Pope Leo XIV Belongs to the Augustinian Order - Who are the Augustinians? 10 Things to Know and Share!
.png)
Pope Leo XIV, elected as pontiff on May 8, 2025, belongs to the religious order known as the Augustinians. Here 10 Interesting Facts about the Augustinians (Plus Deeper History Read Below)
1. The order was founded by Pope Innocent IV when various groups of hermits requested the pope to be joined in service; they became for the Universal Church a community of Mendicant Friars in 1244.
2. There are 2,800 Augustinians worldwide; the Order is in 50 Different Countries!
3. They Explain on their Website: We Are Followers of Jesus Christ! (there are male and female Augustinians)
SEE More on Pope Leo XIV : https://www.catholicnewsworld.com/search/label/Pope%20Leo%20XIV
4. The major Order of Saint Augustine is composed of the following:
a) Friars, whether professed or novices, who are members of the various Circumscriptions of the Order.
b) Augustinian contemplative nuns belonging to the Monasteries of the Order.
c) The lay members of Augustinian Secular Fraternities legitimately established by the Prior General.
These 3 branches, according to their own constitutions or statutes and with their own structure, come under the Prior General, whose role it is to see to the establishment or suppression of the different communities or fraternities, as well as to the formulation and approval of their constitutions or statutes.
5. In addition to these 3 branches, the Augustinian family also includes these groups below:
a) Religious institutes, both male and female, formally aggregated to the Order by a decree of the Prior General (Const. 48)
b) Other groups of lay Augustinians (Const. 49)
c) Lay faithful affiliated to the Order (Const. 50)
4. The major Order of Saint Augustine is composed of the following:
a) Friars, whether professed or novices, who are members of the various Circumscriptions of the Order.
b) Augustinian contemplative nuns belonging to the Monasteries of the Order.
c) The lay members of Augustinian Secular Fraternities legitimately established by the Prior General.
These 3 branches, according to their own constitutions or statutes and with their own structure, come under the Prior General, whose role it is to see to the establishment or suppression of the different communities or fraternities, as well as to the formulation and approval of their constitutions or statutes.
5. In addition to these 3 branches, the Augustinian family also includes these groups below:
a) Religious institutes, both male and female, formally aggregated to the Order by a decree of the Prior General (Const. 48)
b) Other groups of lay Augustinians (Const. 49)
c) Lay faithful affiliated to the Order (Const. 50)
6. The current Pope Leo XVI joined the Augustinians in 1977.
7. The current Prior General is the head of the Order and its supreme authority, after the General Chapter, is Fr. Alejandro Moral Antón, OSA was born in La Vid (Burgos), Spain, on June 1, 1955.
8. There are two distinct types of Augustinians in Catholic religious orders various congregations of Canons Regular also follow the Rule of Saint Augustine, but their primary vocation is as priests. Several orders of friars who live a mixed religious life of contemplation and apostolic ministry. The largest and most familiar is the Order of Saint Augustine (OSA), founded in 1244 and originally known as the Hermits of Saint Augustine (OESA). They are commonly known as the Austin Friars in England. Two other orders, the Order of Augustinian Recollects and the Discalced Augustinians, were once part of the OSA under a single prior general. The Recollects, founded in 1588 as a reform movement in Spain, became autonomous in 1612. The Discalceds became an independent congregation in 1592, and were raised to the status of a separate mendicant order in 1610.
9. The follow the rule of Saint Augustine of Hippo who died in 430 AD.
10. According to America Magazine there were 6 previous Augustinian popes: Honorius II, Innocent II, Lucius II, Adrian IV, Eugene IV, Gregory VIII. However, the Vatican lists Leo XIV as the 1st pope of the order.
