Preaching in Sixth-Century Arles. the Sermons of Bishop Caesarius

198 De Maeyer And Partoens

Chapter 10 De Maeyer and Partoens Preaching in Sixth-Century Arles. The Sermons of Bishop Caesarius

Nicolas De Maeyer and Gert Partoens

1 Introduction

Preaching occupied a central place in the activities and writings of the Arlesian bishop Caesarius (470-542). This is evident from the more than 240 extant sermons that have been attributed to him, as well as from the repeated emphasis on the importance of preaching, found both in the bishop’s own sermons and in the Vita Caesarii that was produced shortly after his death. Although Christianity had been well established in Southern Gaul by the time Caesarius took possession of the see of Arles (502), various parts of his own and other dioceses remained poorly instructed in Christian doctrine and the Christian way of life.1 Moreover, Caesarius’ congregation was quite heterogeneous, consisting of social groups with highly divergent levels of education, literacy, and knowledge of Christian dogma. In addition, it seems that part of the population in both the city and countryside still adhered to some degree to pagan traditions and practices.2 Caesarius thus faced the task of effectively teaching Christian doctrine to a heterogeneous audience, a considerable part of which seems to have lacked even a basic knowledge of the Christian faith.3

1 For the spread of Christianity in Arles and its surroundings, see Delage in Césaire d’Arles. Sermons au peuple, Vol. 1, pp. 20-36; 118-31; Delage, “Un évêque au temps des invasions”, pp. 38- 42; Guyon, “D’Honorat à Césaire”; Klingshirn, Caesarius of Arles, pp. 57-71. 2 See Vita 1, 55; Beck, The Pastoral Care of Souls, pp. 281-83; Delage in Césaire d’Arles. Sermons au peuple, Vol. 1, pp. 138-42; Delage, “Un évêque au temps des invasions”, p. 39; Klingshirn, Caesarius of Arles, pp. 215-26. We should, however, be cautious: not all references to pagan traditions in Caesarius’ works can be regarded as a proof of persisting pagan habits among the Arlesian congregation. Many of these references may well have been nothing more than literary topoi: Bailey, “These Are Not Men”, p. 28 + n. 24 (with further bibliography); Brunner, “Publikumskonstruktionen”, pp. 116-20. 3 While part of Caesarius’ audience was certainly uneducated and/or illiterate (e.g., ss. 6; 8; 114), the majority of his congregation will likely have had some sort of education and/or basic knowledge of Christian doctrine. See Oliphant Old, The Reading and Preaching, pp. 76-77;

Over the course of his long episcopal career, Caesarius tried unremittingly to create an environment in which the Christian message could be effectively communicated. His efforts are situated on two levels: not only did he initiate an ambitious program of pastoral and ecclesiastical reform, in order to provide a thorough instruction of the laity and clergy in Christian doctrine and morals; he also endeavoured to optimally adapt his preaching to the needs and intel- lectual level of his congregation, with the aim of communicating the Christian message to as many people as possible. Both levels will be considered in detail in the following sections, which are based on three important text corpora, that each illustrate the importance of preaching in Caesarius’ life and works:

(1) Caesarius explicitely voiced his ideas on preaching in several sermons, notably in a text that in the modern editions is presented as s. 1, but in reality is a circular letter the bishop sent to his fellow priests and bishops.4 The “ser- mon” opens with an outline of the ministery of a bishop, whose central duty is said to be the spiritual care of his congregation rather than the cultivation of lands and the administration of Church property (s. 1, 2-7). The rest of the admonitory letter concentrates on preaching and discusses its central role among the duties of bishops and priests. In this long exposition, Caesarius deals, for instance, with questions of who is allowed to preach or to read a ser- mon during Mass (s. 1, 15), which themes are to be discussed and in what style (s. 1, 12), and how frequently bishops and priests should preach (s. 1, 10). (2) The Vita Caesarii consists of two books, written shortly after the bishop’s death at the request of his niece Caesaria and the nuns of the community she was leading, which had been founded by Caesarius himself (Vita 1, 1). The first book was mainly written by Cyprianus, bishop of Toulon, with the help of two other bishops, Firminus of Uzès and a certain Viventius (Vita 2, 1). The second book is the work of a priest named Messianus and a deacon called Stephanus (Vita 1, 63; 2, 1). All five authors had known the Arlesian bishop personally (Vita 2, 1). Whereas book 1 mainly sketches the different stages of Caesarius’ earlier life and the first part of his episcopal career, book 2 focuses on Caesarius’ visits

J. Courreau in Césaire d’Arles. Sermons sur l’Écriture, Vol. 1, pp. 10-11; Brunner, “Publikumskon struktionen”, pp. 107-08. 4 Klingshirn, Caesarius of Arles, p. 228 dates s. 1 to the “late 520s”; Delage in Césaire d’Arles. Sermons au peuple, Vol. 1, p. 176 situates its composition shortly before the council of Vaison (529). For s. 1, see esp. d’Alès, “Les “sermons” de saint Césaire d’Arles”, pp. 335-39; Terraneo, “La missione pastorale”, pp. 507-08; Klingshirn, Caesarius of Arles, pp. 228-30; Delage in Vie de Césaire d’Arles, pp. 81-86.