Rule of St. Augustine
Encyclopedia
The Rule of St. Augustine is a religious rule employed by a large number of orders, including the Dominicans, Servites, Mercederians, and Augustinians
.
St. Augustine
to the nuns at Hippo
(423), for the purpose of restoring harmony in their community, deals with the reform of certain phases of monasticism as it is understood by him. This document, to be sure, contains no such clear, minute prescriptions as are found in later monastic Rules, such as that of St. Pachomius
or the anonymous document known as the Rule of the Master
. Later, the Benedictine Rule was to be specific in certain elements of monastic life, but, apart from the issue of obedience and behavior at the Divine Office
, it too gives more general principles. 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 any infringement of it. He considers poverty the foundation of the monastic life, but attaches no less importance to fraternal charity, which consists in living in peace and concord. The superior, in particular, is recommended to practice this virtue although not, of course, to the extreme of omitting to chastise the guilty. St. Augustine, however, 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.
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 authorized to distribute among the sisters. The nuns make their 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 as St. Augustine enters into no minute details, it is to be supposed that each monastery conformed to the liturgy of the diocese in which it is situated. Those sisters desiring to lead a more contemplative life are allowed to follow special devotions in private.
The section of the rule that applies to eating, although severe in some respects, is by no means onerous and the Bishop of Hippo tempers it most discreetly. Fasting
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. However, the sick and infirm are objects of the most tender care and solicitude, and certain concessions are made in favor 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 St. 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.
, England, who died in 1166, and, as the two preceding Rules are of unknown authorship, it follows that none but Letter 211 and Sermons 355 and 356 were written by St. Augustine. Letter 211 is addressed to nuns in a monastery that had been governed by the sister of St. Augustine, and in which his cousin and niece lived. His object in writing it was merely to quiet troubles, incident to the nomination of a new superior, and meanwhile he took occasion to elaborate upon some of the virtues and practices essential to monastic life. He dwells upon charity, poverty, obedience, detachment from the world, the apportionment of labor, 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, reading during meals, etc.
In his two sermons "De vitâ et moribus clericorum suorum" Augustine seeks to dispel the suspicions harbored by the faithful of Hippo against the clergy leading a monastic life with him in his episcopal residence. An examination of these sermons discloses the fact that the bishop and his priests observed strict poverty and conformed to the example of the Apostles and early Christians by using their money in common. This was called the Apostolic Rule. St. Augustine, however, expounded upon the monastic life and its obligations on other occasions.
, 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 monarchorum" 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. These are easy of access to Benedictine edition, where the accompanying table may be consulted under the words: monachi, monachae, monasterism, monastica vita, sanctimoniales.
In his treatise, "De opere monarchorum", he inculcates the necessity of labour, without, however, subjecting it to any rule, the gaining of one's livelihood rendering it indispensable. Monks of couse, 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 St. Augustine.
, Profuturus and Fortunatus at Cirta
, Evodius
at Uzalis
, and Boniface at Carthage
. There were still other monks who were priests and who exercised the ministry outside of the episcopal cities. All monks did not live in these episcopal monasteries; the majority were laymen whose communities, although under the authority of the bishops, were entirety distinct from those of the clergy. There were religious who lived in complete isolation, belonging to no community and having no legitimate superiors; indeed, some wandered aimlessly about, at the risk of giving disedification by their vagabondage. The fanatics known as Circumcelliones
were recruited from the ranks of these wandering monks, St. Augustine often censured their way of living.
The religious life of the Bishop of Hippo was, for a long time, a matter of dispute between the Canons Regular
and the Hermits of St. Augustine, 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). The silence was imposed, however, was not perpetual, and the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries were resumed between the Canons and the Hermits but all to no avail. Pierre de Saint-Trond, Prior of the Canons Regular of St. Martin of Louvain, tells the story of these quarrels in the Preface to his "Examen Testamenti S. Augustini" (Louvain, 1564). Gabriel Pennot, Nicolas Desnos and Le Large uphold the thesis of the Canons; Gandolfo, Lupus, Giles of the Presentation, and Noris sustain that of the Hermits. The Bollandists withhold their opinion. St. Augustine followed the monastic or religious life as it was known to his contemporaries and neither he nor they even thought of establishing among those who had embraced it any distinction whatever as to congregations or orders. This idea was conceived in a subsequent epoch, hence St. Augustine cannot be said to have belonged to any particular order. He made laws for the monks and nuns of Roman Africa, it is true, and he helped to increase their numbers, while they, in turn, revered him as their father, but they cannot be classed as members of any special monastic family.
, where the Rule of Caesarius was adopted either wholly or in part, as, for example, at Sainte-Croix of Poitiers
, Juxamontier of Besançon
, 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" St. Benedict of Aniane
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 St. 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 organized in the eighth and ninth centuries. The rule given them by St. Chrodegang, Bishop of Metz
(742-766), is almost entirely drawn from that of St. Benedict, and no more decided traces of Augustinian influence are to be found in it than in the decisions of the Council of Aachen
(817), 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 Council of Lateran
(1059) and another council held at Rome four years later approved for the members of the clergy the strict community life of the Apostolic Age
, such as the Bishop of Hippo had caused to be practised in his episcopal house and had taught in his two sermons heretofore cited. The first communities of canons adopted these sermons as their basis of organization. This reform movement spread rapidly throughout Latin Europe and brought about the foundation of the regular chapters so numerous and prosperous during the Middle Ages. Monasteries of women or of canonesses were formed on the same plan, but not according to the rules laid down in the sermons "De vitâ et moribus clericorum." The letter to virgins was adopted almost immediately and became the rule of the canons and canonesses; hence it was the religious code of the Premonstratensian
s, of the houses of Canons Regular, and of canonesses either gathered into congregations or isolated, of the Friars Preachers, of the Trinitarians and of the Order of Mercy, both for the redemption of captives, of hospitaller communities, both men and women, dedicated to the care of the sick in the hospitals of the Middle Ages
, and of some military orders.
Augustinians
The term Augustinians, named after Saint Augustine of Hippo , applies to two separate and unrelated types of Catholic religious orders:...
.
Overview
The Rule governs 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.History
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."
St. Augustine
Letter 211
The letter written by St. AugustineSt. Augustine
-People:* Augustine of Hippo or Augustine of Hippo , father of the Latin church* Augustine of Canterbury , first Archbishop of Canterbury* Augustine Webster, an English Catholic martyr.-Places:*St. Augustine, Florida, United States...
to the nuns at Hippo
Hippo Regius
Hippo Regius is the ancient name of the modern city of Annaba, in Algeria. Under this name, it was a major city in Roman Africa, hosting several early Christian councils, and was the home of the philosopher and theologian Augustine of Hippo...
(423), for the purpose of restoring harmony in their community, deals with the reform of certain phases of monasticism as it is understood by him. This document, to be sure, contains no such clear, minute prescriptions as are found in later monastic Rules, such as that of St. Pachomius
Pachomius
Saint Pakhom , also known as Pachome and Pakhomius , is generally recognized as the founder of Christian cenobitic monasticism. In the Coptic churches his feast day is celebrated on May 9...
or the anonymous document known as the Rule of the Master
Rule of the Master
The Regula Magistri or Rule of the Master is an anonymous sixth-century collection of monastic precepts. It was probably used by Benedict of Nursia as source material for his own Rule of Saint Benedict. It is no longer in active use by any monastic community.-See Also:*Rule of Saint Benedict*Rule...
. Later, the Benedictine Rule was to be specific in certain elements of monastic life, but, apart from the issue of obedience and behavior at the Divine Office
Divine Office
Divine Office may refer to:* Liturgy of the Hours, the recitation of certain Christian prayers at fixed hours according to the discipline of the Roman Catholic Church* Canonical hours, the recitation of such prayers in Christianity more generally...
, it too gives more general principles. 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 any infringement of it. He considers poverty the foundation of the monastic life, but attaches no less importance to fraternal charity, which consists in living in peace and concord. The superior, in particular, is recommended to practice this virtue although not, of course, to the extreme of omitting to chastise the guilty. St. Augustine, however, 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.
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 authorized to distribute among the sisters. The nuns make their 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 as St. Augustine enters into no minute details, it is to be supposed that each monastery conformed to the liturgy of the diocese in which it is situated. Those sisters desiring to lead a more contemplative life are allowed to follow special devotions in private.
