Lindsay Rudge PhD Thesis - University of St Andrews

himself was working. However, his writing stands firmly in a tradition of writing about
virginity and, in a wider sense, interior spirituality, as opposed to institutional
monasticism. 111 This is a vital distinction to make. The Institutio is not a prescriptive text;
it cannot be, for as will be discussed below, it offers a range of guidelines for community
living, which, although bearing similarities to the Benedictine tradition, contradicted it in
several areas. In this work, therefore, Caesarius’ letter on living a religious life, Vereor, is
more suitable than his rule; this and the other texts have been chosen so that they do not
contravene the tenets of the Institutio itself.
Benedict and the council’s wish to concentrate on the ethos, or interiority, of
religious life is evident in the choice of texts and how they are adapted for use in the
Institutio. Before turning to examine the use of Caesarius’ work more closely, it is worth
looking at a very clear example of this in the use of Jerome’s Ad Eustochium. The council
has used approximately two thirds of the letter. Much of what has been removed appears
to be the result of a straightforward edit: several unnecessary or repetitive Biblical
citations have gone, as have Jerome’s references to his own experiences in the desert, or
instances in which he addresses Eustochium herself. 112 More interesting are those
occasions in which a choice is being made as to how to present the perfect dedicated life,
in both interior and exterior terms. The decision has been taken, for instance, to remove a
reference to Eustochium’s emulation of and similarity to the Virgin: ‘You too may
perhaps be the Lord’s mother’. 113 This is perhaps because it was too personal to
Eustochium, but also may suggest reluctance on the part of Carolingian churchmen to
allow nuns to compare themselves to so holy a figure. At the opposite end of the
spectrum, the most sexual or erotic Biblical references have also been removed. Jerome’s
discussion of the failed virgin, including references both to marriage to Christ and to the
fact that ‘she shall be made naked and her skirts shall be placed on her face’ has been
edited to the bare minimum of ‘Better had it been for her to have submitted to marriage
with a man and to have walked on the plain, rather than to strain for the heights and fall
111
A further example of this type of writing was Aldhelm’s De virginitate, MGH AA xv 226-323 (prose)
and 350-471 (verse).
112
See for example (in the MGH edition) 424, line 16 for the excision of Eustochium; line 30 omits
Jerome’s retelling of Elijah and his chariot of fire.
113
IS 428 line 20
241