The Monastic Rules of Visigothic Iberia - eTheses Repository ...

econstruct actual monastic life is a different matter. The fact that not all monasteries
functioned along the guidelines set out by the monastic rules is made clear by the fact that
some Visigothic commentators felt strongly that monastic life was rotten. Take, for example,
the complaint of Valerius of Bierzo: 56
“et cum in ista ultimae extremitatis Occiduae partis confinia rara, uidelicet, et exigua
pullularent sacrae religionis crepundia, a paucis electis et perfectis uiris in desertis locis
rara ope Domini constructa sunt monasteria, ex quibus multas animas redemptor expiatas
fece peccaminum suscepit in regna coelestia. Et quia discedente et ad finem extremante
mundi tempore refrigescit charitas, accrescit saeuissima iniquitas, et inexplebilis uoraxque
exardescit mundana cupiditas, atque infestior inuidens inualescit daemonum atrocitas, in
[quibus] sacratissimis locis paucissimi tamem reperiuntur electi uiri, qui de toto corde
conuertantur ad Dominum. Et ne ipsa monasteria desolata desertaque remaneant, tolluntur
ex familiis sibi pertinentibus subulci, de diuersisque gregibus dorseni, 57 atque de
possessionibus paruuli, qui pro officio supplendo inuiti tondentur et nutriuntur per
monasteria, atque falso nomine monachi nuncupantur.”
Valerius had started the paragraph before this section with “dum olim”, a vague
phrase that reveals nothing about when he is actually referring to, but that even at the ends of
the earth (“ad finem extremante mundi”), monasticism had once flourished and monasteries
56 De genere monachorum 1.
57 Dorseni is a seeming hapax. It is probably related to dorsualis, and so mean literally someone who
does manual labour, i.e. a worker or servant. However, it may also be influenced by Dorsenus, an
ancient Latin writer whose characters became a by-word for unpleasant attributes (Horace Epistle
2.137). In this context, subulci, dorseni and paruuli are likely synonymous, whilst de diuersisque
gregibus is metaphorical.
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