§1Diu sanctitati tuae, coepiscope uenerande Pauline, rescriptorum debitor fui, ex quo mihi scripsisti per homines filiae nostrae religiosissimae Florae, quaerens a me, utrum prosit cuique post mortem, quod corpus eius apud sancti alicuius memoriam sepelitur.
For a long time, my venerable fellow bishop Paulinus, I have been a debtor to your holiness for a reply, ever since you wrote to me through the people of our most religious daughter Flora, asking of me whether it benefits anyone after death that their body is buried near the memorial of some saint.
hoc enim abs te uidua memorata petiuerat pro defuncto in eis partibus suo filio et rescripseras consolans eam: idque etiam nuntians de cadauere fidelis iuuenis Cynegii, quod materno et pio affectu desiderauit, esse conpletum, ut scilicet in beatissimi Felicis confessoris basilica poneretur.
For the aforementioned widow had petitioned this of you on behalf of her son who had died in those parts, and you had written back to console her; and also announcing that this had been fulfilled concerning the body of the faithful young man Cynegius, which she had desired with maternal and pious affection, namely, that it should be placed in the basilica of the most blessed confessor Felix.
qua occasione factum est, ut per eosdem perlatores litterarum tuarum etiam mihi scriberes, ingerens huiusce modi quaestionem, atque ut responderem quid inde mihi uideretur, exposcens nec tacens ipse quid sentias.
On which occasion it happened that you also wrote to me through the same bearers of your letters, introducing a question of this sort, and requesting that I respond with what seemed right to me on the matter, not keeping silent about what you yourself think.
nam dicis uideri tibi non esse inanes motus animorum religiosorum atque fidelium pro suis ista curantium.
For you say it seems to you that these movements of religious and faithful minds caring for such things on behalf of their own are not in vain.
adiungis etiam uacare non posse, quod uniuersa pro defunctis ecclesia supplicare consueuit, ut hinc et illud conici possit, homini prodesse post mortem, si fide suorum humando eius corpori talis prouideatur locus, in quo appareat opitulatio etiam isto modo quaesita sanctorum.
You also add that it cannot be without purpose that the universal Church is accustomed to supplicate for the deceased, so that from this it can also be inferred that it benefits a person after death if, by the faith of their own, such a place is provided for burying their body in which the assistance of the saints, sought also in this manner, may be manifest.
§2Sed cum haec ita sint, quomodo huic opinioni contrarium non sit quod dicit apostolus: omnes enim astabimus ante tribunal Christi, ut ferat unusquisque secundum ea quae per corpus gessit, siue bonum siue malum, non te satis uidere significas.
But since these things are so, how this is not contrary to this opinion which the Apostle says: "For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may carry away according to those things which he did through the body, whether good or evil," you indicate that you do not sufficiently see.
haec quippe apostolica sententia ante mortem admonet fieri quod possit prodesse post mortem. non tunc, quando iam recipiendum est quod quisque gesserit ante mortem.
For this apostolic sentence warns that what can benefit after death should be done before death, not at that time when what each one has done before death must already be received.
uerum haec ita soluitur quaestio, quoniam quodam uitae genere adquiritur, dum in hoc corpore uiuitur, ut aliquid adiuuent ista defunctos, ac per hoc secundum ea quae per corpus gesserunt eis quae post corpus religiose pro illis facta fuerint adiuuantur.
But this question is resolved in this way, since by a certain kind of life, while one lives in this body, it is acquired that these things should help the deceased in some way, and through this, according to those things which they did through the body, they are helped by those things which are religiously done for them after the body.
sunt enim, quos nihil omnino adiuuant ista, siue pro eis fiant, quorum tam mala sunt merita, ut nec talibus digni sint adiuuari, siue pro eis, quorum tam bona, ut talibus non indigeant adiumentis.
For there are some whom these things help not at all, whether they are done for those whose merits are so evil that they are not worthy to be helped by such things, or for those whose merits are so good that they do not need such helps.
genere igitur uitae, quod gessit quisque per corpus. efficitur, ut prosint uel non prosint, quaecumque pro illo pie fiunt, cum reliquerit corpus.
Therefore, by the kind of life which each one lived through the body, it is brought about that whatever is piously done for him when he has left the body benefits or does not benefit.
nam meritum per quod ista prosint, si nullum conparatum est in hac uita, frustra post hanc quaeritur uitam.
For if no merit by which these things may benefit has been acquired in this life, it is sought in vain after this life.
ita fit, ut neque inaniter ecclesia uel suorum cura pro defunctis quod potuerit religionis inpendat et tamen ferat unusquisque secundum ea quae per corpus gessit, siue bonum siue malum reddente domino unicuique secundum opera eius.
Thus it happens that neither does the Church or the care of their own spend in vain whatever religious duty they can for the deceased, and yet each one carries away according to those things which he did through the body, whether good or evil, the Lord rendering to each according to his works.
ut enim hoc, quod inpenditur, possit ei prodesse post corpus, in ea uita est adquisitum, quam gessit in corpore.
For in order that this which is spent may be able to benefit him after the body, it was acquired in that life which he lived in the body.