Gerard Odonis

Existentibus vero quampluribus Messanensibus in civitate Catanie, piis porrectis petitionibus ad dominum Patriarcham predictum, ipsum unanimiter exorarunt, ut cum reliquiis aliquibus Agathe virginis supradicte ipse personaliter, devotionis causa, sicut decet honorifice, Messanam se conferret. Credimus enim, inquiunt, quod propter adventum reliquiarum predictarum, Messana civitas erit ex tali penitus infirmitate liberata.

Many of the people of Messina who were now in Catania presented a devout petition to the lord Patriarch. With one voice they begged him to go to Messina himself, out of devotion and with fitting honor, taking some of the relics of the virgin Agatha. “For we believe,” they said, “that when these relics come, the city of Messina will be wholly freed from this sickness.”

Tanta erat inmensa mortalitas in civitate predicta, quod judices & notarii in conficiendis testamentis, nec Sacerdotes ad peccatorum confitenda peccamina poterant totaliter continuo vacare. Patriarcha vero predictus volens de animabus Cataniensium providere, cuilibet Sacerdoti, licet minimo, totam, quam habebat ipse Episcopalem & Patriarchalem licentiam, de absolvendis peccatis tribuit atque dedit. Quapropter omnes, qui deficiebant, secundum veram opinionem ad locum Dei tutum infallibiliter erant recepti.

The mortality in the city was so great that the judges and notaries could not keep up with the wills, nor the priests with the confessions. The Patriarch wanted to provide for the souls of Catania. So he gave every priest, however lowly, all the power he himself held, as bishop and as patriarch, to absolve sins. As a result, all who died were surely received, as the true faith teaches, into the safe place of God.

Que quidem mortalitas duravit a mense Septembris dicte prime Indictionis usque ad mortem Ducis supradicti paulo ante vel post. Talis itaque gravis fuit mortalitas in nullo dispar sexu, in nulla etate dissimilis, generaliter cuactos jugiter . . . . fecit, ut etiam quos non egit in mortem, turpi macie exinanitos afflictosque dimisit atque relaxavit. In qua mortalitate fuit dictus Patriarcha mortuus, & sepultus in majori Cataniensi Ecclesia, anima cujus in pace quiescat.

This mortality lasted from September of the first indiction until about the time of the duke’s death, a little before or after. It was a heavy mortality. It spared neither sex and no age. It everyone, without stopping. Even those it did not kill, it left drained and broken by a foul wasting. In this mortality the Patriarch died too. He was buried in the cathedral of Catania. May his soul rest in peace.