’s feet with a cord, can safely permit it to fly, seemingly at will. The bird, indeed, tries to get away, flaps its wings as if it were rowing, but in attempting to escape, is held back by the cord that...

To her excellence, the duchess Adelaide,² the monk Peter the sinner sends his constant prayers.

(2) Whatever I wrote to the venerable bishop of Turin³ about the harmdone to chastity, which this same queen of virtues suffers at the hands of clerics, I had previously determined to write to you, except that I feared the calumny of these same insulting clerics. Indeed, they would have complained and said, “See, how shamefully and inhumanely he acts while preparing to destroy us, he who is unwilling to discuss this matter cautiously and discreetly with bishops or with other men of the Church,...

To the holy and venerable Bishop <>² and to the religious canons of his church, the monk Peter the sinner offers his service.

(2) The celebration of divine worship is doubtless worthy of commendation when it is carried out in laudable fashion. Otherwise, what good is served if one properly begins a task, but does not rightly finish it? And so, my dear friends, I am aware that you, indeed, solemnly celebrate the feast of blessed John the Baptist as it should be done,³ but do not show proper reverence during its octave when you are satisfied in reading three...

To the holy abbots, Gebizo² and Tebaldus,³ and also to John of Lodi,⁴ my praiseworthy brother in Christ, the monk Peter the sinner offers his service.

(2) Your holy charity should be made aware, my dear friends, that yesterday as I was taking my noonday nap, it seemed to me that I was in a boat, with a part of the book that I had dictated in my hand, afraid of losing these pages no less than my own life in the midst of a furious storm. As I was terrified and horror stricken by the fear of death, and...

To ariprandus,² the son of holy expectation, the monk Peter the sinner sends the affection of his fatherly love.

(2) A servant would be most ungrateful if, after receiving spears and swords from the liberality of his lord, and having quickly put on his weapons, he at once rose up in arms against him. A vassal knight would be guilty of treason, if after being endowed with gifts from the emperor, he should assert that a crown rather than the state of vassalage or subjection was more properly his due. You, my son, admit that you are often assailed and...

It is natural that human infirmity should suffer from the malady that readily causes it to abandon the rigors of self-control, but finds it difficult to rise to the life and practice of virtue. And so it happens, that when we strive to attempt something severe for God, we find that we must tread the path of exertion all alone, with hardly anyone to keep us company. But if we should let up ever so little to indulge in pleasure, we suddenly discover many of our fellows willing to imitate us.

(2) This, therefore, dear brothers is my complaint: that...

To the lord desiderius, the most reverend abbot of the monastery of Monte Cassino,² and to all his holy community, the monk Peter the sinner sends the kiss of peace in the Holy Spirit.

(2) For him who alone was rescued from the swells of a high-flowing sea it would be an act of inhumanity if, while seeing his boat³ still foundering amid threatening and towering waves and in danger of rocks and cliffs, he did not deplore the condition of his companions who were fighting for their lives. And so, after putting down the episcopal burden,⁴ I rejoice as...

To the lord henry, most excellent king,² the monk Peter the sinner offers his service.

(2) All subjects fear the king; the king must fear the Creator. But since Scripture says that where much has been given a man, much will be expected of him,³ it also behooves a king to be more inclined to dread the account he must give in many things, to him from whom the secrets of the heart are not withheld. Therefore, since in an ordeal a king may try a man, and God may try a king, is it proper that dust should fear...