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The Rule of Saint Augustine, written about the year 400, is a brief document divided into eight chapters and serves as an outline for religious life lived in community. It is the oldest monastic rule in the
Western Church Western Christianity is one of two sub-divisions of Christianity (Eastern Christianity being the other). Western Christianity is composed of the Latin Church and Western Protestantism, together with their offshoots such as the Old Catholic ...
. The rule, developed by Augustine of Hippo (354–430), governs chastity, poverty, obedience, detachment from the world, the apportionment of labour, the inferiors, fraternal charity, prayer in common, fasting and abstinence proportionate to the strength of the individual, care of the sick, silence and reading during meals. It came into use on a wide scale from the twelfth century onwards and continues to be employed today by many orders, including the Dominicans,
Servites The Servite Order, officially known as the Order of Servants of Mary ( la, Ordo Servorum Beatae Mariae Virginis; abbreviation: OSM), is one of the five original Catholic mendicant orders. It includes several branches of friars (priests and brothe ...
,
Mercederians The Royal, Celestial and Military Order of Our Lady of Mercy and the Redemption of the Captives ( la, Ordo Beatae Mariae de Mercede Redemptionis Captivorum, abbreviated O. de M.), also known as the Mercedarians, is a Catholic mendicant order es ...
,
Norbertines The Order of Canons Regular of Prémontré (), also known as the Premonstratensians, the Norbertines and, in Britain and Ireland, as the White Canons (from the colour of their habit), is a religious order of canons regular of the Catholic Church ...
, and Augustinians.


Monastic life of Saint Augustine

In 388, Augustine returned from
Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...
to his home in
Thagaste Thagaste (or Tagaste) was a Roman-Berber city in present-day Algeria, now called Souk Ahras. The town was the birthplace of Saint Augustine. History Thagaste was originally a small Numidian village, inhabited by a Berber tribe into which Augustin ...
. He then sold his patrimony and gave the money to the poor. The only thing he kept was the estate, which he converted into a monastic foundation for himself and a group of friends with whom he shared a life of prayer. Later as bishop he invited his priests to share a community life with him."Augustine's Rule", Villanova University
/ref> Augustine followed the monastic or religious life as it was known to his contemporaries, drafting rules for the monks and nuns of Roman Africa. Like St. Basil, Augustine's view diverged from that of the earlier
eremitical A hermit, also known as an eremite (adjectival form: hermitic or eremitic) or solitary, is a person who lives in seclusion. Eremitism plays a role in a variety of religions. Description In Christianity, the term was originally applied to a Ch ...
approach of strict physical austerities. In ''The Ways of the Catholic Church'', Augustine observed contemporary criticisms of the methods of the Eastern hermits in the Egyptian desert. It was said that their extreme isolation and excessive asceticism "were no longer productive" for the church or society. In response to this, "Augustine promoted poverty of spirit and continence of the heart while living in the milieu of a town such as Hippo.""Augustine and the monastic tradition", Augnet
/ref> In Hippo, the members of his monastic house lived in community while yet keeping to their pastoral obligations. For Augustine, 'the love of neighbour was simply another expression of the love of God." He saw the call to service in the church a ''necessitas'' (necessity) to be heeded, even if it compromised a personal desire for contemplation and study. One of the elements of communal living was simplicity of lifestyle. Regarding the use of property or possessions, Augustine did not make a virtue of poverty, but of sharing. Augustine wrote frequently on prayer, but proscribed no specific method, system, or posture; although he highly endorsed the
psalms The Book of Psalms ( or ; he, תְּהִלִּים, , lit. "praises"), also known as the Psalms, or the Psalter, is the first book of the ("Writings"), the third section of the Tanakh, and a book of the Old Testament. The title is derived ...
. Several of his friends and disciples elevated to the episcopacy imitated his example, among them Alypius at Tagaste,
Possidius Possidius (5th century) was a friend of Augustine of Hippo who wrote a reliable biography and an ''indiculus'' or list of his works. He was bishop of Calama in the Roman province of Numidia. Biography The dates of his birth and death are unk ...
at Calama,Bacchus, Francis Joseph. "St. Possidius." The Catholic Encyclopedia
Vol. 12. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1911. 10 January 2020
Profuturus and Fortunatus at
Cirta Cirta, also known by various other names in antiquity, was the ancient Berber and Roman settlement which later became Constantine, Algeria. Cirta was the capital city of the Berber kingdom of Numidia; its strategically important port city ...
,
Evodius Saint Evodius or Euodias (died circa 69) was an Early Christian bishop of Antioch, succeeding Saint Peter. He is regarded as one of the first identifiable Christians, and venerated as a saint. Biography Little is known of the life of Evodius. ...
at
Uzalis El Alia is a town and commune in the Bizerte Governorate, Tunisia. It was the ancient Uzalis in the Roman province of Africa Proconsularis, which became a Christian bishopric that is included in the Catholic Church's list of titular sees. It ...
, and Boniface at
Carthage Carthage was the capital city of Ancient Carthage, on the eastern side of the Lake of Tunis in what is now Tunisia. Carthage was one of the most important trading hubs of the Ancient Mediterranean and one of the most affluent cities of the cla ...
.


Origins of the rule

The title, Rule of Saint Augustine, has been applied to each of the following documents: * Letter 211 addressed to a community of women; * Sermons 355 and 356 entitled "''De vitâ et moribus clericorum suorum''"; * a portion of the rule drawn up for clerks or ''Consortia monachorum''; * a rule known as ''Regula secunda''; and * another rule called: "''De vitâ eremiticâ ad sororem liber''". The last is a treatise on eremitical life by Saint Ælred, Abbot of Rievaulx, England, who died in 1166. The two preceding rules are of unknown authorship. Letter 211 and Sermons 355 and 356 were written by Augustine.Besse, Jean. "Rule of Saint Augustine." ''The Catholic Encyclopedia''. Vol. 2. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1907. 3 May 2014
/ref>


Letter 211

Saint Augustine wrote this letter in 423 to the nuns in a monastery at
Hippo The hippopotamus ( ; : hippopotamuses or hippopotami; ''Hippopotamus amphibius''), also called the hippo, common hippopotamus, or river hippopotamus, is a large semiaquatic mammal native to sub-Saharan Africa. It is one of only two extant ...
that had been governed by his sister and in which his cousin and niece lived. Though he wrote chiefly to quiet troubles incident to the nomination of a new superior, Augustine took the opportunity to discuss some of the virtues and practices essential to religious life as he understood it: he emphasised such considerations as charity, poverty, obedience, detachment from the world, the apportionment of labour, the mutual duties of superiors and inferiors, fraternal charity, prayer in common, fasting and abstinence proportionate to the strength of the individual, care of the sick, silence, and reading during meals. This letter contains no such clear, minute prescriptions as are found in other
monastic rule A religious order is a lineage of communities and organizations of people who live in some way set apart from society in accordance with their specific religious devotion, usually characterized by the principles of its founder's religious practic ...
s, such as that of Saint
Pachomius Pachomius (; el, Παχώμιος ''Pakhomios''; ; c. 292 – 9 May 348 AD), also known as Saint Pachomius the Great, is generally recognized as the founder of Christian cenobitic monasticism. Coptic churches celebrate his feast day on 9 May ...
or the anonymous document known as "the
Rule of the Master The ''Regula Magistri'' or Rule of the Master is an anonymous sixth-century collection of monastic precepts. The text of the ''Rule of the Master'' is found in the ''Concordia Regularum'' of Benedict of Aniane, who gave it its name. History The ...
". Nevertheless, the Bishop of Hippo was a law-giver and his letter was to be read weekly, that the nuns might guard against or repent of any infringement of it. He considered poverty the foundation of the monastic life but attached no less importance to fraternal charity, which consists in living in peace and concord. The superior, in particular, was recommended to practice this virtue (though not, of course, to the extreme of omitting to chastise the guilty). Augustine leaves her free to determine the nature and duration of the punishment imposed, in some cases it being her privilege even to expel nuns that have become incorrigible. In Augustine's conception, the superior shares the duties of her office with certain members of her community, one of whom has charge of the sick, another of the cellar, another of the wardrobe, while still another is the guardian of the books which she is authorised to distribute among the sisters. The nuns make their own habits, which consist of a dress, a cincture, and a veil. Prayer, in common, occupies an important place in their life, being said in the chapel at stated hours and according to the prescribed forms, and comprising hymns, psalms, and readings. Certain prayers are simply recited while others, especially indicated, are chanted, but Augustine enters into no minute details, and leaves it to the custom of the local diocese, although it is clear from his other writings that the community celebrates daily Eucharist with the local Church. Those sisters desiring to lead a more contemplative life are allowed to follow special devotions in private.
Fasting Fasting is the abstention from eating and sometimes drinking. From a purely physiological context, "fasting" may refer to the metabolic status of a person who has not eaten overnight (see " Breakfast"), or to the metabolic state achieved after ...
and abstinence are recommended only in proportion to the physical strength of the individual, and when the saint speaks of obligatory fasting he specifies that such as are unable to wait for the evening or ninth hour meal may eat at noon. The nuns partook of very frugal fare and, in all probability, abstained from meat. The sick and infirm are objects of the most tender care and solicitude, and certain concessions are made in favour of those who, before entering religion, led a life of luxury. During meals some instructive matter is to be read aloud to the nuns. Although the Rule of Saint Augustine contains but a few precepts, it dwells at great length upon religious virtues and the ascetic life, this being characteristic of all primitive rules.


