Visita Nos: Reception, Rhetoric, and Prayer in a North African Monastery

Among the tools that Christians used to interpret the Book of Psalms, the collect was one that allowed for a compact interpretation within the context of liturgy. Of the three extant series of collects, those written in early-sixth-century North Africa are the most homogeneous. Reception theory allows for an investigation into the life of the community, their spiritual and temporal concerns, and their attitudes toward the Psalms. Ferguson’s Visita nos delineates these aspects of liturgical reception as composed by an abbot, Fulgentius, who eventually became bishop of Ruspe.