The Church Fathers · c. 495–498
On the Contemplative Life
De Vita Contemplativa
Julianus Pomerius · d. c. 498
What it is
Three books for bishops rather than monks: whether a pastor may own property, how to preach, when to withhold the sacrament, and whether the contemplative life is possible for a man who spends his days on other people's business.
Why it lasted
Copied for a thousand years under Prosper's name and read by every reforming bishop in the Carolingian period. Caesarius of Arles was its author's pupil, and Gregory the Great's Pastoral Rule owes it a great deal.
Scripture it works from
Where to read it
Public domain and free to read in full, though not held here. The archives below have it.
These open a search on each archive rather than a direct link, which is the honest way to point at an edition nobody here has checked line by line.
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