Synopsis
After receiving baptism,
Augustine and some
friends of his retired to the neighborhood of Tagaste for the purpose of
leading a purely spiritual life. Evodius, Alypius, and Severus came with him
from Italy: they were joined by Profuturus, Forturiatus, Possidius, Urbanus,
Bonifacius, and Peregrinus. The community was formed in 388; and the rich
donations of Bishop Valerius of Hippo, and, still more, the accession of
Augiistine to the episcopal chair, soon made it very flourishing. In the
beginning, the Gospels served as the only rule. The one hundred and ninth and
two hundred and eleventh Epistles of Angustine (Bened. edit.), dating from the
year 423, give only the rules for the nuns of Hippo. When and where the
so-called rules of Augustine originated is
uncertain; but they belong, at any rate, not to him. Similar communities were
often formed in Italy, such as the John-Bonites, the Hermits of Tuscany, the
Brittinians, etc., of which especially the last-mentioned distinguished
themselves by a high degree of austerity. These communities were united by
Innocent IV., who, by a bull of Jan. 17, 1244, gave them the rules of St.
Augustine. Alexander IV. was very anxious to further consolidate the union.
Lanfranc Septala of Milan was made general of the order; and four provincials,
respectively for Italy, Spain, France, and Germany, were appointed. By a bull
of April 13, 1256, the whole organization was sanctioned. After this time the
order spread rapidly. In the beginning of the fifteenth century it numbered
forty-two provinces, besides the vicarates of India and Moravia. two thousand
monasteries, and thirty thousand monks. In 1567 Pius V. gave it the same rank
and privileges as the mendicant orders.
The Augustinian nuns formed their first community at Hippo,
under Perpetua, the sister of
Augustine. An outline
of their rule is given in the two hundred and eleventh letter of
Augustine. An
Augustinian nunnery was founded at Venice in 1177 l)y Alexander III., which the
Princess Julia, a daughter of the Emperor Frederick I., entered as its first
abbess. The celebrated Nunnery of Tournoy was founded iii 1124 by Pierre de
Champion.
By degrees, as the order spread and grew rich, laxity and
corruption crept in; and. as a reaction, independent congregations were formed
at Illiceto and Carbonaria towards the close of the fourteenth century, at
Perouse and in the Lombardy in the beginning of the fifteenth century, in
Saxony in 1492, etc. At attempt at a radical reform was made in Portugal by
Thomas à Jesu, who died in 1582. The result was the formation of the
congregation of the Barefooted Augustinians. Their rules were first introduced
in the Monastery of Talavera. Their organization was finally completed, and
confirmed by Gregory XV. in 1622. They spread much in Japan, the Philippines,
Peru, etc. In Spain every province had a hermitage, to which those who wished
to live as anchorets could retire, and find perfect solitude and seclusion.
Johann Staupitz, well known in connection with Luther, became vicar-general of
the order in Germany in 1515; but it was just Luther’s appearance; which
in Germany brought the order in speedy decadence. In the nineteenth century a
great number of the monasteries of the order have been secularized; in 1850,
however, there were still about one hundred left in Italy and in France.
W. Chlebus (Zöckler) , "Augustinian
Monks and Nuns," Philip Schaff, ed., A Religious Encyclopaedia or Dictionary
of Biblical, Historical, Doctrinal, and Practical Theology, 3rd edn, Vol.
1. Toronto, New York & London: Funk & Wagnalls Company, 1894.
p.173.
 |
Ralph Hanna, "Augustinian
Canons and Middle English Literature," in A.S.G. Edwards, Vincent Gillespie
& Ralph Hanna, eds., The English Medieval Book: Studies in Memory of
Jeremy Griffiths. London: British Library, 2000. pp. 27-42. |
 |
Francis X. Roth, The
English Austin Friars: 1249-1538. Cassiciacum: Studies in St. Augustine and
the Augustian Order, 6-7. 2 Vols. New York: Augustinian Historical Institute,
1961-1966. pp. viii + 673. |
|
Raymond Canning, translator.
The Rule of St. Augustine. Image Books, 1986. Pbk. ISBN: 0385232411.
pp.128.
