Aurelianus (523 – 551) was

Archbishop of Arles The former French Catholic Archbishopric of Arles had its episcopal seat in the city of Arles, in southern France. At the apex of the delta (Camargue) of the Rhone River, some 40 miles from the sea, Arles grew under Liburnian, Celtic, and Punic in ...

from 546 to 551. His predecessors were Auxanius (bishop form 542–546) and

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 ...

(d. 542). His father Sacerdos (d. 552) was an

Archbishop of Lyon The Archdiocese of Lyon (; ), formerly the Archdiocese of Lyon–Vienne–Embrun, is a Latin Church metropolis (religious jurisdiction), metropolitan archdiocese of the Catholic Church in France. The archbishops of Lyon are also called Primate o ...

. His cousin Nicetius (d. 573) succeeded his father as Archbishop of Lyon. He died on 16 June 551 in

Lyon Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...

and is buried in the Church of Saint-Nizier. The text of his epitaph is preserved.

Life

Aurelianus was the son of Sacerdos of Lyon. He was elected to the See of Aries in 546. Like his predecessor Auxanius, Aurelianus wrote the pope requesting the granting of the

pallium The pallium (derived from the Roman ''pallium'' or ''palla'', a woolen cloak; : pallia) is an ecclesiastical vestment in the Catholic Church, originally peculiar to the pope, but for many centuries bestowed by the Holy See upon metropolitan bish ...

as a mark of the dignity and powers of a papal legate for Gaul;

Pope Vigilius Pope Vigilius (died 7 June 555) was the bishop of Rome from 29 March 537 to his death on 7 June 555. He is considered the first pope of the Byzantine papacy. Born into Roman aristocracy, Vigilius served as a deacon and papal ''apocrisiarius' ...

granted this request. Aurelianus founded two monasteries in Arles, a community for monks dedicated to

Saint Peter Saint Peter (born Shimon Bar Yonah; 1 BC – AD 64/68), also known as Peter the Apostle, Simon Peter, Simeon, Simon, or Cephas, was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus and one of the first leaders of the Jewish Christian#Jerusalem ekklēsia, e ...

in collaboration with King

Childebert I Childebert I ( 496 – 13 December 558) was a Frankish King of the Merovingian dynasty, as third of the four sons of Clovis I who shared the kingdom of the Franks upon their father's death in 511. He was one of the sons of Saint Clo ...

and his wife Ultrogotha, and a convent dedicated to Saint Mary. Saint-Peter may count among the first monasteries (co-)founded by a Merovingian king. He wrote a ''Rule for Monks'' for his first foundation, which is primarily based on

' ''Rule for Monks'' but also uses parts of Caesarius' ''Rule for Virgins''. It is the only early medieval monastic rule for monks that requires total

enclosure Enclosure or inclosure is a term, used in English landownership, that refers to the appropriation of "waste" or "common land", enclosing it, and by doing so depriving commoners of their traditional rights of access and usage. Agreements to enc ...

. Later Aurelianus produced a female version of his Rule for his second foundation. His Rule for Nuns is somewhat shorter but shows few signs of an adjustment for the other gender, which indicates that in his view there were no fundamental differences between monks and nuns with regard to their status and monastic practice. Both rules are preserved in

Benedict of Aniane Benedict of Aniane (; ; 747 – 12 February 821 AD), born Witiza and called the Second Benedict, was a Benedictine monk and monastic reformer who had a substantial impact on the religious practice of the Carolingian Empire. His feast day is ...

's ''Codex Regularum''. A number of chapters of his Rule for Monks appear also in Benedict of Aniane's ''Concordia Regularum''. In 549 he participated in the

Fifth Council of Orléans The Fifth Council of Orléans (28 October 549) assembled nine archbishops and forty-one bishops. Sacerdos of Lyon presided over this council. The presence of these bishops indicates both the wide spread of Christianity in Gaul by the sixth century ...

, which was presided by his father. Aurelianus is venerated as an

Eastern Orthodox Eastern Orthodoxy, otherwise known as Eastern Orthodox Christianity or Byzantine Christianity, is one of the three main Branches of Christianity, branches of Chalcedonian Christianity, alongside Catholic Church, Catholicism and Protestantism ...

and

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

saint. His feast day is 16 June.

References

Sources

Rule for Monks: * Schmidt, Albert, ‘Zur Komposition der Mönchsregel des heiligen Aurelian von Arles’, in: ''Studia Monastica'' 17 (1975), pp. 237–256.
Hostenius, Lucas, ''Codex Regularum'', Paris 1663, pp. 58-69

''Patrologia Latina'', vol. 68, col. 385-395
Rule for Nuns:
''Patrologia Latina'', vol. 68, col. 399-406

Mayo, Hope, ''Three Merowingian Rules for Nuns'', PhD thesis Harvard, Cambridge Mass. 1974, vol. 2, pp. 4-68.
There is currently no English translation of Aurelianus' rules available. Letters of Pope Vigilius to Aurelianus of Arles

Epitaph: * ttps://archive.org/stream/fastespiscopauxd01duch#page/258/mode/2up Duchesne, Louis, ''Fastes Épiscopaux de L’Ancienne Gaule'', 1, Paris 1907, pp. 258-259

Literature

Diem, Albrecht, ‘ ...ut si professus fuerit se omnia impleturum, tunc excipiatur. Observations on the Rules for Monks and Nuns of Caesarius and Aurelianus of Arles’, in: Victoria Zimmerl-Panagl, Lukas J. Dorfbauer and Clemens Weidmann (eds.), ''Edition und Erforschung lateinischer patristischer Texte. 150 Jahre CSEL. Festschrift für Kurt Smolak zum 70. Geburtstag'', Berlin/Boston: De Gruyter 2014, pp. 191–224
.
Heinzelmann, Martin, ''Bischofsherrschaft in Gallien. Zur Kontinuität römischer Führungsschichten vom 4. bis 7. Jahrhundert. Soziale, prosopographische und bildungsgeschichtliche Aspekte'', Zurich/Munich 1976 (Beihefete der Francia, vol. 5), pp. 138–152
.
Klingshirn, William E., ''Caesarius of Arles. The Making of a Christian Community in Late Antique Gaul'', Cambridge etc.: Cambridge University Press 1994, pp. 262–264
. * Schmidt, Albert, ‘Zur Komposition der Mönchsregel des heiligen Aurelian von Arles’, in: ''Studia Monastica'' 17 (1975), pp. 237–256 and 18 (1976), pp. 17–54.
Ueding, Leo, ''Geschichte der Klostergründungen der frühen Merowingerzeit'', Berlin 1935, pp. 75–79

External links

Aurelianus' Rule for Nuns on Monastic Manuscript Project
{{DEFAULTSORT:Aurelianus 523 births 551 deaths 6th-century archbishops 6th-century Frankish saints 6th-century Frankish writers 6th-century writers in Latin