"Reparandi ecclesias spes nulla populo deficiente" (Reg. ep. 2, 42 N.): Gregorio Magno e la "geografia episcopale" del Pomptinus ager (a. 592)

In Reg. ep. 2, 42 Norberg (August 592), Pope Gregory the Great entrusted to John, bishop of Velletri, curam ecclesiae Trium Tabernarum. This effectively incorporated that ancient episcopal see, located near the Decennovium, into the diocese of Velitrae. The rationale underlying the papal measure concerning Tres Tabernae reflects a broader practice in Gregory’s administration of the churches of Italy, highlighting the connection between the suppression of a bishopric, the imminutio personarum, and the resulting loci desertio. In the early years of his pontificate, Gregory’s attention to the pastoral administration of the episcopal sees along the Pontine area of the Appian Way — from Tres Tabernae to Tarracina, and further on to Fundi, Formiae, and Minturnae — also provides evidence for reconstructing a wider picture of the vitality of the earliest censorial road, which, at the end of the sixth century, had not yet been overcome by the forces of nature and history.