De vitā et moribus clericorum suorum (On the Life and Practices of His Clergy)

In his sermons 355 and 356 the saint discourses on the monastic observance of the vow of poverty. Augustine sought to dispel suspicions harboured by the faithful of Hippo against the clergy leading a monastic life with him in his episcopal residence. Goods were held in common in conformity with the practice of the early Christians. This was called "the Apostolic Rule". At the same time, individuals do not receive precisely the same treatment in Augustine's Rule, since the needs of each person are different."The Rule of St Augustine", OSA - Australia
/ref>


De opere monachorum

Bishop
Aurelius of Carthage Aurelius of Carthage was a Christian saint who died around 430. A friend of Augustine of Hippo, he was bishop of Carthage from about 391 until his death. Life Not much is known about his life outside of his ecclesiastical activities. At the ...
was greatly disturbed by the conduct of monks who indulged in idleness under pretext of contemplation, and at his request St. Augustine published a treatise entitled ''De opere monachorum'' wherein he proves by the authority of the Bible, the example of the Apostles, and even the exigencies of life, that the monk is obliged to devote himself to serious labour. In several of his letters and sermons is found a useful complement to his teaching on the monastic life and duties it imposes. In his treatise, ''De opere monachorum'', he inculcates the necessity of labour, without, however, subjecting it to any rule, the gaining of one's livelihood rendering it indispensable. Monks of course, devoted to the ecclesiastical ministry observe, ipso facto, the precept of labour, from which observance the infirm are legitimately dispensed. These, then, are the most important monastic prescriptions found in the rule of and writings of Saint Augustine.


De vitā eremiticā ad sororem liber

"De vitâ eremiticâ ad sororem liber" is a treatise on
eremitical A hermit, also known as an eremite (adjectival form: hermitic or eremitic) or solitary, is a person who lives in seclusion. Eremitism plays a role in a variety of religions. Description In Christianity, the term was originally applied to a Ch ...
life by St. Ælred, Abbot of Rievaulx, England, who died in 1166.


