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‘Frequenter Legere' The Propagation of Literacy’, Education, and Divine Wisdom in Caesarius of Arles

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 February 2009

Alberto Ferreiro
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Extract

Of the literary bequest from the Middle Ages, homilies provide one of the more useful tools in helping us to understand the medieval mind, at least from the perspective of the Church. Homilies provide us with insight on a number of levels, extending well beyond the personal viewpoint of those who wrote and preached them. They also clearly reflect the values, aspirations, and concerns of an era. Homilies are particularly valuable, especially if one has them in large numbers, because they are generally addressed to people of both genders, of all ages, and from every stratum of society. This is especially true of the large corpus of homilies attributed to Bishop Caesarius of Arles who directed his attention to both laity and clergy of all ranks with the aim of encouraging reading in order to promote literacy and divine wisdom. The Caesarian homiliary that survives from the early Middle Ages, is an enviable collection of documents.: one need only consider the scarcity of this type of source for contemporary Visigothic Spain. Homilies did exist in that period in Spain, but the ravages of time and man have caused so much to disappear.

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The Journal of Ecclesiastical History , Volume 43 , Issue 1 , January 1992 , pp. 5 - 15
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Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1992

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References

I am grateful to Professor Jeffrey B. Russell for his useful suggestions and comments on this article. However, I alone bear the responsibility for its content. A version of this paper was read at the international conference on monastic studies, Espacios y Tiempo en el Monacato, 5–10 December 1988 in León. I wish to thank Seattle Pacific University for subsidising the trip.

1 See Hillgarth's, J. N. remarks on ‘Saints’ Lives', which I believe have equal relevance for the homiletical sources: ‘Modes of vangelization of Western Europe in the seventh century’, in Próinséas Ni Chatháin and Michael Richter (eds), Ireland and Christendom: the Bible and the missions, Stuttgart 1987, 315–17.Google Scholar

2 See Mary Magdeleine Mueller on Dom Germain Morin's edition of the Caesarian homiliary in Caesarius of Aries, Sermons 1–238, Fathers of the Church Series xxxi, xlvii, lxvi, pp. xix, xxiii–xxv.

3 Vita S. Caesarii episcopi, PL 67. 1021.

4 ‘In cuiuscumque manibus libellus iste venerit, rogo et cum grandi humilitate supplico, ut eum et ipse frequentius legat, et aliis ad legendum et ad transscribendum non solum tradat’: Sancti Caesarii Arelatensis, Sermones, ed. G. Morin, CCSL ciii–civ (hereafter cited as Sermo): Sermo 2.1, ciii. 18. The Caesarian corpus in its entirety can be found in Sancti Caesarii episcopi Arelatensis Opera omnia nunc primum in unum collecta, ed. G. Morin, 2 vols, Maredsous 1937–42. The most complete bibliography on Caesarius up to 1984 is Alberto Ferreiro. The Visigoths in Gaul and Spain, A.D. 418–711: a bibliography, Leiden, 1988, 615–632.

5 ‘Vobis vero si non displicuerint et potestis et debetis et meliori littera et in pergamenis pro vestra mercede transscribere, et in aliis parrochiis ad transcribendum dare, ut non solum de vestro sed etiam de aliorum profectu duplicem mercedem habere possitis’: Sermo 2.1, ciii. 19.

6 Education and Culture in the Barbarian West, trans. John J. Contreni, Columbia S. Carolina 1976, 79–99. The title of Adalbert de Vogüé'sarticle, ‘Lectiones sanctas libenter audire: silence, reading, and prayer in St. Benedict’, Word and Spirit: a monastic review vii (1985), 87–107, originally published in Benedictina xxvii (1980), 11–26, is misleading since it concerns itself much more with Caesarius than Benedict. Nevertheless, it is very useful on lectio in Caesarius.

7 Sermo 2.1, ciii. 18–19.

8 ‘Pro intuitu paternae pietatis et qualiscumque pastoris sollicitudine admonitiones simplices parochiis necessarias in hoc libello conscripsimus, quas in festivitatibus maioribus sancti presbyteri vel diacones debeant commissis sibi populis recitare‘: ibid. 18.

