Order of Saint Paul the First Hermit

The Order of Saint Paul the First Hermit (Latin: Ordo Fratrum Sancti Pauli Primi Eremitae, Croatian: Red svetog Pavla prvog pustinjaka – pavlini, Czech: Řád paulínů, German: Pauliner, Hungarian: Szent Pál első remete szerzeteseinek rendje, Polish: Paulini – Zakon Świętego Pawła Pierwszego Pustelnika, Slovak: Rád Svätého Pavla Prvého Pustovníka), known also simply as Pauline Fathers, is a monastic order of the Roman Catholic Church, founded in Hungary during the 13th century. Its post-nominal letters are O.S.P.P.E.

This name is derived from the hermit Saint Paul of Thebes (died ca. 345), canonized in 491 by Pope Gelasius I. After his death, a monastery taking him as its model was founded on Mount Sinai and still exists today.

History

Formed in 1215 by the Blessed Eusebius of Esztergom (Hungarian: Boldog Özséb), of two communities, one founded at Patach in 121y Bishop Bartholomew of Pécs, who had united the scattered hermits of his diocese, and the other consisting of his own followers. In 1246 Blessed Eusebius, Canon of the Cathedral of Esztergom, resigned his dignities, distributed his goods among the poor and withdrew to the solitude of the Pilis mountains, near Zante (probably related to present day Pilisszántó) to lead a life of penance with a few companions (see the ruins of the Holy Cross Monastery at present-day Kesztölc-Klastrompuszta). Four years later he is said to have been admonished in a vision to gather into community the other hermits living in the vicinity, for whom he built a monastery and church the ruins of which are near the village of Pilisszentlélek (today a part of Esztergom).

In the same year Eusebius proposed and obtained affiliation with the Patach community under the rule prescribed by its founder, and was chosen superior. He received the approbation of Ladislaus, Bishop of Pécs, for the new Order, but the publication of the decrees of the Fourth Lateran Council at this time necessitated a journey to Rome to secure final authorization by the Holy See.

In 1263 a new Rule was given the congregation by the Bishop of Pécs, which was superseded by still another drawn up by Andrew, Bishop of Eger, after the death of Eusebius (January 20, 1270), and this was followed until 1308, when the permission of the Holy See was obtained to adopt the Rule of St. Augustine. The Order was accorded many privileges by succeeding pontiffs, among others that of exemption from episcopal jurisdiction, and provisions were made for the pursuit of higher studies in many of the monasteries, one papal regulation ordaining that no member could be raised to any dignity in the Order without the degree of Doctor of Divinity, for which a rigid examination was prescribed.

The Pauline Order spread rapidly through Hungary, where alone it soon numbered 170 houses, and it attained an equal degree of prosperity in other countries, being divided into five flourishing provinces: Hungary (including Croatia, especially Istria), Germany, Poland, Sweden. In 1381 the body of St. Paul, the patron saint of the order, was transferred from Venice to the Monastery of St. Laurence in Hungary, which thereby gained greatly in prestige. Among the other famous houses of the congregation are the historical Polish monastery of Our Lady of Jasna Góra (Bright Mountain) in Częstochowa, Poland), with its Miraculous Icon of the Black Madonna of Częstochowa (according to legend the work of St. Luke and discovered by St. Helena with the True Cross), and the monasteries at Pozsony (now Bratislava) and Wiener Neustadt near Vienna. The church of San Stefano Rotondo at Rome was attached to the Hungarian College by Gregory XIII.

In 1783 a number of houses in Bohemia, Austria proper, Styria etc. were suppressed, and political disturbances in Hungary brought the same fate to most of the Hungarian monasteries, which had rendered incalculable services to religion and education. The destruction of the annals of these houses left the historical sources very meager. There remained a handful of houses of the order in Poland.

At the beginning of the 20th century only two Pauline monasteries remained. One of them was the Church of Saint Michael the Archangel and Saint Stanislaus of Szczepanów - Bishop and Martyr connected to a monastery Na Skałce (On the Rock) in Kraków, Poland found by Jan Długosz, and regarded as a national sanctuary. The other was recalled earlier: the Monastery of Our Lady of Jasna Góra.

Among the members of the order to attain prominence were George Martinuzzi, bishop of Nagyvárad (Oradea) and cardinal (murdered 16 December 1551), an important figure in the history of Hungary; Matthias Fuhrmann of Hernals (died 1773), historian of Austria and editor of the Acts of St. Paul of Thebes; Fortunatus Dürich (1802) and Franz Faustin Prochaska (died 1809), editors of a Czech translation of the Scriptures.

The habit was originally brown, but about 1341 white was adopted, with a white belt or cincture, and over the white tunic a white scapular with a hood. In choir or more commonly in liturgical events, a white mantle is worn by monks in perpetual profession.

Blessed Eusebius of Esztergom

Eusebius was born in Esztergom in the Kingdom of Hungary around 1200. He came from a wealthy, well to do family. He received his Ordination in the cathedral in Esztergom as a Canon Regular of Saint Augustine. In 1216, he received permission from the bishop to leave the cathedral and he began a hermitage in Pilis. In 1246, more of his brother canons and other hermits along the river Danube lived with him near Pilisszántó.

Around 1250 he founded the first real Pauline community at the monastery of the Holy Cross, where they adopted the rule hermits from the monastery of St. James in Patach (founded in 1215 by Bishop Bartholomew of Pécs).In 1256 he was elected the first Provincial of the Order. In 1262 he asked the Pope Urban IV established for the approval of the religious community, where they were given a temporal approval.On December 13, 1308 Cardinal Gentilis, as a legate of Pope Clement V, travelled from Rome to Hungary to grant the approval, and on this day he also bestowed the rule of Saint Augustine on behalf of the Holy See. A year later, the first monastic constitutions were approved.

