Caesarius, Bishop of Arles in post-Roman Gaul from 503 to 543, served as the spiritual and administrative leader of an ecclesiastical province that placed twenty-seven bishops under his supervision. During most of his episcopacy Caesarius was subjected to Arian rulers, Visigothic and Ostrogothic, but his vigorous adherence to Catholic doctrine was not weakened. His concern in these translated sermons is the spiritual and moral welfare of ordinary lay folks. This collection comprises the first of five categories established by Dom Morin, the editor of the Latin texts: namely, the category of...

This volume contains one hundred and ten sermons attributed to St. Caesarius bishop of Arles for forty years (502-542). He is reputed to have been an outstanding spiritual leader presiding at some important synods in Gaul and perhaps second only to St. Augustine a most diligent and effective preacher. This reputation most probably accounts for the large number of sermons attributed to him. In 1937 Dom Germain Morin, O.S.B., after some fifty years of exacting research published the Caesarean corpus of sermons. His studies led him to question in varying degrees the Caesarean authorship of...