PET-ER THE HERMIT, when preaching the crusade, had with him “a letter which had fallen from heaven,” but apparently it contained only an exhortation to the holy war. The mention of it by his biographers shows, however, that the idea of a “Christ letter” was common; and it may possibly have been an adaptation of that which we are now considering. A MS. of the eleventh century, in the Munich library, gives the “heavenly letter” without the introduction, and threatens dreadful punishments on those who fail to observe the Sunday. They are not to visit another locality except for the purpose of visiting the sick or pacifying quarrels. At the end is the declaration that the epistle was not written by the hand of man, but “by the finger of God and of our Lord Jesus Christ, and sent from the seventh heaven and the throne of God on to earth in order that the holy Sunday should be observed.”
Sigebert Gemblacensis records, under the year 1032, that a certain bishop declared he had received a letter from on high, inculcating certain precepts for the advantage of his people. Abstinence from flesh on Saturday was one of the recommendations, but Sigebert's description does not make it certain that the document was identical with the Sunday letter.
There is a MS. in the British Museum, written in Spain in the eleventh century, in which the recipient of the heavenly letter is said to be Peter, bishop of Nimes. Mention is made in the “Chronicon S. Maxenti,” under date of 1100, of a letter which descended from heaven at Jerusalem, and dealt with the observance of the Lord’s day. Early in the twelfth century Ekkehard of Aura speaks of a letter received by the archangel Gabriel from the Saviour and dispersed throughout the world.
V. In the Twelfth Century.
A lengthy version of the “heavenly letter” is found in a twelfth-century MS. in the French Bibliotheque Nationale. This came from Corbie, and contains the introduction stating that the letter fell from heaven before the Effrem gate of Jerusalem, where it was found by Achor the priest, who sent it to another priest, Ioram, “ad Armeniam civitatem,” who in turn sent it to Machabeum, a priest at Bethany, who sent it “ad montem Garganum,” where there is the church of St. Michael. Then by the will of God the letter came to the tomb of St. Peter at Rome. All who were in the city made a three-days’ fast, with prayers and almsgiving.
There is another copy of the “heavenly letter” in the same library, and also from Corbie. The introduction states that this epistle fell from heaven upon the altar of St. Peter in Jerusalem, inscribed on a marble tablet, the light from which was like lightning. An angel of the Lord held it in his hand, and all the people, for fear, fell upon their faces and exclaimed, “Kyrie eleyson.” The “letter” has been published by Amaduzzi from a MS. of Todi of the twelfth century. The introduction is lacking. The aim of the epistle is to lay stress upon the observance of Sunday from the ninth hour of Saturday to the first hour of Monday. The duty of tithe-paying is also enforced. At the end is apparently an allusion to a previous “heavenly letter,” which had not produced the desired effect.
VI. Eustace, Abbot of Flaye.
When Eustace, the abbot of Flaye, went through England in the thirteenth century, preaching the stricter observance of the first day, he made use of the “heavenly letter,” and the text is preserved by Roger of Hoveden, and other chroniclers. In this edition the letter is said to have fallen upon “the altar of St. Simeon, which is in Golgotha, where Christ was crucified for the sins of the world.”
The Toulouse library contains a MS. of the thirteenth century, in which there is a copy of the “heavenly letter.” To this century also belongs a Syriac MS. in the British Museum, in which the epistle is said to have fallen in the church of St. Paul in Constantinople, in the year A.D. 746. It refers to two previous missives sent in A.D. 731 and A.D. 746. It is to be noticed that Licinianus, in the earliest reference we have to the Christ letter, speaks of it as inculcating the worship of Sunday. The word “colatur” which he uses is not found in the texts we now have, but it may have been in one of the two preceding heavenly letters which are mentioned in some of the versions.
VII. In the Fourteenth Century.
Dr. Priebsch prints from MS. 1355 (v) of the Vienna Library a fourteenth-century Latin edition of the Christ letter. It is said to have been sent down from heaven to Jerusalem by the archangel Michael, and to have been found “ad portam Effrem” by the priest Ichor, etc. The German Flagellants, some of whom were burned at Sauderhausen, believed in three heavenly letters, sent at intervals of ten years. Two had been concealed by the authorities. The third was written in marble and shone like lightning. The Flemish Flagellants likewise had this letter. There are also two German and a Spanish version. A fragment in the old Czech language is preserved in the Strachon Library at Prague, in which the recipient of the letter is Peter of Gaza.
VIII. In the Fifteenth Century.
Early in the fifteenth century John Awdelay, a monk at Haghmon in Shropshire, wrote a poem, which is preserved in MS. Douce 302, fol. 16. In this we are invited to hear an epistle, since “Christ wrote it with His own hand,” and sent it to Peter, bishop of Gaza. In this letter dreadful judgments are threatened on nations for the non-observance of Sunday. Their correctness will be invalid, and they will become subject to “wicked tyrants,” unless there is a warning against the non-payment of tithes; and there is a threat against the priests who will not teach this epistle. Peter of Gaza is made to swear to the truth of the “heavenly letter” by God’s power, by Jesus Christ, by the Trinity, by the four evangelists, by the patriarchs, prophets, and apostles, by the angels and archangels, by Mary, and by all the saints in heaven. The poem ends with a request from the poet for the prayers of those that hear the epistle,