The union of the Order with these groups is a spiritual union of beneficial collaboration. All are united by an intimate spiritual bond and constitute one body under our father, Saint Augustine. They use similar liturgical rites, they share the same spiritual graces, but above all, with one mind and one heart intent upon God, they maintain the same goal and ideal, namely, "the building up of the body of Christ" (Eph 4:12).The Order of St. Augustine, or Augustinian Order, fundamentally based upon the teachings of Jesus Christ and later of Aurelius Augustine, the Bishop of Hippo (354 - 430 A.D.), was founded to live and promote the spirit of community as lived by the first Christian communities (Acts of the Apostles 4, 32-35).
The Order of Saint Augustine was born juridically in March 1244, when Pope Innocent IV united various groups of hermits in service to the Universal Church as a community of Mendicant Friars. The Order, from its very beginning, has recognized Saint Augustine of Hippo as its father, teacher, and spiritual guide, not only because it has received the Rule and the name of the Order from him, but also because it has received from him its doctrine and spirituality.
There are many ways to describe the Augustinian Order, to speak of its character, its history, its mission, its charism. First and foremost, however, the Augustinian Order is people - men and women - who, in the words of the Rule we profess, "live together in harmony, being of one mind and one heart on the way to God." We are Christians who, captivated by the example of Saint Augustine, journey together, as we build community and serve the Lord's people.
From the Rule of St. Augustine:
The main purpose for your having come together is to live harmoniously in your house, intent upon God, with one heart and one soul (Acts 4:32).
Therefore 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 each was given what he needed” (Acts 4:32, 35).
You gather like-minded people to dwell together…We stayed together, and made a holy agreement to live together in the future. In search of a place where we could best serve you, we made arrangements to return as a group to Africa. (Confessions IX, 8)
Ordained a priest in 391, Augustine obtained the use of a garden at Hippo to build a monastery for his lay community. He later wrote a Rule for his brothers, inspired by the Christian community in Jerusalem:
The main purposes for you having come together is to live harmoniously in your house, intent upon God in oneness of mind and heart. (Rule I, 2)
When he became bishop of Hippo he chose to reside in his episcopal house but continued to live a community life with his clergy. Later a monastery of women was established within the city, bringing to light three forms of Augustinian religious life: masculine, both lay and clerical, and feminine.
Augustine's ideal spread to other parts of Africa. Several of the brothers were ordained bishops and brought their previous monasticism to other local churches. In fifth century Africa Augustinian inspired monasteries numbered approximately thirty-five. Between the years 430 and 570 this life-style was carried to Europe by monks and clergy fleeing the persecution of the Vandals. Around 440 Quodvultdeus of Carthage brought it to Italy near Naples. In 502 St. Fulgentius of Ruspe arrived in Sardinia. Donatus and seventy monks brought it to southern Spain about 570, and some monks may have even reached France.
The abundance of ancient manuscripts of the Rule of St. Augustine shows a constant interest in it during the middle ages. Nevertheless, it was overshadowed by other Rules for more than three centuries, particularly the Rule of St. Benedict. Augustine's Rule appears again in practice in eleventh century Europe as a basis for the reform of monasteries and cathedral chapters. It was adopted by the Canons Regular of the Abbey of St. Victor in Paris, the Premonstratensians and the Lateran Canons.
HISTORY of the ORDER
Thirteenth Century
II. On December 16 of the year 1243, Pope Innocent IV issued the bull Incumbit nobis calling on several eremitical communities in Tuscany to unite
themselves into a single religious order with the Rule and way of life of St.
Augustine. The following March 1244, the hermits held a founding chapter in Rome under the guidance of Cardinal Richard Annibaldi and put the union into effect. Thus began the history of the Order of St. Augustine.
The pope directed the Tuscan hermits to elect for themselves a prior general and to draw up a set of constitutions. From then on they became known as the Order of Hermits of St. Augustine.
