CAESARIUS OF ARLES, Saint. - Archbishop of Arles, b. around 470-71 in the region of Chalon-sur-Saône, d. 27 Aug. 542. Of his life it is known that at the age of twenty he became a monk at Lérins, where he studied the writings of St. Augustine and of Faustus of Riez, also benefiting from the rhetorical teaching of Julianus Pomerius. Ordained priest by a relative of his, Bishop Aeonius, he directed a monastery on one of the islands of the Rhône, near Arles. Having become bishop as Aeonius's successor, he came in 505 into conflict with the Visigothic king Alaric II and, in 513, also with Theodoric of Ravenna. In the struggle against Avitus of Vienne he obtained from Pope Symmachus for Arles the right of primacy over the Churches of Gaul and Spain. The synods he convoked in 506 at Agde, in 524 at Arles, in 527 at Carpentras, in 529 at Orange and in 533 at Marseille were of great importance, above all that of Orange, where Semi-Pelagianism was condemned and a moderate Augustinianism was approved, which was accepted by Pope Boniface II. In old age he withdrew ever more from public activity, devoting himself to the convent of nuns directed by his sister Caesaria. Feast on 27 August.
He wrote a Regula ad virgines and another Ad monachos (the sources are St. Augustine's letter Ad sanctimoniales and the so-called rule of Macarius). Of the greatest importance were his homilies, which are inspired by Origen, Fulgentius of Ruspe, Faustus of Riez. The zealous pastor, who also concerned himself with the care of the peasants hitherto neglected, was greater in him than the theologian, whose importance was overestimated in the 14th century. His works (Pl. 67) were, after long years of preparation, published by the Benedictine G. Morin; vol. I, parts 1 and 2, of the Opera omnia s. Caesarii contains the Sermones seu Admonitiones of C. (Maredsous 1937). In vol. II (ibid. 1942) were published the Epistles of C. or addressed to C., the Concilia a Caesario habita, the monastic Rules, the Opuscula theologica, the Testament of C. and, in the appendix, the Vita s. C. ob eius familiaribus scripta. The collection of the Opuscula contains an Opusculum de gratia, a Libellus de mysterio s. Trinitatis, a Brevarium adversus haereticos (v. G. Morin, in Rev. d'hist. ecclés., 35 (1939), pp. 35-53) and an Expositio in Apocalypsim (v. G. Morin, in Rev. bénéd., 45 (1933), pp. 43-61). The attribution to C. of some of these opuscules or of some homilies remains doubtful. The Testament, on the other hand, is authentic. The life of St. Caesarius is a first-rate work for the ecclesiastical history of Gaul. Morin succeeded, following the studies of the Swede S. Cavallin (Studien zur Vita Caesarii, Lund 1934, and Eine neue Handschrift der Vita Caesarii, ibid. 1936), in correcting the earlier edition of Krusch in the MGH, Scriptores rer. meroving., III, pp. 433-501. The influence of C. on the life of the medieval Church was great: cf. H. v. Schubert, Geschichte der christlichen Kirche im Frühmittelalter (Tübingen 1921, p. 36 ff.), F. Hautkappe, Über die altdeutschen Beichten und ihre Beziehungen zu Caesarius v. A. (Münster 1917), A. C. Lawson, in Rev. bénéd., 50 (1938), p. 28 ff.
Bibliography9 works
On the tomb of C. v. F. Benoit, in Bull. monumentale, 94 (1935) p. 137 ff.; on the relics v. id. in Cahiers archéol., 1945, p. 51 ff. P. Courcelle, Histoire littéraire des grandes invasions germaniques, Paris 1948, p. 175 ff.
Erik Peterson