Eusebius died on January 20, 1270, in the Monastery of the Holy Cross. He was buried interred in the Monastery crypt. During the 150 years of Turkish occupation in Hungary, the Church and Monastery of the Holy Cross, including his tomb, was destroyed.

On November 16, 2004 the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, in approving the new liturgical calendar of the Pauline Order, authorized the inclusion of the 20 January at the feast of Bl. Eusebius of Esztergom. it is noteworthy to mention that due to the close relation between the Hungarian people and the Order of Saint Paul the First Hermit, Blessed Eusebius was always referred to by the people as Blessed not long after his death and to this very day.

Coat of arms

The Pauline coat of arms contains within it the symbols listed by St. Jerome, according to pious tradition, which are associated with the last moments of St. Paul of Thebes' life.

The Order today

Father Pius Przeździecki, O.S.P.P.E. - Superior General of the Order (1931-).

Charisma of the order today

The essence of the Pauline Fathers are:

• Contemplation of God in solitude,
• Attention to liturgical prayer,
• A poor and industrious life,
• Apostolic activity, especially preaching the Word of God and the Administration of the Sacraments.

Pauline Formation

To become a religious, it is necessary to undergo an initial period of testing as a religious brother, hence the Novitiate. This time is used to isolate a candidate for the seminary or religious to personal and telephone contact with family and existing friends. The Novice can write letters, which are subjected to censorship. During the novitiate the novices meet with their family only twice, on taking of the veil and on making first profession. During the novitiate, every Friday is a day during which novices are not allowed to talk to each other. The day ends with a joint ceremony, the Via Crucis. During their stay in the novitiate Brothers perform all work in the monastery farm: they work in the field at digging potatoes, with the breeding and maintenance of the pigs. They also do work in the monastery flower-vegetable garden. The entire period spent in the novitiate is to knead the Novice and show their convictions and of the stability of the candidate to make his decision to become a monk. It is also the period during which the older monks will need to assess the novices suitability for life in a group, such as the Order.

The Order generally accepts any men who have completed high school onwards. Those who are called to Holy Orders will undergo the following type of formation:

• The Postulancy: (if possible)in a Parish or Monastery belonging to the order.
• The Pre-Novitiate: at the Monastery of Skałce in Cracow which will last on average from 15 July to 31 August followed by
• The Novitiate: in Żarki-Leśniow, lasting a year (commencing and finishing on the 8th of September) which consists of the receiving and investiture of the Habit and the profession of first religious vows.
• The Seminary: returning to Skałce after the Novitiate, the seminarian will undergo two years of philosophy and four years of study of theology in Kraków. After the studies are completed, the submission for perpetual vows and taking holy orders takes place.

Men with no secondary education or who feel the call to the religious life but not to the priesthood and who wish to live in community can be religious brothers for life. To do this, they must go through the following stages of training:

• The postulate of Jasna Gora, which lasts 6 months.
• A two-year novitiate in Żarki-Leśniowie, where they will receive their Habit in the First Year and completed the first religious vows,in the second year.
• two years juniorate close to Jasna Gora or in Jasna Gora,
• two years juniorate the facility designated by the superiors who end up filing perpetual vows.

It is note worthy to mention that this is the general scheme for all wishing to enter the Order of Saint Paul the First Hermit in Poland where the Majority of the Order is today. The countries offering formation is Hungary and the Cameroon. The Australian house is also offering limited formation at the designation of the major superior. Some Candidates are sent to Rome to either complete or commence their studies; this being said, Poland is where most of the formation is carried out.

General administration of the Order

The rule

The order has its own constitution and directory. They adhere to the Rule of St. Augustine. which was given to them in the year 1308.

Definitorium

During the Chapter General Elections held on 6 and 7 March in 2014 A.D., the following Fathers were elected to the Following positions within the Order:

• Father General of the Order − Fr. Arnold Chrapkowski, O.S.P.P.E.
• Vicar General of the Order (I Definitor) − Fr. Michał Lukoszek, O.S.P.P.E.
• II Definitor − Fr. Mariusz Tabulski, O.S.P.P.E.
• III Definitor − Fr. Ryszard Bortkiewicz, O.S.P.P.E.
• IV Definitor − Fr. Kazimierz Maniecki, O.S.P.P.E.
• General Procurator of the Order to the Holy See − Fr. Bazyli Degórski, O.S.P.P.E.
• Administrator General of the Order − Fr. Jan Bednarz, O.S.P.P.E.
• Secretary General of the Order − Fr. Paweł Przygodzki, O.S.P.P.E.

The term of office lasts six years Definitorium.

Distribution of the Order

As of the 8th of December 2012, the Order of Saint Paul the First Hermit has 69 Homes/Monasteries/Parishes in 16 countries. There are currently 516 monks including 50 at various levels of formation and 1 Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Umzimkulu in the Republic of South Africa.

The Province of Germany was founded in 2002. Since April 14, 2008 Provincial is about Miroslaw setter . March 29, 2011. III during the Provincial Chapter of the Province of the Order of the German Election Pauline was re-elected for a second three-year provincial term. The Americann Province was founded in 2008. Since November 2011 by Fr Nicholas Provincial Socha. Province of Australia founded in 2008. From 16 January 2009 by Fr Wieslaw Provincial Waśniowski. Quasi-Province of Hungary. Quasi-Province of Croatia

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Order of Saint Paul the First Hermit.

• Life of St. Paul the First Hermit
• The Pauline Fathers in Australia
• The Pauline Fathers in Hungary
• The Pauline Fathers in Poland
• The Pauline Fathers in the United States

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton.