Lindsay Rudge PhD Thesis - University of St Andrews

about his mother’s community. Another set of influences for monastic life had appeared
in northern Gaul, slightly later than Caesarius, which fed Irish monastic traditions into the
mix of influences already acting upon dedicated life in Gaul. To write this rule, Donatus
borrowed from the rules of Caesarius, Benedict of Nursia and the Irish abbot
Columbanus. The prologue, addressed to the abbess Gauthstrude, may be quoted at some
length, as it describes the process by which one female community set out to find the best
written guidance for their lives.
Though I am eminently aware, most precious vessel of Christ, that you live
daily by the norms of the rule, nevertheless you have always wished to
inquire with wise intention how you may excel yet more. For this reason,
you have often urged me that, having explored the rule of holy Caesarius,
bishop of Arles, which was especially devoted to Christ’s virgins, along
with those of the most blessed Benedict and the abbot Columbanus, I might
cull the choice blooms, gathering them, as I might say, into a bouquet or an
Enchiridion, collecting and promulgating all that is proper for the special
observance of the female sex. For you say that since the rules of the
aforesaid fathers were written for men and not for women, they are less
suited to you. And though holy Caesarius dedicated his own rule to virgins
of Christ, like yourselves, their enclosure of place is not in the least suitable
to your circumstances. At last, after long and hard resistance, I am ready to
do your will... I fear the judgement of many intelligent persons who may
heedlessly blame me for daring to excerpt or change the institutes of so
many fathers. 179
This preface is deeply reminiscent of Caesarius’ letter Vereor, and of the Regula
virginum. In Donatus’ words, it is the abbess Gauthstrude and her community who have
directed the composition of the text, based on their experience of extant rules. The
authority with which the community directed their lives may have derived from the
McNamara and J. Halborg (eds. and tr.) The Ordeal of Community: Two Early Monastic Rules for Women
(Toronto, 1993).
179 McNamara and Halborg, The Ordeal of Community, 32.
110