«ТЕРПЕНИЕ, С КОТОРЫМ НАДЛЕЖИТ ПРИСВАИВАТЬ РЕЛИКВИИ»: О НЕКОТОРЫХ СЮЖЕТАХ В ИСТОРИИ КУЛЬТА СВ. ЦЕЗАРИЯ АРЕЛАТСКОГО

Abstract

This article systematises the evidence from various sources on the cult of St Cesarius, bishop of Arles (502-543). During the late Antiquity he was one of the main figures in the Church of Southern Gaul. Cesarius' cult had the potential to extend beyond Provence: the bishop was known as a wonder-worker not only in Arles, his sermons were popular in various parts of Europe, his status as the first papal vicar in Gaul could become an argument in foreign policy for Frankish kings and the papacy. For the first time in the West, Caesarius developed a Rule specifically for the ascetic community of women («The Rule for Virgins») and may have laid the foundations of the normative tradition of medieval female monasticism. However, the potential opportunities were never realized, and the cult of Caesarius remained local. Among the reasons are the following: the inconsistency of the bishop with the hagiographic model that prevailed in late Antiquity, the unacceptability for the Merovingians of his position in relation to the Arian kings, the burial of the saint away from the tombs of the martyrs, the peripheral status of Provence in the vast Frankish state. At the turn of the 20th-21st centuries, an unexpected surge of interest in the bishop's relics was caused by the restoration of his funeral vestments. The natural science methods used in the study of sacred objects made it possible to make important observations in the field of material culture. Several museum exhibitions outlined the range of objects associated with the name of the bishop, archival work made it possible to clarify its history. These events have become a kind of «appropriation of relics» by Caesarius of Arles by means of the age of high technology. As a result, the bishop is now perhaps a more famous person than during the 1500 yea rs that have passed since his death.