Lindsay Rudge PhD Thesis - University of St Andrews

therefore likely that this was the ‘original rule’ given to Caesaria in 512, at the beginning
of the nuns’ life in St John. The second section, chapters 17-35 and chapter 43, is drawn,
often verbatim, from the Ordo monasterii and Praeceptum of Augustine. 155 De Vogüé
and Courreau’s argument hinges on the thesis that Caesarius did not have access to these
texts until the 520s, when it would have been possible for him to gain copies either
directly from Africa or via Italy. 156 Chapters 36-47 are original Caesarian legislation and
could therefore have been written at any time, although references in chapter 45 to the
basilica of St Mary, which was built in 524, would indicate that this element of the rule
was written after that date. The next and last fixed date in the life of the Regula is 22 nd
June 534, when the Recapitulatio was promulgated by Caesarius. 157 The final section, the
ordines, must actually have been written prior to 534, as Caesarius notes that ‘We have
decided to insert in this book the ordo according to which you should chant the psalms’,
and later, ‘It has seemed necessary to us to include even the procedure for meals in this
rule’. 158 De Vogüé and Courreau reinforce their theory of a production in stages with an
analysis of the language used in the different stages of the rule. For instance, they note
that the word ‘abbatissa’ is used once in the first section alongside the terms ‘prior’,
‘senior’ and ‘mater’, five times in the second, eleven times in the third, and it is the only
term used for the abbess in the Recapitulatio. A mixture of terms is used in the ordines,
showing that they were composed before the Recapitulatio. 159
However, the influences that lay behind the construction of the Regula virginum
are not only detectable through Caesarius’ vocabulary or textual borrowings. Caesarius’
conceptions of monastic life were strongly moulded by his experience as a monk on the
Les Règles Monastiques Anciennes (400-700) Typologie des Sources 46 (Turnhout, 1985). For Cassian’s
Institutiones, see J.-C. Guy (ed.) Jean Cassien: Institutions Cénobitiques SC 109 (Paris, 2001).
155
The Ordo monasterii is in PL 66, 995-8; the Praeceptum is in PL 32, 1377-84. The standard edition of
both texts is L. Verheijen, La Règle de Saint Augustin (Paris, 1967). Caesarius also drew heavily on
Augustine’s works when preaching; for further comment on this, see Leyser, Authority, 82-3. For a detailed
textual comparison of Caesarius’ use of Augustine, see also A. de Vogüe ‘La Règle de Césaire d’Arles pour
les moines: un résumé de sa Règle pour les moniales’ Revue d’Histoire de la Spiritualité (1971) 369-406.
156
De Vogüé, Oeuvres pour les moniales, 97.
157
RV 73; Morin II, 26.
158
RV 66, 71.
159
De Vogüé, Oeuvres pour les moniales, 88-89.
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