In the year 397 Augustine
wrote a rule of common life for lay Christians.
Upon his return to
Thagaste in North Africa after his baptism by Ambrose in
Milan, Augustine founded a new community of laymen with whom
he shared life and prayer.
Later as bishop he
invited his priests to share a community life with him.
The Rule which
he wrote, expresses his ideas about living in an intentional
religious community.
According to present
evidence, the Rule of Augustine is the oldest
monastic rule in the Western Church.
Compared with other
monastic rules such as the
Rule of Saint Benedict,
it is very brief. But its precepts get to the very basis of
community life.
The Rule spread
quickly as a guide for communities of Christians wishing to
live out the Gospel together in mutual support. It was in
use across Europe from the fifth century onwards by small
groups of hermit monks and nuns, as well as by diocesan
priests living - as had Augustine and his priests in Hippo -
in cathedral communities with their bishop.
In the tract, De
religionum origine ("On the Origin of Religion"),
written by an anonymous Carthusian monk in the year 1480, it
declares that Augustine, "faithfully following the example
of the Apostles, composed a Rule that is full of discretion
and very brief in words, though not in merit, for it
contains everything that pertains to eternal salvation and
the state of perfection, so much so that, if well observed,
it will suffice for those who are perfect. And for those who
are imperfect and timid it hardly involves anything very
difficult, if they are of good will."
The Rule of
Augustine insists that the community must live in harmony,
"being of one mind and heart on the way to God."
The most fundamental
message of the Rule is this: Love -- love of God,
love of neighbour -- is the centre of Christian life.
The Rule of
Augustine is one of the oldest monastic rules in the
Church.
It is short on
regulations and ascetic advice because Augustine focused
on getting right the foundation of community life,
accepting that the details would be worked out if the
essential pattern was securely in place.
At its core is
the description found in the Acts of the
Apostles 4:32, "The whole group of believers
was of one mind and one heart. No one claimed any of
his possessions as his own, but everything was held
in common."
Upon this passage
from the New Testament, the Rule of
Augustine established that the community must live
in harmony, "being of one mind and heart on the way
to God."
The most
fundamental message of the Rule is this:
Love -- love of God, love of neighbour -- is the
centre of Christian life.
Christians thus
come together in vowed community life to establish
and enjoy a real and common life of living that is
centred on God and striving for God.
Every member's
spiritual and material and material goods are to be
shared in humility, which is a necessary condition
for love.
Augustine was
less interested in external regulations than in
inner transformation: seven times the Rule
invites the reader to move from external action to
interior conversion.
The essence of
the Rule is to value community life over
seeking for oneself. For this reason,
All members are to share what
they have, and are to receive only according to
their need.
All work is to be accomplished
for the common good of all.
All members are to exercise
mutual care and vigilance over one another.
The sick are to be a special
object of care in the community.
Any one who offends another is
expected to ask for pardon and receive forgiveness
as soon as possible.
Prayer at fixed times is
essential.
Central to these
principles is overcoming the human tendency to favour
one's own ego, which Augustine saw as a major obstacle
to achieving unity among members and to living the
Christian message.
By their love for one
another, by their ability to live together in harmony,
the members of a religious community embody the truth of
the teachings of Christ. They make his love present to
others.
The oldest of its
kind in the Western world, the Rule has been
chosen by the Augustinians and by more than a hundred
other religious orders and societies as the pattern for
their daily lives.
The plan of
the Rule.
|
I.
II.
III.
IV.
V.
VI.
VII.
VIII. .
|
Basis
and essential conditions of monastic
life
Prayer
Food
Guarding of the senses and chastity and
fraternal correction
Use of possessions
Fraternal relationships and forgiveness
Obedience and the superior
Conclusion |
Links
About the Rule-
One page
from the Australian Augustinian web site.
The
Rule.
A lengthy
description from the first edition of the
Catholic Encyclopedia.
|
