Caesarius of Arles
Bishop of Arles for forty years, preacher of deliberately plain speech and first lawgiver of Western nuns.
- Late Antiquity
- France
- Feast day August 26
- 470 – 542
- Bishop
- Theologian
- Monk
Listen to the life 0:45
Formed at Lérins, Caesarius governed Arles from 502 to 542, amid the wars of Visigoths, Burgundians, Ostrogoths and Franks, selling his church's vessels to ransom captives — which earned him two trials for treason. He presided over the Council of Orange in 529, which fixed the doctrine of grace for the whole Middle Ages. His two hundred and thirty-eight sermons are written in plain, almost spoken language, because he wanted to be understood by peasants rather than admired by scholars — and he was the first to have the office sung by the whole assembly. For his sister Caesaria he wrote the first rule intended for women in the West.
