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Home , Augustinians, Rita of Cascia, Saint

For Lay People

Religious Life for the

Following in the Footsteps of St. —The Secular — By Anne Tschanz

he Augustinian Secular Fra- ternities trace their history Tback to the early centuries of the for their foundation rests on the great Augustine (354- 430) himself who established a Rule of Life followed by so many religious institutes. He precedes Saint Bene- dict (c. 480-c. 587) who incorporat- ed many Augustinian precepts into Benedictine . Augus- tine left to us an immense number of works, including letters addressed to the lay people. One could say that Augustine was a man for all seasons, as a , , teacher, spiritu- according to their state in life. On the in the spirit. Through her ceaseless al director and seeker of truth. anniversary of the 16th Centenary of , fasting, and continued pres- Benedict XVI called him the “great- the Conversion of Saint Augustine, ence in his life, he was brought out of est Father of the Church.” Pope John Paul II urged Augustini- heresy and sin and into the Church. His is summed up in ans to keep the fascination of St. Au- A bishop once told her: “Go your the Rule of St. Augustine as follows: gustine alive and attractive, because way; as sure as you live, it is impossible “Above all things, dearest brethren, “the exact and heartfelt knowledge that son of these tears should perish.” love and after Him your neigh- of his life awakens the thirst for God, For years, Monica prayed for her son bor. For these are the main command- the attraction of , the love for to leave his worldly lifestyle and false ments given to us” (Rule, 1). Today, wisdom and truth, the need for grace, beliefs to come to know the truth of members of the Secular Augustinians, , virtue, fraternal charity, and Christ. She was like the widow called by their baptismal promises to the yearning for eternal happiness.” in the story who pestered a fully participate in the threefold mis- Augustine had an example of the judge so much that he finally gave her sion of Christ as priest, and power of the laity to transform lives what she wanted (Lk 18:1-8). king, share in the spirit and spiritual in the example of his own mother, St. Augustine of Hippo was born treasures of the Augustinian Order , who bore him twice, in 354 in Tagaste, North Africa. His while striving for Christian perfection he said—once in the flesh and once father Patricius was a pagan and later

September/October 2019 13 catechumen while his mother Moni- To the wid- ca was a devout Christian. In his au- ow, Juliana, Au- tobiographical , Augustine gustine wrote: recounts his restless journey in pursuit “Therefore with- of truth as a student, teacher of rhet- out anxiety urge oric, follower of Manicheanism, Neo- on whom you can, platonist, and ultimately a of to become what Saint , Bishop of Milan, who you are; and pray baptized him on Holy Saturday, the with watchfulness year 387. “Late have I loved You, O and fervor” (De Beauty, so ancient and so new!” he bono viduitatis, wrote. The final turning point oc- 28). In a letter curred when he heard a child’s voice to Proba, the “devoted handmaid of pertains to eternal and the say: “Pick up and read!” Randomly God,” Augustine told her to seek and state of perfection, so much so that, if opening a , it said: “Let us live relish the things that are above, “if well observed, it will suffice for those honorably as in daylight; not in ca- you thus act, assuredly your example who are perfect. And for those who rousing and drunkenness and jeal- will be followed by your most devout are imperfect and timid it hardly in- ously. Rather, put on Jesus daughter-in-law, and the other holy volves anything very difficult, if they Christ and make no provision for the widows and virgins that are settled in are of will.” desires of the flesh (Rom 13:13-14). peace under your care” (30). The Augustinian Order was When he returned to Tagaste, he The Rule of St. Augustine, be- founded in 1256 when groups of her- formed a monastic community, was lieved to be the oldest monastic Rule mits who followed the Augustinian ordained a priest, and eventually con- in the Western Church, was initially Rule were united into a mendicant secrated a bishop. directed to a community of and congregation to serve the needs of the During Augustine’s lifetime, followed from the 5th century onward people in urban centers. (In 1588, in a people began living in community by various groups. Other congrega- return to a more austere lifestyle, the according to a rule of life blessed by tions adopted the Rule for their own Augustinian Recollects were found- him. Lay people who were attracted communities, including the Domini- ed.) The Order has produced many to his spirituality wrote to him seek- cans, Norbertines and Mercedarians. , including St. Rita of , St. ing his counsel. For a variety reasons, In 1480, a Carthusian monk said that , St. Nicholas of they could not live an apostolic life Augustine “faithfully following the Tolentino and St. John Stone, English in community, but they still desired example of the Apostles, composed . The mystic Bl. Anne Cather- what the sought— a Rule that is full of discretion and ine Emmerich (1774-1824), who was union with God, to follow His will very brief in words, though not in beatified in 2004, was an Augustinian and to gain eternal life. merit, for it contains everything that who was renowned for her vi- sions and gift of prophecy. The Augustinian The Augustinians have also Founded: November 7, 1400 made great contributions to the world of science, education and the Motto: Anima una et cor unum in Deum missions. Among the institutes of (“One heart and with God”) higher learning founded by them External Sign: Augustinian , cincture or cross includes Villanova University in Spirituality: Love God and after Him your neighbor Pennsylvania (founded 1842) where all students participate in an Augus- Mission: To live according to the experience and spirit- tine and Culture seminar, using the uality of the Augustinian tradition great saint as “a model for the fear- Formation Program: Novitiate 1+ year less pursuit of wisdom.” The Father Website: Augustinian.org/seculars-friends/ of Modern Genetics is the Augustin- ian from the Czech Republic,

