The Rule of St.
Augustine
Written about the year
400, the Rule of St. Augustine is one of the earliest guides
for religious life. A short document, it is divided into
eight chapters:
Chapter I:
Purpose and Basis of Common Life
Chapter II:
Prayer
Chapter III:
Moderation
and Self Denial
Chapter IV:
Safeguarding
Chastity,and Fraternal Correction
Chapter V:
The Care
of Community Goods and Treatment of the Sick
Chapter VI:
Asking Pardon and Forgiving Offenses
Chapter VII:
Governance
and Obedience
Chapter
VIII:
Observance of the Rule
Chapter I
Purpose and Basis
of Common Life
Before all else,
dear brothers, love God and then your neighbor, because
these are the chief commandments given to us.
1. The following are
the precepts we order you living in the monastery to
observe.
2. The main purpose
for you having come together is to live harmoniously in your
house, intent upon God in oneness of mind and heart.
3. Call nothing your
own, but let everything be yours in common. Food and
clothing shall be distributed to each of you by your
superior, not equally to all, for all do not enjoy equal
health, but rather according to each one's need. For so you
read in the Acts of the Apostles that they had all things
in common and distribution was made to each one according to
each one's need (4:32,35).
4. Those who owned
something in the world should be careful in wanting to share
it in common once they have entered the monastery.
5. But they who owned
nothing should not look for those things in the monastery
that they were unable to have in the world. Nevertheless,
they are to be given all that their health requires even if,
during their time in the world, poverty made it impossible
for them to find the very necessities of life. And those
should not consider themselves fortunate because they have
found the kind of food and clothing which they were unable
to find in the world.
6. And let them not
hold their heads high, because they associate with people
whom they did not dare to approach in the world, but let
them rather lift up their hearts and not seek after what is
vain and earthly. Otherwise, monasteries will come to serve
a useful purpose for the rich and not the poor, if the rich
are made humble there and the poor are puffed up with pride.
7. The rich, for their
part, who seemed important in the world, must not look down
upon their brothers who have come into this holy brotherhood
from a condition of poverty. They should seek to glory in
the fellowship of poor brothers rather than in the
reputation of rich relatives. They should neither be elated
if they have contributed a part of their wealth to the
common life, nor take more pride in sharing their riches
with the monastery than if they were to enjoy them in the
world. Indeed, every other kind of sin has to do with the
commission of evil deeds, whereas pride lurks even in good
works in order to destroy them.And what good is it to
scatter one's weath abroad by giving to the poor, even to
become poor oneself, when the unhappy soul is thereby more
given to pride in despising riches than it had been in
possessing them?
8. Let all of you then
live together in oneness of mind and heart, mutually
honoring God in yourselves, whose temples you have become.
Chapter II
Prayer
1. Be
assiduous in prayer (Col 4:2), at the hours and times
appointed.
2. In the Oratory no
one should do anything other than that for which was
intended and from which it also takes its name.
Consequently, if there are some who might wish to pray there
during their free time, even outside the hours appointed,
they should not be hindered by those who think something
else must be done there.
3. When you pray to
God in Psalms and hymns, think over in your hearts the words
that come from your lips.
4. Chant only what is
prescribed for chant; moreover, let nothing be chanted
unless it is so prescribed.
Chapter III
Moderation and
Self-Denial
1. Subdue the
flesh, so far as your health permits, by fasting and
abstinence from food and drink. However, when someone is
unable to fast, he should still take no food outside
mealtimes unless he is ill.
2. When you come to
table, listen until you leave to what is the custom to read,
without disturbance or strife. Let not your mouths alone
take nourishment but let your hearts too hunger for the
words of God.
3. If those in more
delicate health from their former way of life are treated
differently in the matter of food, this should not be a
source of annoyance to the others or appear unjust in the
eyes of those who owe their stronger health to different
habits of life. Nor should the healthier brothers deem them
more fortunate for having food which they do not have, but
rather consider themselves fortunate for having the good
health which the others do not enjoy.