9 Ibid. 19. There are other places where Caesarius stressed the frequency of reading the scriptures and divine lessons. For example: ‘quotidianae lectionis’: Sermo 1.2, ibid. 2 and in the same sermon ‘iugiter lectioni’ 4, 3; ‘si pro amore doctrinae iugiter lectioni et orationi: insistant’ 8, 6; ‘ubi sine dubio deo vacare, et lectioni vel doctrinae insistere, si volumus studiose attendere, abundantissime possimus reperire’, 18, 14. Also in another sermon, ‘ita sacerdotes de diversis sanctarum scripturarum montibus assidue legendo verbum dei debent flores decerpere,’ and in the same chapter Caesarius concludes, ’ Credimus tamen de dei misericordia, quod ita et nobis studium legendi vel praedicandi, et vobis desiderium praestare dignabitur audiendi’, Sermo 4.4, ibid. 25. See also the references to frequent reading in Sermo 6.8, ibid. 36; Sermo 8.3, ibid. 44; and in the same sermon 5, 45; Sermo 198.3, civ. 800; and in the same sermon 5, 801; Sermo 230.4, ibid. 912, 5, 913, and 6, 914; Sermo 234.3, 934. Caesarius suggests in one place that the Psalms are to be consulted with frequency, ‘Fratres, si frequentius psalmos nostros recurrimus, cogitationibus mundanis aditum claudimus: dominatur psalmus spiritalis, fugit cogitatio carnalis’: Sermo 238.2, ibid. 950.

10 ‘Et ideo libellum istum annis singulis cum omni diligentia recensete, ut apud deum et apud homines vos possitis absolvere.’ More to the point, he adds, ‘Et quia necesse est, et satis oportet, ut fidem catholicam omnes non solum clerici sed etiam laici notam habeant, ideo in libellis istis secundum quod sancti patres ipsam fidem catholicam definierunt’: Sermo 2.1, ciii. 19.

11 See n. 33 below.

12 ‘Et ideo, fratres carissimi, vel sic discamus plus animam amare quam carnem, aeterna potius diligere quam caduca. Quicquid enim pro came laboramus, totum periet: hoc solum perire non poterit, quod unusquisque pro salute animae suae in caelo reposuit. Nemo se ergo excuset, et dicat litteras non scire; ideo non posse dei praecepta conplere’: Sermo 6.6, ciii. 34.

13 ‘Primum est, quod lectionem divinam etiamsi aliquis nesciens litteras non potest legere, potest tamen legentem libenter audire’. Ibid. 1, 31.

14 ‘Adtendite, rogo vos, fratres, hoc dico quod non ignoratis. Novimus enim aliquos negotiatores, qui cum litteras non noverint, requirunt sibi mercennarios litteratos’: ibid. 1, 31. In other sermons, Caesarius refers to the hiring of these literate mercenaries, ‘non possit aut ipse legere, aut alios legentes audire?’: Sermo 6.2, ibid. 31; in the same sermon 8, 36; ‘quia et qui litteras non noverunt, si in veritate deum diligunt, requirunt sibi aliquos litteratos qui eis scripturas divinas legere possunt; quam [rem] etiam negotiatores sine litteris frequentius exercere cognovimus, qui sibi mercenarios litteratos conducunt, et illis legentibus vel scribentibus ingentia lucra conquirunt’: Sermo 8.1, ibid. 41; in the same sermon 5, 45; and finally, ‘Nee solum vobis sufficiat quod in ecclesia divinas lectiones auditis: sed etiam in domibus vestris aut ipsi legite, aut alios legentes requirite et libenter audite.’: Sermo 196.2, civ. 792.

15 ‘Sed dicit aliquis: Ego homo rusticus sum, et terrenis operibus iugiter occupatus sum; lectionem divinam nee audire possum nee legere’: Sermo 6.3, ciii. 32. In other places the bishop of Aries refers to the frequent excuses parishioners make for not reading particularly the lure of worldly pursuits. Caesarius admits that possessions are necessary, but we should not be too involved in acquisition. ‘Nos vero, qui absque possessionibus esse non possumus, vel in illis taliter [non] implicemur, ut verbo dei vacare non valeamus’: Sermo 1.7, ibid. 5; Caesarius comments further on worldly distractions in the same sermon 19, 15; see also Sermo 6.1, ibid. 30–1; Sermo 7. ibid. 37, and 4, 40; Sermo 8.2, ibid. 42 is very instructive: ‘Quando enim aliquos ad lectionis studium provocamus, non nulli se excusare conantur dicentes, quod aut propter militiam, aut propter domus suae ordinationem non illis possit vacare divinis lectionibus insistere’. See also Sermo 196.1, civ. 792, 2 on the same page, and 5, 794; Sermo 198.2, ibid. 799, 3, 800, and 5, 801. In his Sermon In ordinatione episcopi, Caesarius warns bishops of the dangers of worldly pursuits: ‘Observa et vide, ne te mundialis negocii inplicatio ita teneat occupatum, ut verbo dei vacare non possis’: Sermo 230.5, ibid. 912–13.

16 ‘Quando noctes longiores sunt, quis erit qui tantum possit dormire, ut lectionem divinam vel tribus horis non possit aut ipse legere, aut alios legentes audire?’: Sermo 6.2, ciii. 31; see also his other references to ‘home study’ in the same Sermon 8, 36; Sermo 7.1, 38; Sermo 196.2, civ. 792; Sermo 198.5, ibid. 801.

17 ‘Nam si statim ubi de ecclesia decesseris, totum quod ab episcopo audisti oblitus fueris, sine fructu venisti ad ecclesiam, sine fructu inanis redis ad domum tuam’: Sermo 6.8, ciii. 36.

18 Ibid; Sermo 2.1, ibid. 19; Sermo 196.2, civ. 792; and especially, ‘Lectiones divinas et in ecclesia, sicut consuistis, libenter laudite, et in domibus vestris relegite. Si aliquis ita fuerit occupatus ut ante refectionem scripturae divinae non possit insistere, non eum pigeat in conviviolo suo aliquid de divinis scripturis relegere’: Sermo 198.5, ibid. 801.

19 ‘Quanto magis in spiritalibus lucris non vobis debet sufficere, quod in ecclesia lectiones divinas auditis, sed in domibus et in conviviis vestris et, quando dies breves sunt, etiam aliquibus horis in noctibus lectioni divinae debetis insistere’: Sermo 7.1, ciii. 38.

20 The most direct of the references to the laity is that found in Sermo 8.2, ibid. 42; see note 15 above.

21 Especially note where Caesarius says, ‘quod in ecclesia lectiones divinas auditis, sed in domibus et in conviviis vestris’: Sermo 7.1, ibid. 38; another similar reference, ‘Nee solum vobis sufficiat quod in ecclesia divinas lectionis auditis: sed etiam in domibus vestris aut ipsi legite’: Sermo 196.2, civ. 792.

22 ‘ Christiani debent sibi requirere et rogare, et si necesse est, etiam et mercedem dare, ut illis aliquis debeat scripturam divinam relegere’: Sermo 6.8, ciii. 36.

23 Education and Culture, 79–99, but esp. pp. 86–95 on Caesarius.

24 Sermo 99.1–3, ciii. 403–6; see also Alberto, Ferreiro, ‘Early medieval missionary tactics: the example of Martin of Braga and Caesarius of Aries’, Studia Historica. Historia antiqua 6 (1988), 225–38.Google Scholar Other useful studies related to Caesarius and general contemporary attitudes are those of Mâle, E., La Fin dupaganisme en Gaule et les plus anciennes basiliques chrétiennes, Paris 1950Google Scholar; Audin, P., ‘Césaire d'Aries et le maintien de pratiques paiennes dans la Provence du Vie siècle’, La Patrie Gauloise d' Agrippa au Vlème siècle, Actes du Colloque, Lyon 1981, Lyon 1983, 327–40Google Scholar; Griffe, E., ‘A travers les paroisses rurales de la Gaule au Vie siècle’, Bulletin de littérature ecclésiastique, lxxvi (1975), 3–26Google Scholar; and, more fundamental still, Beck, H. G. J., The Pastoral Care of Souls in Southeast France in the Sixth Century, Rome 1950.Google Scholar

25 ‘Virga vero, per quam Aegyptus subicitur et Pharao superatur, crucis Christi imaginem praeferebat, per quam mundus hie vincitur, et princeps huius mundi cum principatibus et potestatibus triumphatur’: Sermo 99.1, ciii. 403. Although the staff belonged to Moses, it was Aaron who actually carried out the ‘duel’, working as Moses's spokesman, which explains why Scripture refers to Aaron'sstaff (or rod): Ex. vii. 6–13. I touched upon the staff and the encounter with the Egyptian priests in ‘Job in the Sermons of Caesarius of Aries’, Recherches de théologie ancienne et médiévale, liv (1987), 15 n. 8; Sermo 95.8, ciii. 392.

26 ‘idcirco virga Moysi, id est, crux Christi postea quam ad terras descendit, id est, postea quam ad credulitatem et fidem hominum venit, conversa est in sapientiam’: Sermo 99.1, ibid. 403.

27 ‘et tantam sapientiam, quae omnem Aegyptiorum, id est, huius mundi sapientiam devoraret’: ibid.

28 ‘Early medieval missionary tactics’, 234–7.

29 ‘Omnes hereticorum auctores et inventores falsarum quae in hoc mundo fuerunt religionum, quas Christi veritas cum suis extinguit auctoribus’: Sermo 99.2 ciii. 405; in the same Sermon we read, ‘Ad ultimum primogenitorum infertur interitus. Primogenita Aegyptiorum non incongrue principatus et potestates mundi huius, id est, diabolus et angeli eius intelleguntur, quos in adventu suo Christus traduxisse dicitur, id est, captivos duxisse et triumphasse in ligno crucis suae’: 2, 405.

30 ‘Decima plaga primogenita percutiuntur: in quibus aut spiritales nequitiae aut originalia peccata intellegi possunt, quae veniente Christo per mysterium crucis et gratiam baptismi deleri vel extingui manifestissime conprobantur’: ibid. 3, 406.

31 ‘Secunda vero plaga, in qua inducuntur ranae, indicari figuraliter arbitror carmina poetarum, qui inani quadam et inflata modulatione velut ranarum sonis et cantibus mundo huic deceptionis fabulas intulerunt: ad nihil enim animal illud utile est, nisi quod sonum vocis inprobis et inportunis clamoribus reddit. Post hoc scynifes producuntur … Hoc ergo animalis genus dignissime arti philosophiae vel haereticorum calliditati poterit comparari … Quarto quoque in loco cynomia, id est, musca canina invenitur, quae cynicorum sectae merito comparatur, qui ad reliquas deceptionis suae inprobitates etiam voluptatem et libidinem summum praedicant bonum’: ibid. 2, 404; Caesarius also used two Augustinian Sermons on the Ten Plagues. These are found in this edition immediately after Sermon 99 and are numbered 100 and 100a.

32 On almsgiving in Caesarius see Anne-Marie Abel, ‘La pauvreté dans la ensée et la pastorale de Saint Césaire d'Aries’, in Michel Mollat (ed.) Éludes sur l'histoire de la pauvreté jusqu'au XVIe s, Paris 1974. 111–121; also my ‘Job in the Sermons of Caesarius of Aries’, wherein Job was portrayed by Caesarius as the exemplar of almsgiving, 13–26; see also, p. 20 n. 29 for a partial listing of Caesarius’ references to almsgiving; for the conciliar legislation, including modern research on the topic, see pp. 21–2 n. 32.

