venerable Brother …a with the consent of the Bishop of the Chapter in Todi, for the sake of God, granted to Our beloved Brother Ambrose,b our chaplain, while We were working in a lesser office, on behalf of and in the name of the Roman Church, the land with the cloister and gardens for the monastery known as Cutis,c to be built there in honor of the Blessed Virgin in accord with the life and Order of the poor enclosed Nuns; and he exempted completely both the place and the Sisters from all Episcopal jurisdiction both in spiritual and in temporal matters, reserving nothing for himself other than the Dedication of the Church, the consecration of the altars, and the blessing of the Nuns by himself and his successors when it was needed by the Abbess and the Sisters, and without any irregularity to be shown; and one pound of wax was to be paid annually to himself and his successors on the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin. Therefore, We agreed with your requests, for the sake of kindness, and, above what was done by the same Bishop, We confirm by apostolic authority and confirm by the protection of this present writing.d Therefore, to no one is it lawful to infringe this page of Our confirmation or to contradict it by any bold action. But if anyone shall attempt this, that person will know that this will incur the indignation of Almighty God and of the Blessed Apostles Peter and Paul.
Given at Perugia on the third Kalends of November, in the second year of Our pontificate.e
- The name of this brother has been deleted in the Bullarium Franciscanum. The editors note that he was Bonifacius who was raised to the See of Tuderti in 1219, and in 1236 he gave land for the building of the Monastery of Saint Mary of Mons Sanctus.
- Ambrose was a member of the Cistercian Order and was appointed by Cardinal Hugolino in 1219 as the first Visitator of all the Nuns of the Clares near Assisi, cf. Wadding, Annales 1228, n. 46.
- A reference to the Pons Cutis, possibly the location of Gradum Molendini [the place of a mill].
- In the following year the Pontiff adorned the Monastery with a broad privilege; and on November 22 he confirmed again by a document beginning Religiosam vitam eligentibus the donation and the exemption from the Bishop.
- That is October 30, 1228. .