History of Augustinian Monasticism

The History of Augustinian Monasticism

Taken from the Web site of

The Monastery of the Servants of God of St. Augustine,

Orlando, Florida

(An Autonomous Augustinian Monastery under the jurisdiction of the Bishop of Orlando, Florida)

  In early August, 386, Augustine heard a child's voice in a garden singing, "Tolle, lege, tolle, lege" (‘Take and read, take and read’). Not really knowing where the song originated from, but sensing an inner prompting to open the scriptures at random, Augustine returned to his friend Alypius, where they had been sitting on a bench together, and picked up a scroll of the writings of St. Paul; his eyes fell upon the words, "Now is the time for you to rouse yourself from sleep…" (Romans 13.11). In that instant the words of Sacred Scripture pierced the heart of Augustine, and he was totally converted to the Lord. A few moments after Augustine opened the scroll, Alypius followed suit and read, "Be patient with those weak in faith" (Romans 14.1), and he too was totally converted. Both friends resolved at that moment to live as celibates, without property, and in total pursuit of God. Thus the conversion of St. Augustine is intimately connected with the beginning of his monastic life.

  The following Easter Vigil, between the night of April 24th and the 25th, Augustine, Alypius, and Adeodatus, Augustine's teenage son, were baptized by St. Ambrose. In early autumn, Augustine, his mother Monica, Adeodatus, and Alypius decided to return to Africa. They traveled as far as Ostia by the Tiber and decided to rest before making the sea crossing. It was at Ostia that Augustine and Monica experienced together a moment of mystical contemplation, and it was there that Monica died and was buried.

  After returning to his home in Tagaste, Africa (today Souk Ahras in Algeria), Augustine converted his patrimony into his first monastery. A few years later, when the aged Bishop Valerian pressed Augustine into being ordained as a presbyter with the rite of succession as Bishop of Hippo, he granted him a garden for a monastery.

  When he was Bishop of Hippo, Augustine continued to live as a monk with his brothers, as we know from Possidius, who was his first biographer and shared in the monastic life. It was during that time that the Saint wrote his monastic rule, first for men and shortly thereafter for women. Again according to Possidius, at least ten of Augustine's monks were chosen to be bishops, including Alypius as bishop of Tagaste and Possidius, who became the Bishop of Calama. Augustine was the first to truly establish monastic life in the west, and the first to bring about sacerdotal monasticism, in which ordained clerics form a vital part of the brotherhood.

  On August 28, in the year 430 A. D., Augustine, monk, mystic, and bishop, died, and shortly thereafter the Vandals invaded Africa, and the Augustinian monastic life receded into the background. We do know of the Monastery at Gafsa where in 490 the Abbot Liberatus, the Deacon Boniface, and five other monks were martyred. Glimpses are seen of men and women living under the Rule of St. Augustine during the next seven centuries, but it is not until the eleventh century that we find regular mention of the Augustinians known as the White Hermits of Tuscany.

  Many religious families of men and women, both contemplative and apostolic, trace their charism to St. Augustine and to his Holy Rule. Such famous Augustinians have been lights in the Church and the world. Among some of the very notable men and women are: St. Fulgentius of Ruspe, St. Clare of Montefalco, St. Rita of Cascia, St. Nicholas of Tolentino, St. Thomas of Villanova, St. Ezechiel Moreno, Blessed Simon Fidati, the Abbot of Brun, Gregory Mendel, and many others. Such notable founders as St. Norbert, St. Dominic, St. Francis De Sales and Jane Frances de Chantal established their religious communities under the Rule of St. Augustine.

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