Early medieval influence

Between 430 and 570 Augustine's rule was carried to Europe by monks and clergy fleeing the persecution of the Vandals,"History of the Order", Order of Saint Augustine
/ref> and was used by small groups of hermit monks and nuns, as well as by diocesan priests living in cathedral communities with their bishop. Augustine's writings influenced the development of
Western monasticism Christian monasticism is the devotional practice of Christians who live Asceticism#Christianity, ascetic and typically cloistered lives that are dedicated to Christian worship. It began to develop early in the history of the Christian Church, m ...
. His Letter 211 was read and re-read by Saint Benedict, who borrowed several important texts from it for insertion in his own rule. Saint Benedict's chapter on the labour of monks is inspired by the treatise ''De opere monachorum''. The teaching concerning religious poverty is formulated in the sermons "De vitâ et moribus clericorum suorum". The influence of Augustine, however, was nowhere stronger than in southern Gaul in the fifth and sixth centuries. Lérins and the monks of that school were familiar with Augustine's monastic writings, which, together with those of Cassianus, were the mine from which the principal elements of their rules were drawn. Saint Caesarius, Archbishop of Arles, the great organiser of religious life in that section chose some of the most interesting articles of his rule for monks from St. Augustine, and in his rule for nuns quoted at length from Letter 211. Saints Augustine and Caesarius were animated by the same spirit which passed from the Archbishop of Arles to Saint Aurelian, one of his successors, and, like him, a monastic Iawgiver. Augustine's influence also extended to women's monasteries in
Gaul Gaul ( la, Gallia) was a region of Western Europe first described by the Romans. It was inhabited by Celtic and Aquitani tribes, encompassing present-day France, Belgium, Luxembourg, most of Switzerland, parts of Northern Italy (only during ...
, where the Rule of Caesarius was adopted either wholly or in part, as, for example, at Sainte-Croix of Poitiers, Juxamontier of
Besançon Besançon (, , , ; archaic german: Bisanz; la, Vesontio) is the prefecture of the department of Doubs in the region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté. The city is located in Eastern France, close to the Jura Mountains and the border with Switzer ...
, and Chamalières near Clermont. But it was not always enough merely to adopt the teachings of Augustine and to quote him; the author of the regula Tarnatensis (an unknown monastery in the Rhone valley) introduced into his work the entire text of the letter addressed to the nuns, having previously adapted it to a community of men by making slight modifications. This adaptation was surely made in other monasteries in the sixth or seventh centuries, and in his "Codex regularum" Saint
Benedict of Aniane Benedict of Aniane ( la, Benedictus Anianensis; german: Benedikt von Aniane; 747 – 12 February 821 AD), born Witiza and called the Second Benedict, was a Benedictine monk and monastic reformer, who left a large imprint on the religious prac ...
published a text similarly modified. For want of exact information we cannot say in which monasteries this was done, and whether they were numerous. Letter 211, which has thus become the Rule of Saint Augustine, certainly constituted a part of the collections known under the general name of "Rules of the Fathers" and used by the founders of monasteries as a basis for the practices of the religious life. It does not seem to have been adopted by the regular communities of canons or of clerks which began to be organised in the eighth and ninth centuries. The rule given them by
Saint Chrodegang Chrodegang ( la, Chrodogangus; german: Chrodegang, Hruotgang;Spellings of his name in (Latin) primary sources are extremely varied: Chrodegangus, Grodegandus, Grodegangus, Grodogangus, Chrodogandus, Krodegandus, Chrodegrangus, Chrotgangus, Ruotga ...
, Bishop of
Metz Metz ( , , lat, Divodurum Mediomatricorum, then ) is a city in northeast France located at the confluence of the Moselle and the Seille rivers. Metz is the prefecture of the Moselle department and the seat of the parliament of the Grand ...
(742-766), is almost entirely drawn from that of Saint Benedict, and no more decided traces of Augustinian influence are to be found in it than in the decisions of the
Synods of Aachen (816–819) The Synods of Aachen between 816 and 819 were a landmark in regulations for the monastic life in the Frankish realm. The Benedictine Rule was declared the universally valid norm for communities of monks and nuns, while canonical orders were disting ...
, which may be considered the real constitutions of the canons Regular. For this influence we must await the foundation of the clerical or canonical communities established in the eleventh century for the effective counteracting of simony and clerical concubinage. The religious life of the Bishop of Hippo was, for a long time, a matter of dispute between the
Canons Regular Canons regular are priests who live in community under a rule ( and canon in greek) and are generally organised into religious orders, differing from both secular canons and other forms of religious life, such as clerics regular, designated by ...
and the
Hermits of St. Augustine The Order of Saint Augustine, ( la, Ordo Fratrum Sancti Augustini) abbreviated OSA, is a religious mendicant order of the Catholic Church. It was founded in 1244 by bringing together several eremitical groups in the Tuscany region who were fo ...
, each of these two families claiming him exclusively as its own. It was not so much the establishing of an historical fact as the settling of a claim of precedence that caused the trouble, and as both sides could not in the right, the quarrel would have continued indefinitely had not the Pope Sixtus IV put an end by his Bull "Summum Silentium" (1484).