The Grand Union of 1256
III. Further development took place on 9 April 1256 with the bull Licet Ecclesiae catholicae of Pope Alexander IV. The pope confirmed the integration of the Hermits of John the Good (Rule of St. Augustine, 1225), the Hermits of St. William (Rule of St. Benedict), the Hermits of Brettino (Rule of St. Augustine, 1228), the Hermits of Monte Favale (Rule of St. Benedict), and other smaller congregations with the Tuscan Hermits into "the one profession and regular observance of the Order of Hermits of St. Augustine". The Grand Union was made at the Tuscan hermits' foundation of Santa Maria del Popolo, Rome, again under the direction of Cardinal Annibaldi, with delegates coming from each hermitage. Lanfranc Septala of Milan, previous superior of the Hermits of John the Good, became the Prior General of the Order comprising 180 religious houses in Italy, Austria, Germany, Switzerland, the Low Countries, France, Spain, Portugal, Hungary, Bohemia and England. The Union of 1256 was an important step in the Church's reform of the religious life. By it the pope intended to end the confusion arising from the excessive number of small religious groups and to channel their spiritual forces into an apostolate of preaching and pastoral care in the rising cities of Europe. The Augustinians thus took their place as mendicant friars alongside the Dominicans, the Franciscans, and, were followed soon after by the Carmelites. The Mendicant Movement of the thirteenth century was a revolutionary response to a revolutionary situation. The Church's unity was being threatened anew by heresy. Fresh challenges were evolving out of economic and intellectual changes in society. The friars were sent directly into the developing commercial centers to preach to the growing educated classes and to bring the spirituality of the Gospel to the people. Thus, the spiritual identity of the Order had two foundations. The first was the person of St. Augustine from whom it received its concept of religious life, in particular the importance of the interior search for God and community life. The second was the Mendicant Movement by which the Order of St. Augustine became an apostolic fraternity.Source: https://www.augustinianorder.org/who-we-are-1
https://www.augustinianorder.org/augustinian-family
The union of the Order with these groups is a spiritual union of beneficial collaboration. All are united by an intimate spiritual bond and constitute one body under our father, Saint Augustine. They use similar liturgical rites, they share the same spiritual graces, but above all, with one mind and one heart intent upon God, they maintain the same goal and ideal, namely, "the building up of the body of Christ" (Eph 4:12).The Order of St. Augustine, or Augustinian Order, fundamentally based upon the teachings of Jesus Christ and later of Aurelius Augustine, the Bishop of Hippo (354 - 430 A.D.), was founded to live and promote the spirit of community as lived by the first Christian communities (Acts of the Apostles 4, 32-35).
The Order of Saint Augustine was born juridically in March 1244, when Pope Innocent IV united various groups of hermits in service to the Universal Church as a community of Mendicant Friars. The Order, from its very beginning, has recognized Saint Augustine of Hippo as its father, teacher, and spiritual guide, not only because it has received the Rule and the name of the Order from him, but also because it has received from him its doctrine and spirituality.
There are many ways to describe the Augustinian Order, to speak of its character, its history, its mission, its charism. First and foremost, however, the Augustinian Order is people - men and women - who, in the words of the Rule we profess, "live together in harmony, being of one mind and one heart on the way to God." We are Christians who, captivated by the example of Saint Augustine, journey together, as we build community and serve the Lord's people.
From the Rule of St. Augustine:
The main purpose for your having come together is to live harmoniously in your house, intent upon God, with one heart and one soul (Acts 4:32).
Therefore 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 each was given what he needed” (Acts 4:32, 35).
HISTORY of Augustine's Monasticism
I. The monastic tradition has its earliest traces soon after Augustine's conversion in Milan, when he and some friends returned to his native Tagaste, gave away their possessions, and began a life of prayer and study as "servants of God".You gather like-minded people to dwell together…We stayed together, and made a holy agreement to live together in the future. In search of a place where we could best serve you, we made arrangements to return as a group to Africa. (Confessions IX, 8)
Ordained a priest in 391, Augustine obtained the use of a garden at Hippo to build a monastery for his lay community. He later wrote a Rule for his brothers, inspired by the Christian community in Jerusalem:
The main purposes for you having come together is to live harmoniously in your house, intent upon God in oneness of mind and heart. (Rule I, 2)
When he became bishop of Hippo he chose to reside in his episcopal house but continued to live a community life with his clergy. Later a monastery of women was established within the city, bringing to light three forms of Augustinian religious life: masculine, both lay and clerical, and feminine.
