AURELIAN OF ARLES. - He governed the episcopal see of this city in the years 546-55. For the two monasteries founded by the Frankish king Childebert at Arles, one for men and another for women, A. dictated two rules:

Ad monachos and Ad virgines, which are an expanded reworking of the rules of St. Caesarius.

Some prescriptions are noteworthy: it was forbidden to send or receive letters without the abbot's permission (art. 6); no one could keep food or drink by his bed, but everything had to be deposited in the common storeroom (art. 7); only free men were admitted as religious (art. 18); manual labor was recommended, and it had to be joined with prayer (art. 24); everyone had to learn to read (art. 32); save for rare exceptions, only the abbot could be ordained a priest (art. 6); the monks were vegetarians: meat was tolerated only in case of illness (art. 51), and it was forbidden to take food or drink outside the refectory (art. 52).

There also remains to us a letter to King Theudebert, written in conformity with the usage of the Roman Chancery, in rhythmic prose.

A. is venerated as a saint, and his feast falls on June 16.

Bibliography2 works

BIBL.: The two rules are reproduced in PL 68, 385-406; the epistle was critically edited by Gundlach, MGH, Epistulae, III, pp. 124-26.

Francesco di Capua

@incollection{ec2_aureliano_di_arles, author = {Di, Capua Francesco}, title = {Aureliano di Arles}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {II}, pages = {407--408}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1949}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/aureliano-di-arles} }

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Aurelian of Arles

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