priest who
officiated there consecrated the body of Christ a hundred years
ago.[74-1] In consideration of these things, Innocent the VIII., our
predecessor of happy memory, wishing to provide a proper pastor for those
forlorn people, conferred with his brethren, of whom we were one, and
elected Matthias, our venerable brother, a member of the Order of St.
Benedict, as well as professed monk, at our suggestion, and while we were
still in minor orders, to be Bishop of Gardar. This good man, fired with
great zeal to recall those people from the way of error to the practice
of their faith, is about to undertake this perilous voyage and laborious
duty.[74-2] We, on our part, accordingly, recognizing the pious and
praiseworthy purpose of the same elect, and wishing to succor in some
manner his poverty, which is very great indeed, command the officials of
our chancery, as well as those of our palace, under pain of
excommunication _ipso facto_ to be incurred, that all apostolic letters
destined for the church of Gardar, be written gratis for the glory of God
alone, without exacting or charging any stipend; and we command the
clergy and notaries of our palace to forward all letters to the above
mentioned bishop, without demanding any payment whatsoever for services
rendered.

To him everything must be free, other things to the contrary
notwithstanding.

FOOTNOTES:

[70-1] In 1893 an American in Rome, Mr. J.C. Heywood, one of the papal
chamberlains, brought out, in a very small edition (twenty-five copies),
a book of photographic facsimiles of documents in the Vatican relating to
Greenland and the discovery of America, _Documenta Selecta e Tabulario
Secreto Vaticano_. The Latin text of those here presented may be found in
Fischer, _Discoveries of the Northmen_, pp. 49-51. A translation of all
was made for the Tennessee Historical Society by Rev. John B. Morris and
printed in Vol. IX. of the society's organ, the _American Historical
Magazine_. Using this translation, we have printed Letters IX. and X. as
the only ones that contain anything of particular interest concerning the
Gardar bishopric in Greenland, excepting, possibly, the following
sentence from Letter II. (December 4, 1276), to the Archbishop of
Drontheim: "Your Fraternity having been explicitly directed by letters
apostolic to visit personally all parts of the kingdom of Norway, for the
purpose of collecting the tithes due the Holy Land, has informed us that
this