Augustine's ideal spread to other parts of Africa. Several of the brothers were ordained bishops and brought their previous monasticism to other local churches. In fifth century Africa Augustinian inspired monasteries numbered approximately thirty-five. Between the years 430 and 570 this life-style was carried to Europe by monks and clergy fleeing the persecution of the Vandals. Around 440 Quodvultdeus of Carthage brought it to Italy near Naples. In 502 St. Fulgentius of Ruspe arrived in Sardinia. Donatus and seventy monks brought it to southern Spain about 570, and some monks may have even reached France.
The abundance of ancient manuscripts of the Rule of St. Augustine shows a constant interest in it during the middle ages. Nevertheless, it was overshadowed by other Rules for more than three centuries, particularly the Rule of St. Benedict. Augustine's Rule appears again in practice in eleventh century Europe as a basis for the reform of monasteries and cathedral chapters. It was adopted by the Canons Regular of the Abbey of St. Victor in Paris, the Premonstratensians and the Lateran Canons.
HISTORY of the ORDER
Thirteenth Century
II. On December 16 of the year 1243, Pope Innocent IV issued the bull Incumbit nobis calling on several eremitical communities in Tuscany to unite
themselves into a single religious order with the Rule and way of life of St.
Augustine. The following March 1244, the hermits held a founding chapter in Rome under the guidance of Cardinal Richard Annibaldi and put the union into effect. Thus began the history of the Order of St. Augustine.
The pope directed the Tuscan hermits to elect for themselves a prior general and to draw up a set of constitutions. From then on they became known as the Order of Hermits of St. Augustine.
The Grand Union of 1256
III. Further development took place on 9 April 1256 with the bull Licet Ecclesiae catholicae of Pope Alexander IV. The pope confirmed the integration of the Hermits of John the Good (Rule of St. Augustine, 1225), the Hermits of St. William (Rule of St. Benedict), the Hermits of Brettino (Rule of St. Augustine, 1228), the Hermits of Monte Favale (Rule of St. Benedict), and other smaller congregations with the Tuscan Hermits into "the one profession and regular observance of the Order of Hermits of St. Augustine". The Grand Union was made at the Tuscan hermits' foundation of Santa Maria del Popolo, Rome, again under the direction of Cardinal Annibaldi, with delegates coming from each hermitage. Lanfranc Septala of Milan, previous superior of the Hermits of John the Good, became the Prior General of the Order comprising 180 religious houses in Italy, Austria, Germany, Switzerland, the Low Countries, France, Spain, Portugal, Hungary, Bohemia and England. The Union of 1256 was an important step in the Church's reform of the religious life. By it the pope intended to end the confusion arising from the excessive number of small religious groups and to channel their spiritual forces into an apostolate of preaching and pastoral care in the rising cities of Europe. The Augustinians thus took their place as mendicant friars alongside the Dominicans, the Franciscans, and, were followed soon after by the Carmelites. The Mendicant Movement of the thirteenth century was a revolutionary response to a revolutionary situation. The Church's unity was being threatened anew by heresy. Fresh challenges were evolving out of economic and intellectual changes in society. The friars were sent directly into the developing commercial centers to preach to the growing educated classes and to bring the spirituality of the Gospel to the people. Thus, the spiritual identity of the Order had two foundations. The first was the person of St. Augustine from whom it received its concept of religious life, in particular the importance of the interior search for God and community life. The second was the Mendicant Movement by which the Order of St. Augustine became an apostolic fraternity.Source: https://www.augustinianorder.org/who-we-are-1
https://www.augustinianorder.org/augustinian-family
Comments