Latin letter from Vienna to Abbot... (1783)

NRA-L-000037 / 1783

Latin letter from Vienna to Abbot Mauritius Elbel, 1783-12-24

Latin ecclesiastical and court correspondence from Vienna to Mauritius Elbel, Abbot of Osek, dated 24 December 1783. The letter discusses a court billet, an 80,000-florin charitable fund, papal correspondence and measures affecting bishoprics and religious orders.

Neruda Archives
NRA-L-000037

NRA-L-000037 image 1 showing Latin address to Mauritius Elbel, Abbot of Osek, with routing and exterior annotations. — **Image 1**Address panel and exterior annotations.

NRA-L-000037 image 2 showing page 1 of the Latin court and ecclesiastical letter from Vienna. — **Image 2**Letter text - Page 1.

NRA-L-000037 image 3 showing page 2, postscript and closing of the Latin letter dated 24 December 1783. — **Image 3**Letter text - Page 2 and closing.

NRA-L-000037 image 4 showing sealed exterior of the folded letter with a red wax seal. — **Image 4**Sealed exterior.

Archive Record

Identifier: NRA-L-000037
Date: 1783-12-24
Original date: Viennæ die 24 Decemb / 1783
Type: Ecclesiastical correspondence
Language: Latin / la
Sender: Unidentified correspondent in Vienna
Recipient: Mauritius Elbel, Abbot of Osek
Places: Vienna, Austria / Osek, Czech Republic / Prague, Czech Republic / Teplice, Czech Republic / Rome, Italy
Extent: 4 web-resolution images
Citation: Neruda Archives, NRA-L-000037.

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Transcript and English translation

working scholarly aid

Address Panel

Original transcript

Reverendissimo, ac Amplissimo Domino
Domino Mauritio Elbel, Sacri Ordinis
Cisterciensis, inclytique Regni Bohemiae
Praelato, nec non celeberrimi Monasterii
Ossecensis Abbati dignissimo p. p.
Domino Domino Praesuli, ac Patrono suo
gratiosissimo
(Toeplitz.) Klosterstift Osseck
im Königreich Böhmen.

Address Panel

English translation

To the Most Reverend and Most Distinguished Lord,
Lord Mauritius Elbel, Prelate of the Sacred Cistercian Order and of the illustrious Kingdom of Bohemia, and most worthy Abbot of the celebrated Monastery of Osek;
to the Lord Prelate and his most gracious patron.
Endorsement
[(Teplice.) The monastic foundation of Osek in the Kingdom of Bohemia.]

Letter Text - Page 1

Original transcript

Reverendissime ac Amplissime Domine
Abbas.
Domine Domine Praesul, ac Patrone gra-
tiosissime!
Communico humillime Reverendissimae Amplitudini vestrae, pro
particulari sua notitia grande Billetum Aulicum illud,
quod sigillatum Augustissimus mox post discessum suum
singulis Aulae suae Dicasteriis immanuari fecit. Ex 8 phyleris
solidis illud in praesentem unam congessi, ne postam perin-
de gravarem, quod ut commodius a Vestra Amplitudine
legi, et quoad suos paragraphos expendi possit, operae pre-
tium esse judicavi, ut Domi ad majorem characterem ac
formam redigatur, ac si placet etiam pro Successorum
notitia ad Archivum reponatur.
Diebus lapsis mandato Augustissimi Tit[ulo] Dominy
Cardinalis Miggazzy 80000 fl illa ad Cassam instituti paupe-
rum Domino Comiti Bouquoi numerare instantanee debu-
it, una cum suo interusurio, quae pro elargienda paupe-
ribus Eleemosina defunctus Cardinalis Kolonitsch suis
Viennae in sede Archi-Episcopali Successoribus, eorumque
Dispositioni liberae per testamentum reliquit.