4. And if something in
the way of food, clothing, and bedding is given to those
coming to the monastery from a more genteel way of life,
which is not given to those who are stronger, and therefore
happier, then these latter ought to consider how far these
others have come in passing from their life in the world
down to this life of ours, though they have been unable to
reach the level of frugality common to the stronger
brothers. Nor should all want to receive what they see given
in larger measure to the few, not as a token of honor, but
as a help to support them in their weakness. This would give
rise to a deplorable disorder - that in the monastery, where
the rich are coming to bear as much hardship as they can,
the poor are turning to a more genteel way of life.
5. And just as the
sick must take less food to avoid discomfort, so too, after
their illness, they are to receive the kind of treatment
that will quickly restore their strength, even though they
come from a life of extreme poverty. Their more recent
illness has, as it were, afforded them what accrued to the
rich as part of their former way of life. But when they have
recovered their former strength, they should go back to
their happier way of life which, because their needs are
fewer, is all the more in keeping with God's servants. Once
in good health, they must not become slaves to the enjoyment
of food which was necessary to sustain them in their
illness. For it is better to suffer a little want than to
have too much.
Chapter IV
Safeguarding Chastity, and
Fraternal Correction
1. There should
be nothing about your clothing to attract attention.
Besides, you should not seek to please by your apparel, but
by a good life.
2. Whenever you go
out, walk together, and when you reach your destination,
stay together.
3. In your walk,
deportment, and in all actions, let nothing occur to give
offense to anyone who sees you, but only what becomes your
holy state of life.
4. Although your eyes
may chance to rest upon some woman or other, you must not
fix your gaze upon any woman. Seeing women when you go out
is not forbidden, but it is sinful to desire them or to wish
them to desire you, for it is not by tough or passionate
feeling alone but by one's gaze also that lustful desires
mutually arise. And do not say that your hearts are pure if
there is immodesty of the eye, because the unchaste eye
carries the message of an impure heart. And when such hearts
disclose their unchaste desires in a mutual gaze, even
without saying a word, then it is that chastity suddenly
goes out of their life, even though their bodies remain
unsullied by unchaste acts.
5. And whoever fixes
his gaze upon a woman and likes to have hers fixed upon him
must not suppose that others do not see what he is doing. He
is very much seen, even by those he thinks do not see him.
But suppose all this escapes the notice of man - what will
he do about God who sees from on high and from whom nothing
is hidden? Or are we to imagine that he does not see because
he sees with a patience as great as his wisdom? Let the
religious man then have such fear of God that he will not
want to be an occasion of sinful pleasure to a woman. Ever
mindful that God sees all things, let him not desire to look
at a woman lustfully. For it is on this point that fear of
the Lord is recommended, where it is written: An
abomination to the Lord is he who fixes his gaze (Prv.
27:20)
6. So when you are
together in church and anywhere else where women are
present, exercise a mutual care over purity of life. Thus,
by mutual vigilance over one another will God, who dwells in
you, grant you his protection.
7. If you notice in
someone of your brothers this wantonness of the eye, of
which I am speaking, admonish him at once so that the
beginning of evil will not grow more serious but will be
promptly corrected.
8. But if you see him
doing the same thing again on some other day, even after
your admonition, then whoever had occasion to discover this
must report him as he would a wounded man in need of
treatment. But let the offense first be pointed out to two
or three so that he can be proven guilty on the testimony of
these two or three and be punished with due severity. And do
not charge yourselves with ill-will when you bring this
offense to light. Indeed, yours in the greater blame if you
allow your brothers to be lost through your silence when you
are able to bring about their correction by your disclosure.
If you brother, for example, were suffering a bodily wound
that he wanted to hide for fear of undergoing treatment,
would it not be cruel of you to remain silent and a mercy on
your part to make this known? How much greater then is your
obligation to make his condition known lest he continue to
suffer a more deadly wound of the soul.
