LETTER II
To Aribert, Archbishop of Narbonne
Concerning the authority given to Jews to possess landed property
Stephen, Pope, to Aribert, Archbishop of Narbonne, and to all the authorities of Septimania and Spain, greetings.
It befits us, who have received in apostolic succession the key to the heavenly storehouse, to offer the medicine of divine faith against every pestilence… Therefore we are grieved and distressed unto death when we have learned from you yourself that the Jewish people, always rebellious against God and disparaging our ceremonies, hold landed estates and inheritances within the boundaries and territories of Christians in cities and suburbs, living almost as inhabitants among Christians, through certain decrees of the Frankish kings; and that these enemies of the Lord… have been assigned [such rights], and that Christian men cultivate their vineyards and fields; and that within cities and outside them, Christian men and women dwelling with these aforementioned [people] are stained day and night with blasphemous words…
Especially since the lands promised to the Hebrew patriarchs by their chosen lawgiver Moses and his successor Joshua, bounded and limited by those borders, though sworn by the Lord himself, were taken away from these unbelievers by merit of the crucifixion of the Savior multiplied by the crimes of their fathers. And indeed the teacher of the Church signifies to the orthodox flocks, saying: “What fellowship has light with darkness? What accord has Christ with Belial? Or what has the temple of God with idols?” (2 Cor 6:15-16)
[The letter breaks off here with “The rest is missing”]
Source. Patrologiae Latina – Patrologiae Cursus Completus, Series Latina, ed. J.-P. Migne, Tomus 129 (Paris: Garnier Fratres, 1879).