Latino e altre lingue nel tardo antico: qualche considerazione sulle "piae causae"

In late antiquity and during the age of Justinian, new and multiform phenomena arose to answer the needs of monks, pilgrims, orphans, children, and aged people. These were different from the ecclesiae, and were given different names. All these names have the function of representing different charitable institutions, but each of them originated in a different and specific point of view. In the sources one finds venerabiles domus, piae causae and occasionally consortia. The term venerabiles domus reflects the material outlook, piae causae the purpose, and consortia the corporeality of human beings. The real novelty (appearing in AD 528: C.I. 1.2.19) is piae causae, which will prevail over other names. The use of each of these names challenges the linguistic and juridical competence of the user (a way of reasoning typical of classical Roman law).