Augustinians
[5] This balanced pursuit of love and learning has energised the various branches of the order into building communities founded on mutual affection and intellectual advancement.
He taught that "whoever sings prays twice" (Qui cantat, bis orat)[7] and music is also a key part of the Augustinian ethos.
[9] Augustinian friars believe that Augustine of Hippo, first with some friends and afterward as bishop with his clergy, led a monastic community life.
Instructions for their guidance were found in several writings of Augustine, especially in De opere monachorum, mentioned in ancient codices of the eighth or ninth century as the "Rule of St.
[11] In the thirteenth century, the various eremitical groups that composed the Augustinian Hermits faced the threat of suppression by the papacy based on their lack of antiquity.
Augustine's Rule appears again in practice in the eleventh century as a basis for the reform of monasteries and cathedral chapters.
The Canons Regular follow the more ancient form of religious life which developed toward the end of the first millennium and thus predates the founding of the friars.
1) They do not take vows of stability, meaning that they can live in one house (called a friary or sometimes a monastery) typically for several years before being moved into a different community of the order.
At this time a number of eremitical groups lived in such diverse places as Tuscany, Latium, Umbria, Liguria, England, Switzerland, Germany, and France.
On 16 December 1243 Innocent IV issued the bull Incumbit Nobis, an essentially pastoral letter which, despite its brevity, basically served as the magna carta initiating the foundation of the Order as it is known today.
At this chapter the Order formally adopted the Rule of St. Augustine and determined to follow the Roman office with the Cistercian psalter, and to hold triennial elections of the Prior General.
In the papal bull Pia desideria, issued on 31 March 1244, Pope Innocent IV formally approved the foundation of the Order.
In 1255 Innocent's successor, Pope Alexander IV, issued the papal bull Cum Quaedam Salubria summoning all the various groups of Augustinian hermits and the Hermits of Saint William to send two representatives to Rome for a General Chapter, again to be held under the supervision of his nephew, Cardinal Annibaldi.
On 9 April 1256 Pope Alexander IV issued the bull Licet Ecclesiae catholicae (Bullarium Taurinense, 3rd ed., 635 sq.)
[22] In August 1256, a number of Williamite houses withdrew from the newly formed mendicant order and were allowed to continue as a separate congregation under the Benedictine rule.
[24] The Order expanded beyond Europe to the eastern Mediterranean, briefly acquiring a convent in Acre just prior to its conquest in 1291.
In the middle of the fourteenth century, the Augustinian Friars acquired the large convent of San Salvatore in Venetian Heraklion (medieval Candia) where they attempted to use the cult of Nicholas of Tolentino to appeal to the local Greek-speaking population.
In papal Rome the Augustinian friars always filled one of the Chairs of the Sapienza University, and one of the consultorships in the Congregation of Rites.
The Augustinian Hermits, while following the rule known as that of St. Augustine, are also subject to the Constitutions, first drawn up by Augustinus Novellus (d. 1309), Prior General of the order from 1298 to 1300, and by Clement of Osimo.
The Augustinians follow the rule of St. Augustine which is divided into 8 chapters (purpose and basis of common life, prayer, moderation and self-denial, safeguarding chastity and fraternal correction, the care of community goods and treatment of sick, asking for pardon and forgiving others, governance and obedience, and observance of the rule).
In hot climates Augustinians tend to wear white habits as they are easily distinguishable with the Dominicans (i.e. without long scapular, rosary, etc.).
[32] These are not counted comprehensively in this article only because the Catholic Church's system of governance and accounting makes just the numbers of ordained clerics relatively accessible and verifiable.
Some of these include: The lay societies are voluntary groups, generally made up of people who are either married or single and have sympathy with, and interest in, the Augustinian approach to life.
Members customarily wear a blessed sash or belt leather in honour of Saints Augustine, Monica and Nicholas of Tolentino, recite daily thirteen Our Fathers and Hail Marys and the Salve Regina, fast strictly on the eve of the feast of St. Augustine, and received Holy Communion on the feasts of the three above-named saints.
This confraternity was founded by Pope Eugene IV at San Giacomo, Bologna, in 1439, made an archconfraternity by Gregory XIII, in 1575, aggregated to the Augustinian Order.