14 September/October 2019 Johann (d. 1884), the Rule and the writings of St. Au- the results of his study of pea plant gustine and form themselves through propagation and the laws of hered- study of Scripture and the teachings ity. whose protests of the Church. At the end of the no- against the abuses in the Church vitiate, candidates make a profession ignited the Protestant revolt was a of vows. Once professed, they meet German Augustinian priest. monthly with the fraternity for prayer, St. , the instruction and fellowship. They are Spanish Augustinian , sent the expected to bring the fruits of this life first group of Augustinians to the New to their place of work, their World, arriving in Mexico in 1533. and their families and are encouraged The oldest continuously inhabited to attend daily and pray at least city in the continental United States arrival in the church was considered part of the . is named Saint Augustine, Florida, be- miraculous and attracted droves of Daily devotion to the Blessed cause the Spanish explorers first sited pilgrims because of the at- Mary is also encouraged, such the land on August 28, 1565, the Feast tributed to Our Lady’s . as the praying of the or the of Saint Augustine. Augustinians were Many had a devotion to Mary Augustinian Corona of Our Lady of the first to establish a mis- under this , most notably Pope Consolation. Consisting of 13 Our sion in the Philippines and have a long Leo XIII who in 1903 added “Moth- Father’s, ’s and Be’s, history of evangelization activity and er of Good Counsel” to the Litany the Corona is a meditation on the ar- martyrdom in the Far East. of Loreto. He had great affection for ticles of Faith as found in the Apos- The patroness of the Secular Au- the Augustinians and canonized the tles’ . The Augustinians have gustinian Fraternities is St. Magdalene popular Augustinian saints—Rita of honored Mary as Our Lady of Conso- of Nagasaki. Her Japanese Christian Cascia and Clare of Montefalco. lation since the 1500’s when the Con- parents were martyred about the year In , the of fraternity of the Holy Cincture of Our 1620 when Magdalene was a teenager the Vatican, ’s, is ad- Lady of Consolation was founded in and her Augustinian spiritual directors ministered by the Augustinians. The . According to tradition, Saint were burned alive for the faith as well. Church of ’Agostino houses the Monica received a sash or cincture Magdalene was attracted to Augustin- of Saint Monica while Saint from the Blessed Mother as a source ian spirituality and worked with them Augustine’s remains are in Pavia at of consolation as she prayed for her as an interpreter and catechist. In the Augustinian Church of San Pietro son to embrace the faith. 1625, she was admitted into the Au- in Ciel d’Oro (“with the ceiling”). Though St. Augustine lived over gustinian Third Order. When a new The Secular Augustinians fol- 1500 years ago, his impact on the wave of persecution erupted in Japan, low the Rule of St. Augustine as Church, religious life and all those Magdalene, who had hoped to become well as the specific statutes for the struggling to believe in the midst of a religious sister, turned herself over to Third Order. They were officially life’s struggles, is still profound and the authorities. In 1634, after thirteen approved in 1400 as a fraternity for lasting. Saint Augustine said that days of torture, Magdalene was sus- women and in 1470, it was expand- “Our hearts are restless until they pended upside down in a pit of animal ed to men. In 1622, the Augustin- rest in Thee.” Secular Augustinians entrails and suffocated, while wearing ian Recollect were given ap- have the blessing of being guided by her Augustinian habit. She was - proval to establish a Third Order as a spiritual father whose writings still ized by Pope John Paul II in 1987. well. Their mission then and now penetrate hearts and draw people to The Augustinians also have a is to “live the union of hearts and truth and beauty. May we all come deep reverence for and long history minds and to make the spirit of St. to know what the great saint discov- with Our Lady. In an Augustinian Augustine a practical in the ered: “I understood that only One church in Genazzano, Italy, is a 15th Church and the world today” (Secu- is truly perfect, and that the words century fresco of the Blessed Virgin lar Augustinian Fraternity, 7) of the are with the Christ Child known as Our As part of their preparation, lay completely realized in only One—in Lady of Good Counsel. The painting’s candidates for the Third Order study Jesus Christ Himself.”

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