To the most holy Pope Symmachus, Cesarius, bishop.

Just as the episcopate begins with the person of the blessed Apostle Peter, so it is necessary that your holiness clearly show each church what they must observe with fitting disciplines. In the province of Gaul, some persons alienate ecclesiastical properties under various titles, diminishing resources devoted to the needs of the faithful and the poor at their own discretion. We request that the authority of the Apostolic See prohibit this, unless something is granted to monasteries out of piety. Likewise, we humbly ask that no one who has served in judicial offices or governed provinces under any authority be ordained as a cleric or bishop unless their life has been thoroughly examined and their conduct proven lawful long beforehand.

We also request that widows, long clothed in religious habit, and nuns, long established in monasteries, be free from marriage proposals, whether willing or unwilling, with no one permitted to take them. We further suggest with humble prayer that no one gain the episcopate through ambition or secure powerful supporters with money. To ensure these are better observed, let neither clerics nor citizens presume to issue or subscribe to decrees without the metropolitan’s knowledge or consent. Forbid all these with the severity of your authority, so that discipline, friendly to good deeds, be preserved both in your Church and in the aforementioned province.

Note: This petition is designated as a libellus (Exemplum Libelli) in Migne’s *Patrologia Latina* (PL 62).