Augustinian nuns

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Augustinian nuns are the most ancient and continuous segment of the Roman Catholic Augustinian religious order under the canons of contemporary historical method. The Augustinian nuns, named after Saint Augustine of Hippo (died AD 430), are several Roman Catholic enclosed monastic orders of women living according to a guide to religious life known as the Rule of St. Augustine. Prominent Augustinian nuns include Italian composer Vittoria Aleotti, Italian mystic Clare of Montefalco, German mystic Anne Catherine Emmerich and St Rita of Cascia.

Though Augustine of Hippo probably didn't compose a formal monastic rule (despite the extant Augustinian Rule)[1], his hortatory letter to the nuns at Hippo Regius (Epist., ccxi, Benedictine ed.) is the most ancient example on which the beginnings of this Augustinian Rule are based.

Historically, the most important of the observant Augustinian congregations were the Spanish Augustinian tertiary nuns, founded in 1545 by Archbishop Thomas of Villanova at Valencia; the "reformed" Augustinian nuns who originated under the influence of Augustinian educated Carmelite St Theresa after the end of the sixteenth century at Madrid, Alcoy, and those founded in Portugal.

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[edit] The Augustinian Ethos

The teaching and writing of Augustine, the Augustinian Rule, and the lives and experiences of Augustinians over 16 centuries help define the ethos of the order, sometimes "honoured in the breach".

As well as telling his disciples to be "of one mind and heart on the way towards God"[2] Augustine of Hippo taught that "Nothing conquers except truth and the victory of truth is love" (Victoria veritatis est caritas}[3], and the pursuit of truth through learning is key to the Augustinian ethos, balanced by the injunction to behave with love towards one another. It does not unduly single out the exceptional, especially favour the gifted, nor exclude the poor or marginalised. Love is not earned through human merit, but received and given freely by God's free gift of grace, totally undeserved yet generously given. These same imperatives of affection and fairness have driven the order in its international missionary outreach. 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. The Augustinian ideal is inclusive.

Augustine spoke passionately of God's "beauty so ancient and so new" [4], and his fascination with beauty extended to music. He taught that "to sing once is to pray twice" (Qui cantat, bis orat) [5], and music is also a key part of the Augustinian ethos. Besides the significant musical contribution of Augustinian nun and composer Vittoria Aleotti, contemporary Augustinian musical foundations include the famous Augustinerkirche of the (male) friars in Vienna where orchestral Masses by Mozart and Schubert are performed every week, as well as the boys' choir at Sankt Florian in Austria, a school conducted by Augustinian (male) Canons, a choir now over 1,000 years old.

[edit] Sisters but not "nuns"

Other orders and groups of women that are not enclosed and belong within the Augustinian family either because they follow the Rule of Augustine or have been formally aggregated through their constitutions into the worldwide Augustinian Order are: The Sisters of St Rita, The Augustinian Sisters of Mercy of Jesus (South Africa), the Augustinian Recollects and the Sisters of Our Lady of Consolation (both in the Philippines), the Congregation of Our Lady of the Missions, the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word[6] (who established the University of the Incarnate Word in Texas), and the Sisters of St Joan of Arc (in Quebec, United States, and Rome) are just some of the Augustinian family of orders who are not enclosed women.

[edit] Women leaders and Saints who followed the Augustinian Rule

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Augustine of Hippo The Rule of St Augustine Constitutiones Ordinis Fratrum S. Augustini (Rome 1968)
  2. ^ Augustine of Hippo The Rule of St Augustine Constitutiones Ordinis Fratrum S. Augustini (Rome 1968) Chapter I
  3. ^ Augustine of Hippo Sermons 358,1 "Victoria veritatis est caritas"
  4. ^ Augustine of Hippo Confessions 10, 27
  5. ^ Augustine of Hippo Sermons 336, 1 PL 38, 1472
  6. ^ c.f. The Rule of Saint Augustine and the Constitutions of the Order of the Incarnate Word and Blessed Sacrament New York: Schwartz, Kirwin, and Fauss, 1893, pp. 33-35.

[edit] References

  • Bibliography for the Augustinian official website
  • Augustine of Hippo, The Rule of St Augustine Constitutiones Ordinis Fratrum S. Augustini (Rome 1968)
  • The Augustinians (1244-1994): Our History in Pictures. Pubblicazioni Agostiniane, Via Paolo VI, 25, Roma, Italy.
  • Canning O.S.A, Rev. R. (1984). The Rule of St Augustine. Darton, Longman and Todd.
  • Orbis Augustinianus sive conventuum O. Erem. S. A. chorographica et topographica descriptio Augustino Lubin, Paris, 1659, 1671, 1672.
  • Regle de S. Augustin pour lei religieuses de son .ordre; et Constitutions de la Congregation des Religieuses du Verbe-Incarne et du Saint-Sacrament (Lyon: Chez Pierre Guillimin, 1662), pp. 28-29. Cf. later edition published at Lyon (Chez Briday, Libraire,1962), pp. 22-24. English edition, The Rule of Saint Augustine and the Constitutions of the Order of the Incarnate Word and Blessed Sacrament (New York: Schwartz, Kirwin, and Fauss, 1893), pp. 33-35.
  • Zumkeller O.S.A.,Adolar (1986). Augustine's ideal of Religious life. Fordham University Press, New York.
  • Zumkeller O.S.A.,Adolar (1987). Augustine's Rule. Augustinian Press, Villanova, Pennsylvania U.S.A..

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

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