The section of the rule that applies to eating, although severe in some respects, is by no means onerous and the Bishop of Hippo tempers it most discreetly. Fasting
Fasting
Fasting is primarily the act of willingly abstaining from some or all food, drink, or both, for a period of time. An absolute fast is normally defined as abstinence from all food and liquid for a defined period, usually a single day , or several days. Other fasts may be only partially restrictive,...
and abstinence
Abstinence
Abstinence is a voluntary restraint from indulging in bodily activities that are widely experienced as giving pleasure. Most frequently, the term refers to sexual abstinence, or abstention from alcohol or food. The practice can arise from religious prohibitions or practical...
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. However, the sick and infirm are objects of the most tender care and solicitude, and certain concessions are made in favor 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 St. 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 vitâ et moribus clericorum suorum
In his sermons 355 and 356 the saint discourses on the monastic observance of the vow of poverty. Before making their profession the nuns divest themselves of all their goods, their monasteries being responsible for supplying their wants, and whatever they may earn or receive is turned over to a common fund, the monasteries having right of possession.De vitâ eremiticâ ad sororem liber
"De vitâ eremiticâ ad sororem liber" is a treatise on eremitical life by St. Ælred, Abbot of RievaulxRievaulx
Rievaulx is a small village and civil parish near Helmsley in North Yorkshire and is located in what was the inner court of Rievaulx Abbey, close to the River Rye. The inner court of the monastery contained buildings such as the brewhouse, bakehouse and guesthouse. Its name originated as Rye +...
, England, who died in 1166, and, as the two preceding Rules are of unknown authorship, it follows that none but Letter 211 and Sermons 355 and 356 were written by St. Augustine. Letter 211 is addressed to nuns in a monastery that had been governed by the sister of St. Augustine, and in which his cousin and niece lived. His object in writing it was merely to quiet troubles, incident to the nomination of a new superior, and meanwhile he took occasion to elaborate upon some of the virtues and practices essential to monastic life. He dwells upon charity, poverty, obedience, detachment from the world, the apportionment of labor, 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, reading during meals, etc.
In his two sermons "De vitâ et moribus clericorum suorum" Augustine seeks to dispel the suspicions harbored by the faithful of Hippo against the clergy leading a monastic life with him in his episcopal residence. An examination of these sermons discloses the fact that the bishop and his priests observed strict poverty and conformed to the example of the Apostles and early Christians by using their money in common. This was called the Apostolic Rule. St. Augustine, however, expounded upon the monastic life and its obligations on other occasions.
De opere monarchorum
Aurelius, Bishop of CarthageSaint Aurelius
Saint Aurelius was Christian saint who died around 430. He was a bishop of Carthage from ca. 391 and led a number of ecclesiastical councils on Christian doctrine. Augustine of Hippo admired Aurelius, and a number of letters from Augustine to Aurelius have survived. Aurelius's feast day in 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 monarchorum" 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. These are easy of access to Benedictine edition, where the accompanying table may be consulted under the words: monachi, monachae, monasterism, monastica vita, sanctimoniales.
In his treatise, "De opere monarchorum", he inculcates the necessity of labour, without, however, subjecting it to any rule, the gaining of one's livelihood rendering it indispensable. Monks of couse, 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 St. Augustine.
Monastic life of St. Augustine
Augustine was a monk; this fact stands out unmistakably in the reading of his life and works. Although a priest and bishop, he knew how to combine the practices of the religious life with the duties of his office, and his episcopal house in Hippo was for himself and some of his clergy, a veritable monastery. Several of his friends and disciples elevated to the episcopacy imitated his example, among them Alypius at Tagaste, Possidius at CalamaCalama
Calama may refer to:*Algeria**Guelma, an Algerian city once named Calama by ancient Roman settlers*Brazil**Calama, Rondônia*Chile**Calama, Chile*United States**Kalama, Washington or Kalama/Calama River*Calama...
, Profuturus and Fortunatus at Cirta
Cirta
Cirta was the capital city of the ancient Kingdom of Numidia in northern Africa . Its strategically important port city was Russicada...
, Evodius
Evodius
Saint Evodius is a saint in the Christian Church and one of the first identifiable Christians.Very little is known of the life of St. Evodius. However, he was a pagan who converted to Christianity due to the apostolic work of Saint Peter. In the Book of Acts, one of the first communities to...
at Uzalis
Uzalis
Uzalis is a Titular See of the Roman Catholic Church located in Tunisia. It is defined as the diocese that served the now defunct city of Carthage in the Africa province of the Roman Empire....
, and Boniface at Carthage
Carthage
Carthage , implying it was a 'new Tyre') is a major urban centre that has existed for nearly 3,000 years on the Gulf of Tunis, developing from a Phoenician colony of the 1st millennium BC...
. There were still other monks who were priests and who exercised the ministry outside of the episcopal cities. All monks did not live in these episcopal monasteries; the majority were laymen whose communities, although under the authority of the bishops, were entirety distinct from those of the clergy. There were religious who lived in complete isolation, belonging to no community and having no legitimate superiors; indeed, some wandered aimlessly about, at the risk of giving disedification by their vagabondage. The fanatics known as Circumcelliones
Gyrovagues
Gyrovagues were wandering or itinerant monks without fixed residence or leadership, who relied on charity and the hospitality of others....
were recruited from the ranks of these wandering monks, St. Augustine often censured their way of living.
The religious life of the Bishop of Hippo was, for a long time, a matter of dispute between the Canons Regular
Canons Regular
Canons Regular are members of certain bodies of Canons living in community under the Augustinian Rule , and sharing their property in common...
and the Hermits of St. Augustine, 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
Pope Sixtus IV
Pope Sixtus IV , born Francesco della Rovere, was Pope from 1471 to 1484. His accomplishments as Pope included the establishment of the Sistine Chapel; the group of artists that he brought together introduced the Early Renaissance into Rome with the first masterpiece of the city's new artistic age,...
put an end by his Bull "Summum Silentium" (1484). The silence was imposed, however, was not perpetual, and the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries were resumed between the Canons and the Hermits but all to no avail. Pierre de Saint-Trond, Prior of the Canons Regular of St. Martin of Louvain, tells the story of these quarrels in the Preface to his "Examen Testamenti S. Augustini" (Louvain, 1564). Gabriel Pennot, Nicolas Desnos and Le Large uphold the thesis of the Canons; Gandolfo, Lupus, Giles of the Presentation, and Noris sustain that of the Hermits. The Bollandists withhold their opinion. St. Augustine followed the monastic or religious life as it was known to his contemporaries and neither he nor they even thought of establishing among those who had embraced it any distinction whatever as to congregations or orders. This idea was conceived in a subsequent epoch, hence St. Augustine cannot be said to have belonged to any particular order. He made laws for the monks and nuns of Roman Africa, it is true, and he helped to increase their numbers, while they, in turn, revered him as their father, but they cannot be classed as members of any special monastic family.
St. Augustine's influence on monachism
When we consider Augustine's great prestige, it is easy to understand why his writings should have so influenced the development of Western monachism. His Letter 211 was read and re-read by St. Benedict, who borrowed several important texts from it for insertion in his own rule. St. Benedict's chapter on the labour of monks is manifestly inspired by the treatise "De opere monachorum", that has done so much towards furnishing an accurate statement of the doctrine commonly accepted in religious orders. The teaching concerning religious poverty is clearly formulated in the sermons "De vitâ et moribus clericoreun suorum" and the authorship of these two works is sufficient to earn for the Bishop of Hippo the title of Patriarch of monks and religious. 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. St. Caesarius, Archbishop of Arles, the great organizer of religious life in that section chose a 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. Sts. Augustine and Caesarius were animated by the same spirit which passed from the Archbishop of Arles to St. Aurelian, one of his successors, and, like him, a monastic Iawgiver. Augustine's influence also extended to women's monasteries in GaulGaul
Gaul was a region of Western Europe during the Iron Age and Roman era, encompassing present day France, Luxembourg and Belgium, most of Switzerland, the western part of Northern Italy, as well as the parts of the Netherlands and Germany on the left bank of the Rhine. The Gauls were the speakers of...
, where the Rule of Caesarius was adopted either wholly or in part, as, for example, at Sainte-Croix of Poitiers
Poitiers
Poitiers is a city on the Clain river in west central France. It is a commune and the capital of the Vienne department and of the Poitou-Charentes region. The centre is picturesque and its streets are interesting for predominant remains of historical architecture, especially from the Romanesque...