33 ‘Non possumus, inquit, largiores eleemosynas facere. Pietatem vestram rogo, ut diligenter consideretis quod suggero. Sicut enim optime nosti, duo sunt eleemosynarum genera: unum est, ut esurienti porrigatur buccella; aliud, quod ignoranti subministretur doctrina’: Sermo 1.8, ciii. 6. Equally instructive is, ‘Fortasse panem ut indigenti elimosinam porrigat non habet, sed maius est quod tribuere valet qui linguam habet: plus est enim verbi pabulo vivituram in perpetuum mentem reficere, quam ventrem moriturae carnis terreno pane satiare. Nolite ergo, fratres proximis vestris elimosinam verbi subtrahere’: Sermo 8.5, ibid. 45.

34 ‘Metuendum est enim, ne, quanticumque per neglegentiam passi famem verbi dei perierint, omnium illorum animae de nostris animabus in die iudicii requirantur’: Sermo i. 15, ibid. 12; also in the same Sermon, priests are reminded that as Christ told Peter, they are to ‘feed my sheep’: 11, 7; and Caesarius reminds the clergy of the peril the soul is put under on account of holding back the Word.' ‘ Hoc enim ideo timens dico, quia certus sum sic mori animam sine verbo dei, quomodo caro moritur sine cibo terreno’: 17, 14. Other references that point to similar concerns are: ‘Quomodo enim caro reficitur cibo isto terreno, sic et anima pascitur dei verbo’: Sermo 4.3, ibid. 24; in the same Sermon he tells priests to feed the people the Old and New Testaments: 4, 24, and towards the end of that section on p. 25 is an admonition to feed the soul. The bishop likens a deprived soul to a tortured slave. ‘tamquam vile mancipium sine pabulo verbi dei fame et siti cruciare cognosticur’: Sermo 7.4, ibid. 40; Sermo 8.1, ibid. 42. Finally, bishops are reminded of their roles as shepherds: Sermo 230.5, civ. 913.

35 ‘Si in veritate pastores sumus, gregi dominico spiritalia pascua providere debemus’: Sermo 1.19, ciii. 15.

36 This metaphor is eloquently expounded upon by Caesarius in Sermo 6.4–5, cii. 32–3. He is also quick to note that clergy, especially bishops, can become distracted by the tasks of managing large estates and farms. The primary duty of the bishop is to cultivate souls, not fields: ‘Neque enim te Christus hodie cultorem agrorum, sed pastorem constituit animarum’: Sermo 230.5, civ. 913.

37 ‘Adtendite, rogo vos, fratres, duo genera agrorum sunt: unus ager est dei, alter est hominis. Habes tu villam tuam, habet et deus suam; villa tua est terra tua, villa dei est anima tua’: Sermo 6.5, ciii. 33.

38 ‘animam nostram quasi villam suam nobis dignatus est committere deus, ut illam omni studio debeamus excolere’: ibid.

39 ‘Totis ergo viribus cum dei adiutorio laboremus, ut cum deus ad agrum suum, hoc est, ad animam nostram venire voluerit, totum cultum, totum conpositum, totum ordinatum inveniat: messem inveniat, non spinas: vinum inveniat, non acetum: triticum magis quam lolium’: ibid.

40 ‘diligenter adtendite, quia ille a quo scriptura divina frequenter aut legitur aut auditur, cum deo loquitur’: Sermo 8.3, ibid. 44.

41 ‘Ille vero qui hoc implere neglegit, qua fronte aut qua conscientia credit quod deus ei aeternum praemium tribuat, cum quo in hoc saeculo per lectionem divinam loqui dissimulat’: ibid.

42 ‘fratres carissimi, diligenter adtendite, quia scripturae divinae quae litterae sunt de patria nostra nobis transmissae’: Sermo 7.2, ibid. 38. He adds in the same section, ‘Patria enim nostra paradisus est: parentes nostri sunt patriarchae et prophetae et apostoli et martyres: cives enim angeli, rex noster Christus est … scripturas divinas velut invitatorias ad nos per patriarchas et prophetas dignatus est mittere, quibus nos ad aeternam et principalem patriam invitaret.’

43 ‘Cum haec ita sint, fratres carissimi, quid de se cogitant servi qui ita praesumunt domini sui praecepta contemnere, ut nee ipsa invitatorias litteras quibus ad regni beatitudinem eos invitat dignentur relegere?’: Sermo 7.3, ibid. 39.