The Priestly Life
3 texts · 4 editions
Pastoral and priestly works — pastoral care, the formation of priests, the priestly vocation.
Works in The Priestly Life
Institutio Vitae Sacerdotalis (Mainz, 1499)
On the Institution of the Priestly Life (Mainz, 1499) · 1494first English
Institutio Vitae Sacerdotalis — "The Formation of the Priestly Life" — is Trithemius's treatise on the discipline, study, and conduct proper to priests. It is part of the clerical-formation strand of his work — alongside De Cura Pastorali and De Sacerdotum Vita Instituenda — that runs parallel to the Benedictine reform writings. Its concern is the secular and regular clergy's interior and moral preparation rather than monastic observance as such: how a priest is to live, read, pray, and conduct himself in office.
2 editions: Mainz, 1494 · Augsburg, 1494
De Cura Pastorali
On Pastoral Care · 1496first English
De Cura Pastorali — "On Pastoral Care" — is Trithemius's treatise on the duties of those charged with the care of souls, in the long tradition of clerical-formation literature descending from Gregory the Great's Regula Pastoralis. It sits among his writings on the priestly and clerical life — alongside Institutio Vitae Sacerdotalis and De Sacerdotum Vita Instituenda — rather than his strictly monastic-reform tracts, though the two strands overlap in his work. Its concern is the rector's responsibility for those under his cure: preaching, correction, the example of life, and the burden of office.
Mainz [not before 1496, 1496 · provisional reading text · Latin / English
De Sacerdotum Vita Instituenda Libellus
A Little Book on Establishing the Life of Priests · 1577first English
De Sacerdotum Vita Instituenda Libellus — "A Little Book on Establishing the Life of Priests" — is Trithemius's short treatise on ordering the life and conduct of priests, close in subject to his Institutio Vitae Sacerdotalis and De Cura Pastorali. It belongs to the clerical-formation side of his work rather than the strictly monastic reform tracts: the "little book" of the title signals a compact, practical manual — how a priest is to be formed in virtue and learning — rather than a sustained treatise.
Brixinae, 1577 · provisional reading text · Latin / English