9. But if he fails to
correct the fault despite this admonition, he should first
be brought to the attention of the superior before the
offense is made known to the others who will have to prove
his guilt, in the event he denies the charge. Thus,
corrected in private, his fault can perhaps be kept from the
others. But should he feign ignorance, the others are to be
summoned so that in the presence of all he can be proven
guilty, rather than stand accused on the word of one alone.
Once proven guilty, he must undergo salutary punishment
according to the judgment of the superior or priest having
the proper authority. If he refuses to submit to punishment,
he shall be expelled from your brotherhood even if he does
not withdraw of his own accord. For this too is not done out
of cruelty, but from a sense of compassion so that many
others may not be lost through his bad example.
10. And let everything
I have said about not fixing one's gaze be also observed
carefully and faithfully with regard to other offenses: to
find them out, to ward them off, to make them known, to
prove and punish them - all out of love for man and a hatred
of sin.
11. But if anyone
should go so far in wrongdoing as to receive letters in
secret from any woman, or small gifts of any kind, you ought
to show mercy and pray for him if he confesses this of his
own accord. But if the offense is detected and he is found
guilty, he must be more severely chastised according to the
judgment of the priest or superior.
Chapter V
The Care of Community
Goods and Treatment of the Sick
1. Keep your
clothing in one place in charge of one or two, or of as many
as are needed to care for them and to prevent damage from
moths. And just as you have your food from the one pantry,
so, too, you are to receive your clothing from a single
wardrobe. If possible, do not be concerned about what you
are given to wear at the change of seasons, whether each of
you gets back what he had put away or something different,
providing no one is denied what he needs. If, however,
disputes and murmuring arise on this account because someone
complains that he received poorer clothing than he had
before, and thinks it is beneath him to wear the kind of
clothing worn by another, you may judge from this how
lacking you are in that holy and inner garment of the heart
when you quarrel over garments for the body. But if
allowance is made for your weakness and you do receive the
same clothing you had put away, you must still keep it in
one place under the common charge.
2. In this way, no one
shall perform any task for his own benefit but all your work
shall be done for the common good, with greater zeal and
more dispatch than if each one of you were to work for
yourself alone. For charity, as it is written, is not
self-seeking (1 Cor 13:5) meaning that it places the
common good before its own, not its own before the common
good. So whenever you show greater concern for the common
good than for your own, you may know that you are growing in
charity. Thus, let the abiding virtue of charity prevail in
all things that minister to the fleeting necessities of
life.
3. It follows,
therefore, that if anyone brings something for their sons or
other relatives living in the monastery, whether a garment
or anything else they think is needed, this must not be
accepted secretly as one's own but must be placed at the
disposal of the superior so that, as common property, it can
be given to whoever needs it. But if someone secretly keeps
something given to him, he shall be judged guilty of theft.
4. Your clothing
should be cleaned either by yourselves or by those who
perform this service, as the superior shall determine, so
that too great a desire for clean clothing may not be the
source of interior stains on the soul.
5. As for bodily
cleanliness too, a brother must never deny himself the use
of the bath when his health requires it. But this should be
done on medical advice, without complaining, so that even
though unwilling, he shall do what has to be done for his
health when the superior orders it. However, if the brother
wishes it, when it might not be good for him, you must not
comply with his desire, for sometimes we think something is
beneficial for the pleasure it gives, even though it may
prove harmful.
6. Finally, if the
cause of a brother's bodily pain is not apparent, you make
take the word of God's servant when he indicates what is
giving him pain. But if it remains uncertain whether the
remedy he likes is good for him, a doctor should be
consulted.
7. When there is need
to frequent the public baths or any other place, no fewer
than two or three should go together, and whoever has to go
somewhere must not go with those of his own choice but with
those designated by the superior.
8. The care of the
sick, whether those in convalescence or others suffering
from some indisposition, even though free of fever, shall be
assigned to a brother who can personally obtain from the
pantry whatever he sees is necessary for each one.
9. Those in charge of
the pantry, or of clothing and books, should render cheerful
service to their brothers.
10. Books are to be
requested at a fixed hour each day, and anyone coming
outside that hour is not to receive them.
11. But as for
clothing and shoes, those in charge shall not delay the
giving of them whenever they are required by those in need
of them.
Chapter VI
Asking Pardon
and Forgiving Offenses
1.Your should
either avoid quarrels altogether or else put an end to them
as quickly as possible; otherwise, anger may grow into
hatred, making a plank out of a splinter, and turn the soul
into a murderer. For so you read: Everyone who hates his
brother is a murderer (1 Jn 3:15).
2. Whoever has injured
another by open insult, or by abusive or even incriminating
language, must remember to repair the injury as quickly as
possible by an apology, and he who suffered the injury must
also forgive, without further wrangling. But if they have
offended one another, they must forgive one another's
trespasses for the sake of your prayers which should be
recited with greater sincerity each time you repeat them.
Although a brother is often tempted to anger, yet prompt to
ask pardon from one he admits to having offended, such a one
is better than another who, though less given to anger,
finds it too hard to ask forgiveness. But a brother who is
never willing to ask pardon, or does not do so from his
heart, has no reason to be in the monastery, even if he is
not expelled. You must then avoid being too harsh in your
words, and should they escape your lips, let those same lips
not be ashamed to heal the wounds they have caused.
3. But whenever the
good of discipline requires you to speak harshly in
correcting your subjects, then, even if you think you have
been unduly harsh in your language, you are not required to
ask forgiveness lest, by practicing too great humility
toward those who should be your subjects, the authority to
rule is undermined. But you should still ask forgiveness
from the Lord of all who knows with what deep affection you
love even those whom you might happen to correct with undue
severity. Besides, you are to love another with a spiritual
rather than an earthly love.
Chapter VII
Governance and Obedience
1. The superior
should be obeyed as a father with the respect due him so as
not to offend God in his person, and, even more so, the
priest who bears responsibility for you all.
2. But it shall
pertain chiefly to the superior to see that these precepts
are all observed and, if any point has been neglected, to
take care that the transgression is not carelessly
overlooked but is punished and corrected. In doing so, he
must refer whatever exceeds the limit and power of his
office, to the priest who enjoys greater authority among
you.
3. The superior, for
his part, must not think himself fortunate in his exercise
of authority but in his role as one serving you in love. In
your eyes he shall hold the first place among you by the
dignity of his office, but in fear before God he shall be as
the least among you. He must show himself as an example of
good works toward all. Let him admonish the unruly, cheer
the fainthearted, support the weak, and be patient toward
all (1 Thes 5:14). Let him uphold discipline while
instilling fear. And though both are necessary, he should
strive to be loved by you rather than feared, ever mindful
that he must give an account of you to God.
4. It is by being more
obedient, therefore, that you show mercy not only toward
yourselves but also toward the superior whose higher rank
among you exposes him all the more to greater peril.
Chapter VIII
Observance of the Rule
1. The Lord
grant that you may observe all these precepts in a spirit of
charity as lovers of spiritual beauty, giving forth the good
odor of Christ in the holiness of your lives: not as slaves
living under the law but as men living in freedom under
grace.
2. And that you may
see yourselves in this little book, as in a mirror, have it
read to you once a week so as to neglect no point through
forgetfulness. When you find that you are doing all that has
been written, give thanks to the Lord, the Giver of every
good. But when one of you finds that he has failed on any
point, let him be sorry for the past, be on his guard for
the future, praying that he will be forgiven his fault and
not be led into temptation.
This translation by
Robert Russell, O.S.A., is based on the critical text of Luc
Verheijen, O.S.A., (La regle de saint Augustin, Etudes
Augustiniennes, Paris, 1967). Two sentences not contained in
the critical text have been included to conform with the
official text published with the Constitutiones Ordinis
Fratrum S. Augustini (Rome 1968). They are the opening
sentence of the Rule and the following one from Chapter VI:
"But if someone secretly keeps something given to him, he
shall be judged guity of theft."
Copyright 1976,
Brothers of the Order of Hermits of Saint Augustine, Inc.
All rights reserved. Any copies of the Rule found on other
web pages are unauthorized