Medieval adoption

By the eleventh century, various monks felt that the Rule of Saint Benedict (which had been the standard model for monastic life for the last five centuries) no longer satisfied the demands of a rapidly changing society, with its increasing urbanisation, growing literacy, and shifts in distribution of wealth and power. While in some cases this resulted in reforms aimed at restoring observance of the Benedictine Rule to its original purity, trimming away later additions, there also developed groups of clerics (or 'canons') living in community in a more rigorously ascetic lifestyle than that followed by the Rule of Saint Benedict, following the set of ancient texts known as the 'Rule of Saint Augustine'. These clerics were widely known as
Canons Regular Canons regular are priests who live in community under a rule ( and canon in greek) and are generally organised into religious orders, differing from both secular canons and other forms of religious life, such as clerics regular, designated by ...
(in order to distinguish them from the traditional 'secular' canons who followed the older, Carolingian 'rule of Aachen'.), 'Augustinian canons', 'canons of St Augustine', 'Austin canons' or 'Black canons', Observance of this rule was approved for members of the clergy by the Council of Lateran (1059) and another council held at Rome four years later. Adoption of the Rule of St Augustine subsequently spread rapidly through Western Europe. The early Victorine Canons embraced the Rule of St Augustine in 1113. In the year 1120,
Norbert of Xanten Norbert of Xanten, O. Praem (c. 1075 – 6 June 1134) (Xanten-Magdeburg), also known as Norbert Gennep, was a bishop of the Catholic Church, founder of the Premonstratensian order of canons regular, and is venerated as a saint. Norbert was can ...
chose the Rule of St Augustine as he founded the
Premonstratensian Order The Order of Canons Regular of Prémontré (), also known as the Premonstratensians, the Norbertines and, in Britain and Ireland, as the White Canons (from the colour of their habit), is a religious order of canons regular of the Catholic Church ...
. It was adopted by
John of Matha John of Matha (1160–1213) was a Christian saint of the 12th century and founder of the Order of the Most Holy Trinity, dedicated to ransoming Christians who had been captured by marauders from North Africa (cf. Barbary corsairs). Background Be ...
in 1198 in founding the
Trinitarian Order The Trinitarians, formally known as the Order of the Most Holy Trinity and of the Captives ( la, Ordo Sanctissimae Trinitatis et Captivorum; abbreviated OSsT), is a mendicant order of the Catholic Church for men founded in Cerfroid, outside Pari ...
. At the Fourth Lateran Council (1215) it was accepted as one of the approved rules of the church. It was then adopted by the
Order of Preachers The Order of Preachers ( la, Ordo Praedicatorum) abbreviated OP, also known as the Dominicans, is a Catholic mendicant order of Pontifical Right for men founded in Toulouse, France, by the Spanish priest, saint and mystic Dominic of Cal ...
in 1216 when their order received papal recognition. It was also adopted by the Order of St Augustine in 1256, by the
Order of Saint Paul the First Hermit The Order of Saint Paul the First Hermit ( lat, Ordo Fratrum Sancti Pauli Primi Eremitæ; abbreviated OSPPE), commonly called the Pauline Fathers, is a monastic order of the Roman Catholic Church founded in Hungary during the 13th century. Thi ...
in 1308 and by the Order of Mercy. By the fifteenth century there were over 4500 houses in Europe following the rule. Over 150 communities follow it today.'Augustine, Rule of St', in Richard P McBrien, ed, ''The HarperCollins Encyclopedia of Catholicism'', (1995), p112


References


External links


Full text of the Rule of Saint Augustine
at Villanova University website
Augustine's Views on Prayer
{{Authority control Monastic rules