The article studies the pastoral work of Bishop Caesarius of Arles (470-542), in particular, the influence of the monastic model on the formation of the laity of this Provencal diocese. From his two rules, the letter to the nuns of the Monastery of St John and the sermons to the monks and the people, it is possible to argue that one of the most distinctive features of his preaching is the promotion of the virtues of the ascetic life among the community of the baptised. By examining his works, it can be concluded that the cenobitism of southern Gaul was projected beyond the cloisters, which is expressed through a Christian education marked by the recurrent exhortation to the exercise of charity and humility and, most especially, in the valuing of virginal purity and in the call to chastity of the lay faithful.