This letter contains no such clear, minute prescriptions as are found in other monastic rules, such as that of Saint Pachomius or the anonymous document known as "the Rule of the Master". 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. Saint Augustine wrote this letter in 423 to the nuns in a monastery at Hippo that had been governed by his sister and in which his cousin and niece lived. Letter 211 and Sermons 355 and 356 were written by Augustine.
The two preceding rules are of unknown authorship. The last is a treatise on eremitical life by Saint Ælred, Abbot of Rievaulx, England, who died in 1166. another rule called: " De vitâ eremiticâ ad sororem liber".a portion of the rule drawn up for clerks or Consortia monachorum.Sermons 355 and 356 entitled " De vitâ et moribus clericorum suorum".Letter 211 addressed to a community of women.
The title, Rule of Saint Augustine, has been applied to each of the following documents: Several of his friends and disciples elevated to the episcopacy imitated his example, among them Alypius at Tagaste, Possidius at Calama, Profuturus and Fortunatus at Cirta, Evodius at Uzalis, and Boniface at Carthage. Augustine wrote frequently on prayer, but proscribed no specific method, system, or posture although he highly endorsed the psalms. Regarding the use of property or possessions, Augustine did not make a virtue of poverty, but of sharing. One of the elements of communal living was simplicity of lifestyle. 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. In Hippo, the members of his monastic house lived in community while yet keeping to their pastoral obligations. 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." It was said that their extreme isolation and excessive asceticism "were no longer productive" for the church or society. In The Ways of the Catholic Church, Augustine observed contemporary criticisms of the methods of the Eastern hermits in the Egyptian desert. Basil, Augustine's view diverged from that of the earlier eremitical approach of strict physical austerities. Īugustine followed the monastic or religious life as it was known to his contemporaries, drafting rules for the monks and nuns of Roman Africa. Later as bishop he invited his priests to share a community life with him. 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. He then sold his patrimony and gave the money to the poor. In 388, Augustine returned from Milan to his home in Thagaste. 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, Mercederians, Norbertines, and Augustinians. 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 is the oldest monastic rule in the Western Church. 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. The book inscription is the beginning of the Rule of Saint Augustine: ANTE OIA FRATRES CARISSIMI DILIGATVR DEVS DEINDE PROXIMVS QVIA ISTA PRECEPTA SVNT NB DATA - "First of all, most beloved brothers, God shall be loved, thereafter the neighbour, for these instructions have been given to us." Saint Augustine surrounded by Augustinian monks (Paduan school, 15th century), relief in the portal tympanum of the former Augustinian convent of Santo Stefano in Venice.
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