A statute for the monastery

Translated letter:

In no way should be granted to a friend, patron, or one serving  that church St. Mary in whatever office he died, a place of burial within its enclosure or within the lateral chapels of the saints adjacent to it,  that is of St. John and St. Martin, nor in that part that was formerly subject to it,  in which though it was seen that some previous priests were buried, yet it must be considered that at that time necessity was the inevitable cause,  since it was the cemetery.  Now however there is a reason to exclude [them] since a church was constructed [in] that part,  prepared for the burial of devout virgins, not clerics for whom a suitable place of burial cannot be denied in other churches.  For if the place of prayer were occupied by the burials of those serving,  will it seem just  that we be thrown outside when we are to be buried, for whom as god wished there to be one sheepfold in life,  so also one area in possession of burial?   On account of which to avoid the penalty for transgression, if anything were assumed to be against the rule in a deed of this kind because of the writing which says:  Do not go beyond the old boundary which your fathers set for you [Prov.22.28],  to preserve the fellowship of that resurrection according to him who gave the common dwelling of one life, let us subscribe with agreed-upon deliberation inspired by Christ.  May this statute of ours prevail perpetually among us [and those]  who will succeed us, God willing, remembering by observation.  not only swearing ...

Original letter:

… vel amico. vel patrono. vel deservienti. ad ipsam basilicam sancta Maria in quolibet officio defuncto locum sepulturae intra capsum ipsius vel intra latera sanctorum ei adiacencia. hoc est sancti Iohannis et sancti Martini. nullatenus indulgere.  neque in eo membro quod ibi nuper videtur subiunctum. in quo licet aliqui praedecessores presbiteri videatur esse sepulti.  considerandum tamen sit. quod illo tempore inevitabilis fuit causa necessitatis. quia sacrarium erat; nunc vero ratione data excluditur. quia membrum ipsum basilica facta est. devotis virginibus praeparata sepeliendis. non clericis. quibus per alteras basilicas debitus sepulture negari non potest locus; Nam si deservientium occupetur sepulturis orationis ambitus. numquid iustum videbitur. ut nos foris eiciamur quandoque sepeliendae, quibus voluit deus sicut vitae unum esse ovile, ita et aream unam esse in possessione sepulcri?  Qua propter ad evadendam transgressionis poenam. si contra regulam quidpiam in huius modi facto praesumatur. propter scripturam dicentem:  NE TRANSGREDIARIS TERMINO ANTIQVOS. QVOS POSVERVNT PATRES TVI. ad conservandum ipsius resurrectionis consortium secundum eum. qui dedit et vitae unius contubernium. conspirata Christo inspirante deliberatione subscribamus; Hoc constitutum nostrum perpetua inter nos valeat. qui nobis deo volente successerint. observatione memorandum. non solum cum iureiurandi 

Historical context:

The editor of this fragment thinks it was probably by this Caesaria, or else by one of her successors, see Germain Morin, “Problèmes relatifs à la règle de S. Césaire d’Arles pour les moniales,”  Revue bénédictine, 44 (1932), 19.   But details from the life of Caesarius, written by his followers, suggest that this might have been an early statement.   They describe the construction of the triple church he built for the nuns with monolithic enclosures for appropriate burial of the nuns (1.57), where his sister was buried when she died not much later, succeeded by the current abbess Caesaria, under whom the virgins spend their time in psalms and fasts, vigils and readings, and frequently writing/copying divine books (“libros divinos pulchre scriptitent virgines Christi,”1.58).   The life notes that Caesarius himself was buried in the church of St. Mary which he had founded, where the holy bodies of the virgins from the monastery are placed  (2.50).  See Sancti Caesarii Arelatensis Opera Varia, ed. Germanus Morin (Maretioli, 1942), v.2.

Printed source:

The text is from S. Caesarii Arelatensis Episcopi, Regula Sanctarum Virginum, ed. Germanus Morin OSB (Bonn: Petrus Hanstein, 1933), 32.

Date: