<em>Collationes partum</em> (Conferences of the fathers) is the first printed edition of this work by John Cassian (circa 360–circa 435), an important early Latin monastic author who greatly influenced Saint Benedict of Nursia (circa 480–547) and Saint Gregory the Great (pope 590–604). Known as one of the “Desert Fathers,” Cassian in this work presents the teaching of monks he encountered in Egypt in his youth, adapted to the conditions of monastic life in southern Gaul (present-day France) decades later. The <em>Conferences</em> offer an early model of the monastic way of life, stressing purity of the heart, self-denial, and spiritual training implemented in daily living. Cassian's writings had lasting influence on later Western monasticism. This edition was printed by the Brothers of the Common Life, a lay religious community in the Low Countries, at their press, Te Nazareth Gheprint, in Brussels in 1476–78. Before the advent of printing, the community copied Christian texts by hand to make them more accessible to the poor.
<br>Desert Fathers; Incunabula; Monastic and religious life
Cassian, John, circa 360-circa 435
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