Lindsay Rudge PhD Thesis - University of St Andrews

in Arles that abbess Caesaria commissioned the Vita Caesarii. 138 Less is known of the
circumstances of Aurelian’s new monastery for women, but it has been assigned to the
same year, 139 and possibly was located on the site of the church of St Mary Major, very
close to the monastery of St John. 140 It was also probably endowed by Childebert, given
that chapter 39 of the female rule was the same as chapter 54 of the monks’, mentioning
the king. 141
Aurelian’s rule for virgins is heavily dependent on his rule for monks, repeating
many of the same prescriptions. Removing obviously inappropriate elements (such as
regulations for tonsure and ordination), 142 it also reduces the number of psalms to be said
by the nuns. 143 Whereas the monks’ church of Holy Apostles was forbidden to the public,
the nuns’ basilica of St Mary could be entered by both men and lay women. 144 This
would appear to signal a difference in Aurelian’s priorities from those of Caesarius. The
important work of prayer was being undertaken by his male community, whose focus for
devotions could not be disturbed. By contrast, the nuns’ basilica was one of only two
places, alongside the salutatorium (parlour), where outsiders were welcome. The
regulated entry of men (be they clerics or lay) into women’s monasteries was taken up by
the synod of Mâcon (583), which stated that such men would be permitted to enter, if of
recognised virtue and a good age, as far as the salutatorium. 145 The presence of several
Provençal bishops at the synod (Victor of Saint-Paul-Trois-Chateaux, Ragnoald of
Valence, Pappus of Apt, and Artemius of Vaison), mindful of the practices established at
Arles, may have promoted this measure here.
However, by far the majority of the rules’ chapters are the same, and in referring
largely to the rule for monks, this study in fact considers both rules together, as far as is
138
W.E. Klingshirn ‘Caesarius’ monastery for women’; C. Leyser Authority and Asceticism from Augustine
to Gregory the Great (Oxford, 2000), 90.
139
Klingshirn, Caesarius, 263. Aurelian’s rule for virgins is in PL 68:399.
140
Desprez, Règles Monastiques, 224.
141
Klingshirn, Caesarius, 263.
142
Reg. Aureliani monachorum 4; 46.
143
Reg. Aureliani virginum 38.
144
Reg. Aureliani monachorum and virginum 14.
145
Mâcon (581) can. 2. MGH Conc. III, 155-162. Similar sentiments are also expressed by canon 38 of the
synod of Epaon, albeit without reference to the use of the salutatorium. MGH Conc. III, 15-31.
102