Cette recherche a pour objet la notion d'ascèse et son application chez Césaire d'Arles, moine-évêque du VIe siècle. Cette prescription de la rigueur dans le quotidien du peuple semble représenter pour l'évêque la condition sine qua non d'un retour à la foi des fidèles auxquels il s'adresse. C'est par la rigueur que Césaire souhaite détourner les plus simples de tout danger véhiculé par les moeurs païennes mais il n'oublie cependant pas la charité. Sa notion de gouvernance est démocratique; il lutte contre les abus et se montre protecteur et bienveillant envers les pauvres. La thèse étudie ces questions à partir des Sermons au peuple mais également des Sermons aux moines et des Oeuvres monastiques afin de déceler si le vocabulaire employé est identique et si pour Césaire, la référence au bon chrétien est bien le moine. On mettra ainsi en évidence le caractère novateur de l'évêque d'Arles pour la vie de l'Eglise car seul, selon lui, un mode de vie sobre permettra à chacun de sauver son âme mais également de se conformer au message du christ. / The aim of this research is the notion of asceticism and its application with Caesarius of Arles, monk-bishop of the VIth century. For him, this requirement for hardship in the daily life of the people appears to represent a prerequisite for the return to faith among the congregation he addresses. It is through hardship that Caesarius wishes to divert the most ordinary people from any danger conveyed by pagan behaviour, but he does, however, not forget charity. His notion of governance is democratic; he fights abuse and is protective and kind towards the poor. The thesis examines these questions using Sermons to people but also Sermons to monks and Monastic works in order to discover whether the vocabulary used is identical and if for Caesarius, the reference to the good Christian is the monk indeed. This will highlight the bishop of Arles’ innovating character for Church life as, according to him, only a modest lifestyle will enable everyone to save one’s soul but also comply with the message of Christ.

This thesis examines the Jesuit and Ignatian influence on the works of Juan Eusebio Nieremberg (1595-1658), who was a prolific and widely published author and a member of the Society of Jesus in Spain. He wrote several works across different literary genres both in Spanish and Latin, but was best known for his popular works in Spanish: two miscellanies of natural philosophy, Curiosa filosofía (1630) and Oculta filosofía (1633); a catechism, the Práctica del catecismo romano (1640); his ascetical treatises, especially De la diferencia entre lo temporal y eterno (1640); and his ‘advice-books’ to princes and nobles, most notably Causa y remedio de los males públicos (1642). As a member of the Jesuit Order, Nieremberg wrote these works with the intention to ‘save souls’, this being the main apostolic goal of the Society. While they provide people with knowledge (‘noticia’) – whether doctrinal, natural, spiritual, or political – these works teach readers to view human existence according to its true end: God’s will of salvation. All things of the temporal world are portrayed as a means to that end. In order to accomplish this goal, Nieremberg incorporates elements from Loyola’s Ejercicios espirituales (1548), the spiritual foundation of the Jesuit Order, and develops a rhetorical strategy which encourages readers to discern the will of God in the world they inhabit. He also develops this rhetoric according to some of the principal literary and artistic conventions of the seventeenth century, and provides an important example of how a prominent Jesuit writer came to express the apostolic and spiritual principles of his Order, but in the language and imagery of Spain’s Siglo de Oro.