THE FIRST PASTORAL LETTER TO THE DIOCESE OF ST. THOMAS OF GAEKRIN

[KaiserJacobII 1455]

The First Pastoral Letter to 

The Diocese of St. Thomas of Gaekrin

Penned in the Year of Our Lord, in His Age of Ascension, 642, upon the 10th day of Harren’s Folly

By Rabbin, Lothaire Cardinal Montcollier, Bishop St. Thomas of Gaekrin

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St. Jude, pray for us!

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	Index Section I - Opening Prayer - On Diligence Section II - Introduction  Section III - To the Clergy of St. Thomas of Gaekrin: A Call to Census Section IV - Looking Forward
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I - Opening Prayer - On Diligence

 

Lord, bless and guide Your Tribe, Humanity, the descendants of your Exalteds, with diligence. Bless them to be strong and wise, to wield heavy swords of gold and flame and to always study Your words of sweet and fiery truth. Bless them as they plant and build in Your name and for Your sake. Guide us into a bright future of virtue, for all of your people, Humanity. Guide us as we teach to our youth the goodliness of diligence, for they might pass on Your commands generation after generation. Blessed are you, God, Who commands us to be diligent. 

 

II - Introduction

 

It is my most profound honour to have been appointed as bishop of the Diocese of St. Thomas of Gaekrin, whereby I mean the Diocese which within is Rittersberg, Alba, and the surrounding areas. I wish to write to all you goodly faithful who dwell within the Crownland of our Empire to, primarily, introduce myself, and secondarily, clarify what my newly appointed role means. My name is Lothaire. I am a servant of God and His flock, a monastic of Lemonhill, and a rabbinic priest of the True Faith, in that order. My devotion to God and His flock, Humanity, comes before my life as a monastic, and before my sectarian persuasions or opinions on numbers of Exalted, lay my vows. I may be, by rank and duty, both a cardinal and a bishop, yet please do call me rabbi, or if that feels quite too Levitican for you, call me father. My monastic vows must continue to humble me. My rabbinic priesthood must continue to place me as a father before a flock more than an administrator before an inked quill. In the eyes of God, we are, too, all equals.

So I reach the part where I shall discuss what my role as bishop means for the flock. My duty here, to which I hope to serve as best I can, is not to police the flock on matters of Sigismund or other such sectarian business, nor is it to spy upon you and report your every word to his Holiness. Do not misinterpret me, St. Thomas of Gaekrin is a Diocese of the True Faith, and shall remain such, but within its borders, the minority’s humble belief in Sigismund shall not go punished. I am here to serve you, the laity of St. Thomas of Gaekrin, be it you call yourself a True Faither or a Canonist, be you an Imperial prince or a common serf. I shall appoint Vicars, in accordance with the First Golden Bull of Caius II, as needed, and where seen fit, to ensure that our goodly towns and cities have shepherds and guides. I also have a duty to my brothers and sisters of the cloth. Of this, I shall write next. God bless and guide you each and all.

 

III - To the Clergy of St. Thomas of Gaekrin: A Call to Census

 

My Brothers and sisters, God bless you! I shall make an effort to see that the clergy in this Diocese feel supported and unassailable. To begin such, with haste, I shall endeavour to know well the clergy serving within this Diocese. Yet, with the less-than-ideal record-keeping of the past decade and the changes to ecclesiastical borders, I have little clue who serves within our Diocese. I hope to rectify this as soon as possible. The Diocese of St. Thomas of Gaekrin is, by decree of his Holiness, Caius II, in the first Golden Bull of his reign, “the Imperial Crownlands, including Rittersburg, Alba, and their surrounding territories,” but not “the Imperial Heartlands, including the lands of Metz, Lorraine, Reinmar, and Valwyck.” If you serve in this Diocese, as priest, acolyte, or monastic, prithee do, at your convenience but also with some haste, send to me a letter by bird. In this letter, write to me your name, your position in the clergy, your primary flock, be it city or vassal, you attend to, and, if you are ordained, who ordained you and when. If you are an acolyte, please impart to me whom you study under. This information shall be of great use to me until the time that a more formal and broader census can be conducted. 

 

IV - Looking Forward

 

So I shall conclude this brief letter with just a few more words. The next few years shall be a time for settling into new ways. For all, the new pontificate, and, for us in St. Thomas of Gaekrin, my new duties as bishop. In the coming few years, I do so hope to have published our first Diocesan Minor Bull, within which I shall appoint Vicars and likely call to meeting the clergy of the Diocese, among other such things. Just as I hope to keep the flock accountable to the Church, so too must the flock hold me accountable to them. Thus, if any concerns do arise, please do send to me a letter. Until the next letter, take with you all the greatest blessing: the blessing of the soul’s peace.

 

In the words of one wiser than I:

Remaining the least of His children,

 

Your servant,

Rabbin, Lothaire Cardinal Montcollier

Bishop St. Thomas of Gaekrin