Caesaria the Elder or Caesaria II (died c. 530) was a

saint In Christianity, Christian belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of sanctification in Christianity, holiness, imitation of God, likeness, or closeness to God in Christianity, God. However, the use of the ...

and

abbess An abbess (Latin: ''abbatissa'') is the female superior of a community of nuns in an abbey. Description In the Catholic Church (both the Latin Church and Eastern Catholic), Eastern Orthodox, Coptic, Lutheran and Anglican abbeys, the mod ...

. Little is known about her, but there were some "glowing" references to her in the writings of

Venantius Fortunatus Venantius Honorius Clementianus Fortunatus ( 530 600/609 AD; ), known as Saint Venantius Fortunatus (, ), was a Latin poet and hymnographer in the Merovingian Court, and a bishop of the Early Church who has been venerated since the Middle Ages. ...

; according to

Gregory of Tours Gregory of Tours (born ; 30 November – 17 November 594 AD) was a Gallo-Roman historian and Bishop of Tours during the Merovingian period and is known as the "father of French history". He was a prelate in the Merovingian kingdom, encom ...

, her life was "blessed and holy". She was born in a

Gallo-Roman Gallo-Roman culture was a consequence of the Romanization (cultural), Romanization of Gauls under the rule of the Roman Empire in Roman Gaul. It was characterized by the Gaulish adoption or adaptation of Roman culture, Roman culture, language ...

family and was trained at

John Cassian John Cassian, also known as John the Ascetic and John Cassian the Roman (, ''Ioannes Cassianus'', or ''Ioannes Massiliensis''; Greek: Ίωάννης Κασσιανός ό Ερημίτης; – ), was a Christian monk and theologian celebrated ...

's foundation in

Marseille Marseille (; ; see #Name, below) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Bouches-du-Rhône and of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region. Situated in the ...

s.McNamara, p. 112 Caesaria was the first abbess of convent of Saint-Jean, which was founded by her brother,

Caesarius of Arles Caesarius of Arles (; 468/470 27 August 542 AD), sometimes called "of Chalon" (''Cabillonensis'' or ''Cabellinensis'') from his birthplace Chalon-sur-Saône, was the foremost ecclesiastic of his generation in Christianity in Merovingian Gaul, Mer ...

. The exact location of the convent is unknown, but it was probably built outside the walls of

Arles Arles ( , , ; ; Classical ) is a coastal city and Communes of France, commune in the South of France, a Subprefectures in France, subprefecture in the Bouches-du-Rhône Departments of France, department of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Reg ...

in southern France, and remained there until the French Revolution in 1789. Her brother addressed his ''Regula ad Virgines'' ("Rule for Virgins") to Caesaria, and described how she taught and supervised the copying of the Bible at the convent. The nuns at St. Jean Convent spent their time in prayer, caring for the poor by washing and mending their clothes, doing menial work such as needlework, weaving, and transcribing books. They "lived in permanent enclosure", were not allowed meat except during illnesses, and did not bathe during

Lent Lent (, 'Fortieth') is the solemn Christianity, Christian religious moveable feast#Lent, observance in the liturgical year in preparation for Easter. It echoes the 40 days Jesus spent fasting in the desert and enduring Temptation of Christ, t ...

. Caesarius' contemporaries viewed the convent as "an ark of salvation for women in those stormy times"; the pope approved of and supported the work done there. By the time of Caesarius' death in 542, 200 nuns lived there. Caesaria might have died in about 525; she was buried in a basilica next to the tomb reserved for Caesarius. According to hagiographer Alban Butler, the date of Caesaria's death is uncertain. Her niece,

Caesaria the Younger Caesaria the Younger or Caesaria II (died ) was the abbess of Saint-Jean d'Arles from around 525 until her death. Life Caesaria was a relative of Bishop Caesarius of Arles, probably a niece. She succeeded the bishop's sister, Caesaria the Elder, ...

, succeeded her as abbess.Klingshirn, p. 138 Caesaria's feast day is January 12.

References

Works cited

* Klingshirn, William E. (2004). ''Caesarius of Arles: The Making of a Christian Community in Late Antique Gaul''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 105. .

OCLC OCLC, Inc. See also: is an American nonprofit cooperative organization "that provides shared technology services, original research, and community programs for its membership and the library community at large". It was founded in 1967 as the ...

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* McNamara, Jo Ann; Halborg, John E.; Whatley, E. Gordon (1992). ''Sainted Women of the Dark Ages''. Durham, England: Duke University Press. .

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Caesaria the Elder People from Arles 6th-century Gallo-Roman people Roman Catholic abbesses 6th-century Frankish nuns 6th-century Christian nuns 6th-century deaths Year of birth unknown Year of death uncertain