, Juxamontier of Besançon
Besançon
Besançon , is the capital and principal city of the Franche-Comté region in eastern France. It had a population of about 237,000 inhabitants in the metropolitan area in 2008...
, and Chamalières near Clermont
Clermont
-In Canada:*Clermont, Abitibi-Témiscamingue, Quebec*Clermont, Capitale-Nationale, Quebec-In France:* Clermont, Ariège, in the Ariège département* Clermont, Haute-Savoie, in the Haute-Savoie département* Clermont, Landes, in the Landes département...
.
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" St. Benedict of Aniane
Benedict of Aniane
Saint Benedict of Aniane , born Witiza and called the Second Benedict, was a Benedictine monk and monastic reformer, who left a large imprint on the religious practice of the Carolingian Empire...
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 St. 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 organized in the eighth and ninth centuries. The rule given them by St. Chrodegang, Bishop of Metz
Metz
Metz is a city in the northeast of France located at the confluence of the Moselle and the Seille rivers.Metz is the capital of the Lorraine region and prefecture of the Moselle department. Located near the tripoint along the junction of France, Germany, and Luxembourg, Metz forms a central place...
(742-766), is almost entirely drawn from that of St. Benedict, and no more decided traces of Augustinian influence are to be found in it than in the decisions of the Council of Aachen
Council of Aachen
A number of significant councils of the Roman Catholic Church were held at Aachen in the early Middle Ages.In the mixed council of 798, Charlemagne proclaimed a capitulary of eighty-one chapters, largely a repetition of earlier ecclesiastical legislation, that was accepted by the clergy and...
(817), 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 Council of Lateran
Lateran council
The Lateran councils were ecclesiastical councils or synods of the Catholic Church held at Rome in the Lateran Palace next to the Lateran Basilica. Ranking as a papal cathedral, this became a much-favored place of assembly for ecclesiastical councils both in antiquity and more especially during...
(1059) and another council held at Rome four years later approved for the members of the clergy the strict community life of the Apostolic Age
Apostolic Age
The Apostolic Age of the history of Christianity is traditionally the period of the Twelve Apostles, dating from the Crucifixion of Jesus and the Great Commission in Jerusalem until the death of John the Apostle in Anatolia...
, such as the Bishop of Hippo had caused to be practised in his episcopal house and had taught in his two sermons heretofore cited. The first communities of canons adopted these sermons as their basis of organization. This reform movement spread rapidly throughout Latin Europe and brought about the foundation of the regular chapters so numerous and prosperous during the Middle Ages. Monasteries of women or of canonesses were formed on the same plan, but not according to the rules laid down in the sermons "De vitâ et moribus clericorum." The letter to virgins was adopted almost immediately and became the rule of the canons and canonesses; hence it was the religious code of the Premonstratensian
Premonstratensian
The Order of Canons Regular of Prémontré, also known as the Premonstratensians, the Norbertines, or in Britain and Ireland as the White Canons , are a Catholic religious order of canons regular founded at Prémontré near Laon in 1120 by Saint Norbert, who later became Archbishop of Magdeburg...
s, of the houses of Canons Regular, and of canonesses either gathered into congregations or isolated, of the Friars Preachers, of the Trinitarians and of the Order of Mercy, both for the redemption of captives, of hospitaller communities, both men and women, dedicated to the care of the sick in the hospitals of the Middle Ages
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
, and of some military orders.
See also
- Rule of Saint Benedict
- Rule of the MasterRule of the MasterThe Regula Magistri or Rule of the Master is an anonymous sixth-century collection of monastic precepts. It was probably used by Benedict of Nursia as source material for his own Rule of Saint Benedict. It is no longer in active use by any monastic community.-See Also:*Rule of Saint Benedict*Rule...
- Rule of Saint Basil
- Columban Rule
- Rule of St. AlbertCarmelite Rule of St. AlbertThe eremitic Rule of St. Albert is the shortest of the rules of consecrated life in existence of the Roman Catholic spiritual tradition. St. Albert Avogadro, a priest of the Canons Regular and Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, wrote the Rule in the early 13th century. The Rule is directed to Brother...