Lindsay Rudge PhD Thesis - University of St Andrews

cites, Caesarius’ writing, in a more subtle but equally effective example of transmitting
his ideas than simply sending a copy of the works in question.
Many of the recommendations in Caesaria’s letter are those one would expect to
find in a text which summarises the fundamental points of Caesarian monasticism. At
times Caesaria displays the craft of an editor. Discussing the correct way to pray, she
brings together chapters twenty-two and sixty-six of the Regula virginum which both
underline the importance of understanding what was being said: ‘Stand to attention when
you say the psalm, for it is there that He speaks and instructs you: “Sing ye praises with
understanding”’. 67 The first part of this is new, and forms a gloss on Caesarius’ ‘When
you are praying to God in psalms and hymns, let that be meditated upon in the heart
which is uttered by the voice’, which is itself taken from Augustine’s Praeceptum, II, 3. 68
The second phrase, psallite sapienter, is used by Caesarius in chapter sixty-six, but
originates in Psalms 46:8. 69 Among exhortations to crucify themselves with the work of
God (from RV caps. 12; 15), and to think of, speak of, or do nothing else (Regula cap.
10), the education of the community takes a prominent place. Caesaria repeats her uncle’s
requirement that all entrants should learn to read. In her wording, ‘Let none enter who
have not learnt letters.’ 70 This expands slightly on, and modifies Caesarius’ ‘All should
learn letters.’ 71 Caesaria’s own monastic environment is clearly one of an educated,
comprehending spirituality. The nuns living according to the bishop’s rule in Arles were
expected to devote their time to prayer, with nothing hindering that opus Dei, but were
required too to grasp fully the language, implications, and meanings of their activities.
They were expected to have the skills to read and learn scriptural and other texts by
themselves. While superficially a life at some remove from the world of a Fuscina of
Vienne, Caesaria’s letter evokes the same literary understanding, and a spirituality both
curious and comprehending.
67 Eng. tr. SWDA, 116.
68 RV 22; McCarthy, Rule for Nuns, 176-7; ‘Cum vero psalmis et hymnis oratis deum, id versetur in corde,
quod profertur in voce’. For more on Caesarius’ use of Augustine, see de Vogüé, Oeuvres pour les
moniales, 47-55.
69 De Vogüé, Œuvres pour les moniales, 252.
70 Nulla sit de intrantibus, quae non litteras discat. De Vogüé, Œuvres pour les moniales, 484.
71 Omnes litteras discant. RV 18.
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