Lindsay Rudge PhD Thesis - University of St Andrews

the life she probably already led. 138 As de Vogüé suggests, the letter occupies an
intermediate stage between the letters of Jerome and Pelagius to their female followers,
and the Regula virginum itself. 139 It makes no radical suggestions. While advocating
claustration, Caesarius does not deem it essential; the nuns ‘should either never go out in
public or only because of great and unavoidable need’ and ‘neither laymen nor other
religious men should be admitted into incessant familiarity’. 140 Caesarius comments on
the dangers of over-familiarity with men (‘she will ... see something that can be harmful
to chastity’); 141 on the disposal of wealth, although with only an encouragement rather
than an instruction to dispose of it as quickly as possible (‘you can acquire spiritual wings
from it by giving it away well and quickly’); 142 on the avoidance of luxury, and an
encouragement to reading and prayer. 143 Other than an injunction to avoid envy and
anger, there is little interest in the internal life of the community or in relations between
the nuns, reflecting their continuing ability to decide on an appropriate way of life for
themselves. 144
In the letter’s praefatio, Caesarius acknowledges that ‘we, by the grace of God,
perceive nothing wrong with your most sacred way of life’, but sees his role as providing
‘spiritual arms ... against the fiery arrows of the devil’. 145 However, this help was
unnecessary. Devoted women such as Caesaria must have possessed immense strength of
character to remain committed to a religious life, to some extent a life of deprivation,
particularly as the bishop or clergy were only there to observe them on occasional visits.
Most revealing is Caesarius’ admission that ‘in observance of your holy wishes, I am not
able to visit you more frequently’. 146 To all intents and purposes Caesaria had probably
been directing her own religious life for thirty years, and it is tempting to suggest that
submitting herself to her younger brother’s guidance was perhaps the greatest act of
138 Klingshirn, Life, Testament, Letters, 127-8.
139 De Vogüé, Oeuvres pour les moniales, 282.
140 Vereor, 3 tr. Klingshirn, Life, Testament, Letters, 131.
141 Vereor, 5 tr. Klingshirn, Life, Testament, Letters, 134.
142 Vereor, 6 tr. Klingshirn, Life, Testament, Letters, 134.
143 Vereor, 7 tr. Klingshirn, Life, Testament, Letters, 135-6.
144 Vereor, 6 tr. Klingshirn, Life, Testament, Letters, 134.
145 Vereor, 1 tr. Klingshirn, Life, Testament, Letters, 129.
146 Vereor, 1 tr. Klingshirn, Life, Testament, Letters, 129.
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