Canons Regular of the Holy Cross

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The Canons Regular of the Holy Cross of Coimbra originated in Portugal. The congregation^[1] was founded using the principles of the Rule of Saint Augustine (as many other congregations at the time used) and in its earlier days its members were sometimes classified as "Augustinians," as were many of the other congregations of Augustinian Canons Regular. It was founded through the labors of St. Theotonius, Archdeacon Dom Tello, and Don Juan Peculiar^[2] in 1311.

Construction of its first facility began on June 28, 1131, and the common life of the members of the congregation began on February 25, 1132. It officially received papal protection on May 5, 1135 from Pope Innocent II.

Saint Anthony of Padua was a member of this congregation before he joined the Franciscans.^[3] Saint Charles Borromeo was entrusted with the protection of this order when he was a cardinal.^[4] The order was suppressed in 1834 on account of the anti-Catholic Portuguese government. In 1977, a movement called the Work of the Holy Angels^[5] began to work to restore the order, which was formalized in 1979 by Pope John Paul II.^[6] The letters ORC represent membership in this order.

[edit] Footnotes

^ The editors of this article have not yet determined whether this organization should be classified as a congregation or an order, and if both titles were used at different times, what the offiial terminologies were and thei effective dates
^ "Peculiar" is truly Don Juan's last name according to the referencesused for this article; it is not an editorial mistake
^ Canons Regular of the Holy Cross of Coimbra Accessed October 29, 2006; not available December 17, 2006; the April 24, 2006 version can be viewed on Internet Archive at http://web.archive.org/web/20060210032338/www.augustiniancanons.org/frames/frame+-+about.htm
^ Saint Charles Borromeo The Catholic Encyclopedia, accessed October 29, 2006
^ also referred to as Opus Sanctorum, Opus Angelorum, and possibly the Work of the Angels.
^ History of the Order of the Canons Regular of the Holy Cross