Augustinian
Religious Life follows the spirituality of the Holy Rule of
Religious
Life is generally defined (in the 'canonical' sense), as the public Church-recognized
approved vows of "poverty", chastity and obedience. Now of course,
Chastity and Obedience speak plainly for themselves.
Within the Augustinian tradition, however, poverty has been understood to
mean, not-so-much a poverty of depravation ( as with the Franciscan spirit), but
more so to mean “common ownership” and co-responsibility, each for the
other, and each TO the other. This
is Augustinian Poverty: that I am responsible for my brother and to my brother.
Living
“religious life” in this manner requires that the individual be affiliated
to a designated community, and, if having to live away from a community
residence, being classified de familia ("of the family").
(
.)
For
Augustinian Religious priests, brothers sisters and tertiaries, community living
involves a routine of Church approved common prayer. The particular
"mix" of contemplative aspects and apostolically-active aspects of
religious life varies House to house of the Order (even from person to person),
depending the circumstances and needs of the Church in the area in which it
finds itself. Augustinians have always placed themselves at the service of the
local Church in which they live their consecration.
It has
been said that “the Augustinians are
among the most active of contemplative orders and the most contemplative of
active orders.” Certainly, it may be said that Augustinian Religious Life
manifests aspects of the personality and character of
In each
era, the various Founders and Foundresses emphasized different aspects of the
Gospel for the brand of religious life they founded: St. Francis of
Drawing
on this communal experience of friendship and love, over the centuries,
Augustinians have sought to promote a search for learning, love and community
life based on friendship that is the spirit of Augustine himself. This they have
extended to the various ministries that Augustinian priests, brothers, nuns and
tertiaries undertake.
Those who
embrace the Augustinian life, find the life and thought of our Holy Father
Augustine to be a comprehensive and compelling spiritual legacy. With great
passion
The life
and work of Augustine, together with the
“charism”, experience and writings of the formative “Grand Union of Augustinians” in the year 1256 AD, gives to us
a notable and distinctive tradition in Western Christianity.
The
distinctive characteristics of this intellectual, spiritual and pastoral
tradition include an emphasis upon the following ideas and practices:
the primacy of love,
the mystery of Christ,
the efficacy of grace,
the importance of the Scriptures,
and a critique of human power and institutions.
While
these are not unique to the Augustinian tradition, Augustine's understandings of
love and grace, his witness to Christ, his interpretation of Scripture, and his
critique of social structures have all entered the mainstream of Western
Christianity as foundations of its theology and spirituality.
Recast in
their original settings, however, and woven together in the tapestry of
Augustinian history, the varied and subtle shadings of Augustine's thought
present rich resources for an integrated and compelling spirituality for persons
in today's frenetic and depersonalized world.
This Augustinian
spirituality offers much that can deepen and broaden the quality of
life of any religious or lay community that follows it.
CHARISM:
The
Augustinian charism has been written in many ways. Here is description:
1
loving God in
and through community, developing interiority and prayerfulness,
2
enriching our
community life through the recognition, development, and expression of
individual talents,
3
living in
simplicity and in solidarity with the poor, and accepting the sacrifice which
discipleship with Jesus demands,
4
embracing and
integrating our common and apostolic life, manifesting the kindness, the
gentleness, the humility and the friendship of Jesus in all our relationships,
5
proclaiming for
our times the Good News of God's Kingdom, and working to bring about the
liberation from sin and enslavement of individuals and society,
6
receptivity to
new ideas (concordant with the Gospel) and courageously adapting our style of
ministries to the needs of the people.
The
“Grand
The
formation of these mendicant orders was a reform program to put an end to groups
of itinerant preachers who went around without much Church control, and to make
more stable and effective the positive values that these newly-emerging groups
of preachers were trying to adopt, i.e., community life, evangelical poverty and
apostolic ministry in the newly-founded cities.
Four
groups participated in the Grand Union that formed the Order of Saint Augustine.
1
The Williamites. They were founded in 1158 around
the tomb of St William in the
2
The Hermits of the Order of
3
The Hermits of Brother John the Good.
John the Good founded a hermitage in 1210, and his saintly life drew many
followers. He died in 1249, and was first proposed for sainthood only five years
later. By 1256 there were 45 of his communities under Augustine's Rule in
4
The Hermits of Brettino.
These existed as early as the year 1227 at Brettino in the Marches of Ancona,
central
The first
two of these four groups had houses outside of
The list
reads:
In the
year 1256, therefore, there was an "instant" Augustinian Order. As
many as 200 communities in at least ten countries who were all now part of an
Order that they had not themselves called for.
To create
the Augustinian Order, therefore, was a bigger challenge than had been the
self-motivated formation of the Franciscan and Dominican orders of friars
decades previously.
In the
case of the Augustinian Order, this was a mandate of the Roman Pope to unite
several quite distinct groups of communities who, although almost all of them
followed the Rule of Augustine, had not indicated any desire to amalgamate and
thereby lose some of their identity with their immediate founders (e.g., St
William of Malavalle and his companions, and Blessed John the Good, etc.)
Except
for the Williamites, the other groups successfully welded into a permanent
structure with an additional level of central governance.
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