Letter of Pope Clement VII to Geoffrey II, Lord of Lirey

Clement [VII], bishop, servant of the servants of God, to his beloved son, the noble man Geoffrey, lord of the place of Lirey, diocese of Troyes, greetings and apostolic blessing.

The sincerity of your devotion, which you are known to have towards God and us, and the Roman Church, merits our favorable response to your petitions, especially those which are known to respect the honor and glory of the divine name.

The series of your petitions, which were presented, contained what was recently explained to our beloved son Peter, cardinal priest of the title of Saint Susanna, on your part, that your father, inflamed with zeal for devotion, had once caused a certain figure or representation of the Shroud of our Lord Jesus Christ, which was generously offered to him, to be venerably placed in the church of Blessed Mary of Lirey, diocese of Troyes, of which he himself was the founder; and that finally, when the Lord permitted those parts to be severely shaken by wars and plagues of mortality, a figure or representation of this kind, also at the command of the ordinary place and for other specific reasons, was transferred from the said church of Blessed Mary to another safer place, and had remained decently hidden until then and venerably guarded; and that you, for the sake of the aforesaid church’s decorum, the devotion of the people and the increase of divine worship, desired that the aforementioned figure or representation be replaced in the aforesaid church, the same cardinal, whom we had then appointed to our dearest son Charles, illustrious King of the Franks, for certain business of ours and the aforesaid Roman church, and who, in doing, carrying out, exercising, and during the prosecution of such business, in the cities and dioceses and provinces through which he passed on his way and returned, and in which he happened to stay, had the authority from us to do, carry out and exercise everything and everything that a cardinal of the Roman church, fulfilling his office, can do, carry out and exercise within the limits of his legation.

Whoever had passed through the province of Senone, from which the said diocese of Troyes exists, granted you, during the prosecution of such matters, by his letters, without seeking or obtaining permission from the diocesan or any other person, that you might place and arrange the aforesaid figure or representation in the aforesaid church of Saint Mary in a suitable, honorable and decent place; and that the said figure or representation was decently placed in the said church of Blessed Mary by virtue of this indult; and that afterwards our venerable brother Peter, bishop of Troyes, moved by this indult, in his last synod celebrated, ordered the rectors of parish churches and those whom he happened to propose the word of God not to make any mention of the shroud of Jesus Christ, the figure or representation of Him in their churches or sermons, whether in good or bad; and finally he forbade his beloved son, the dean of the aforesaid church of Blessed Mary, from showing the said figure or representation to anyone under penalty of excommunication.

From which prohibition made to the said dean, on behalf of the said dean, an appeal was made to the Apostolic See. And because the said figure or representation after such a petition was publicly exhibited and shown to the people; we therefore, inclined by your supplications in this part, having the aforesaid indult (permission) ratified and approved, confirm it, as stated above, from certain knowledge, with apostolic authority, and share the patronage of the present writing; and nevertheless we grant to the said dean and the beloved sons of the chapter of the said church of Blessed Mary, by the tenor of the present, that, notwithstanding such prohibition, they may publicly exhibit and cause the same figure or representation to be shown to the people, whenever it may be opportune; imposing perpetual silence on the said bishop on the aforesaid prohibition.

Therefore let no man be permitted, etc.

Given at Avignon, on the fifth day before the Kalends of August, in the eleventh year [of our papacy]. Expedited on the third day before the Nones of August, in the eleventh year. Delivered on the third day before the Nones of August, in the year 11.