Letter Text - Page 1

English translation

Most Reverend and Most Distinguished Lord Abbot, Lord Prelate and most gracious Patron!
For Your Most Reverend Lordship's private information, I most humbly communicate the important court billet which, sealed, His Most August Majesty caused to be delivered to each department of his court immediately after his departure. I have condensed its eight full sheets into the present single sheet so as not to burden the post unduly. In order that Your Lordship may read it more conveniently and consider its individual paragraphs, I judged it worthwhile to have it copied at home in larger script and format and, if you think fit, deposited in the archive for the information of your successors.
In recent days, by command of His Most August Majesty, Cardinal Migazzi was required immediately to pay 80,000 florins, together with the accrued interest, to Count Buquoy into the treasury of the institute for the poor. The late Cardinal Kollonitsch had left this sum by testament to his successors in the archiepiscopal see of Vienna, at their free disposal, for distribution as alms to the poor.

Letter Text - Page 2

Original transcript

Diebus aliquot ante discessum Augustissimi imma-
nuavit hujas Dominus Nuntius suæ Maãtti litteras Summi
Pontificis, in quibus preces, monita, et cohortationes variæ
continebantur, quibus ulteriores divisiones Episcopatuum
Sequestrationes bonorum temporalium, Cassationes leligio-
sorum Ordinum us; impedire nittebatur. Has in Spiri-
tu prævidens Augustissimus, non statim litteras aperuit,
sed pro die sequente Dominum Nuntium ad se constituit,
Die statuta præsenti hæc formalia reposuit Sua Mttãs:
Aliquis Romæ præsumsit immanuatam mihi heri
epistolam sub- et obreptitie nomine Summi Pontificis
mihi inscribere. Hic eandem extrado originaliter
immediate ad manus Suæ Sanctitatis remittendam,
ut in auctorem inquirere valeat, non enim mihi
persvadeo, quod stante mutua et tam arcta nostra
amicitia hanc mihi epistolam Summus Pontifex
scribere potuerit. Commendo me porro sublimibus
Amplissimis gratiis, qui in respectu ac osculo sacræ
manus Præsularis cæteroquin morior
Reverendissimæ Amplitudinis Vestræ.
P. S. In communicatione Billeti caute obsecro Reverendissima
Amplitudo vestra procedere dignetur, cum vix privatorum aliquis
illud habeat.
Viennæ die 24 Decemb                 Subditissimus famulus
1783

Notes

Abbreviations, ligatures and non-standard Latin forms are retained as written.

Letter Text - Page 2

English translation

A few days before His Most August Majesty's departure, the nuncio here delivered to His Majesty a letter from the Supreme Pontiff containing various pleas, warnings and exhortations intended to prevent further divisions of bishoprics, sequestrations of temporal property and suppressions of religious orders. Foreseeing its tenor, His Most August Majesty did not open the letter at once, but summoned the nuncio for the following day. On the appointed day His Majesty replied to him in his presence in these formal words:
"Someone in Rome has presumed, by concealment of relevant truth and false representation, to address to me under the name of the Supreme Pontiff the letter delivered to me yesterday. I return it here in the original, to be sent immediately into the hands of His Holiness, so that he may inquire into its author; for, given our mutual and very close friendship, I cannot persuade myself that the Supreme Pontiff could have written such a letter to me."
I commend myself further to Your Most Distinguished Lordship's exalted favour and, with reverence and a kiss of your sacred prelatial hand, I remain until death Your Most Reverend Lordship's most obedient servant.
P.S. In communicating the billet, I beg Your Most Reverend Lordship to proceed cautiously, since scarcely any private person possesses it.
Vienna, 24 December 1783.

Notes

The manuscript reads "morior" in the closing formula; it is retained in the transcription and interpreted here by the conventional sense "I remain."

Discovery Terms

Historical correspondence
Latin correspondence
Cistercian Order
Joseph II
Papal correspondence
Ecclesiastical reform
Religious orders
Charitable funds
Vienna
Osek
Latin language

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