storia ordine2

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PAST AND PRESENT OF THE AUGUSTINIAN ORDER

Miguel Angel Orcasitas, OSA

Santiago Insunza, OSA

Juan Jose Vallejo Penedo, OSA

Retelling history is seldom as simple a task as it may seem. It is not enough toopensome manuscripts or books and expect to find there a history which is crystalclear and freeof legends. There may indeed be some widely agreed upon dates and valuableinformation,but even these cannot be honored as if they were incontestably accurate. There issomethingmysterious and even cryptic about the past; all the more so, when we travel backand recountthe history of such a venerable institution as the Augustinian Order.

Nonetheless, we will not shy away from the challenge. Our purpose here, is topresenta history that looks back through the centuries and embraces not only the internallife of theOrder, but also its evangelizing presence in the world. To achieve this, it issimply notenough to cite dates, remember names and highlight particular events. That alonewould failto give our words the fullness of meaning needed to express the truth we hope toconvey.

Moreover, in our case, we are dealing with a unique history. The movement ofGod s

Spirit and the energy of countless projects . with all the mitigating conditionsof any humaneffort . are woven together, bringing about a surprising alchemy that turnsdisappointmentsand shadows into signs of hope and of light.1. Institution of the Order

European society in the Middle Ages, identified with Christianity, wasfundamentallya rural society, bound to the land by work; but focused on bound-less horizons.

At the beginning of the 12th century, the situation began to change. Commerce

prospered and craftsmanship flourished; old cities expanded and new cities wereborn. A newsocial stratum, the middle-class, emerged and with it a call for a new kind ofevangelization.The secular clergy was scarce and not adequately educated, while hermits andmonasticorders . tucked away in rural areas . lived far away from urban busyness, intentuponfaithfulness to their specific charism.


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Into this world a new movement, a new kind of evangelization, came to birth in the

Church to meet the challenge. These new communities would, in time, come to beknown asthe Mendicant Orders. Spearheading this movement, Saint Francis and Saint Dominic.embracing a life of extreme poverty . yearned to foster a reform of the Church andto go intoto those bustling cities. They evangelized through the witness of community life,dynamicpreaching, administration of the sacraments and later by contributing asignificant presence inuniversities, the most important cultural institutions of the time.

As the Franciscans and Dominicans were starting their itinerant ministries,severaleremitical groups in the Italian region of Tuscany . understanding the needs ofthe time andwanting to serve the Church in this new social context . went to Pope Innocent IVand askedhim to grant them the status of a mendicant order, under the spiritual guidance of

SaintAugustine.

These Tuscan hermits became the Order of Saint Augustine. The Pope, through hisdecrees Incumbit nobis and Pr sentium vobis of December 16, 1243 called therepresentatives of the numerous hermitages to meet in a formal assembly known as a

Chapter. He entrusted to them, as a norm of life, the Rule of Saint Augustine:

The first General Chapter of the Order took place in Rome during the month ofMarch, 1244, under the presidency of cardinal Ricardo degli Annibaldi. The Chapter

wroteand approved the first Constitutions, and elected Brother Matheus as the firstPrior General.The Order of Hermits of Saint Augustine in Tuscia was officially approved fromthat momenton.

A few years later, in March 1256, a General Chapter . known in our history as theGrand Union . took place in our Friary of Santa Maria del Popolo in Rome. With thesupportof Pope Alexander IV and the Cardinal Protector, the Chapter incorporated othergroups intothe Order of Saint Augustine, especially the John-Bonites and the Williamites.

This chapterelected Lanfranco Septala as Prior General, who was later buried in the church ofSaint Markin Milan. The union was approved by Alexander IV with his decree Licet EcclesiCatholic , dated April 9, 1256. The Augustinians therefore increased numerically; in stepnow, with the other Mendicant Orders.

Augustinians have always felt a very close relationship to Saint Augustine, theholybishop of Hippo. They consider themselves his spiritual children, since they


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follow his rule.But historical factors would strengthen this bond: the Second Council of Lyon,gathered in1274, interpreted a decision from a previous Council . the Fourth Lateran, held in1215 . as aprohibition against founding new religious orders. This measure affected thelegitimacy ofseveral religious groups founded between both councils, suppressing them orforcing them tomerge with previously founded orders. The members of the Order of Saint Augustinefoundthemselves in jeopardy, but did not waver in their conviction regarding thisrelationship toSaint Augustine as their founder. They considered themselves as heirs andfollowers of themonastic form of life which he founded in Northern Africa. Consequently, the linkwith theSaint would now be reinforced. The friars not only consider him their Father andTeacher, butalso the authentic founder of the Order. They received from Saint Augustine .father and

teacher . a fraternal style of living together and a sense of community life thatshares love.This fraternal love is nurtured by the Trinitarian Mystery which is present in theChurch. Inturn, that love was placed at the service of the world through friendship andsolidarity.


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The main purpose for you having come together is to live harmoniously inyour house, intent upon God in oneness of mind and heart. Call nothingyour own, but let everything be yours in common. (Rule of St, Augustine)

2. Saint Augustine, Father and Teacher

Saint Augustine s life story takes us back to the 4th century. He was born in Tagaste,northern Africa . a Roman territory at the time. His personal and professionaljourney ledhim to Milan where he achieved a position of professional and social prominence.Subsequently, his conversion in 386 was truly a spiritual hurricane for the youngAugustine,dramatically clearing aside his doubts and questions. From that moment on . anduntil theend of his days . he embraced a form of life entirely consecrated to God. Onecould say thatthe baptistery of Milan . where he received the sacrament from the hands of SaintAmbrose .

is the source from which Augustinian religious life flows. He abandoned everyhuman projectand decided to follow Christ, dedicating himself to a life of celibacy and livingincommunity. First in Tagaste and later in Hippo where he was then priest andbishop, he triedto put into practice . together with a group of friends . the way of life of thefirst Christiancommunity of Jerusalem which was of one heart and soul, focused entirely on God.

This ideal reached other parts of Africa and the number of monasteries inspired by

Augustine s life and monastic rule increased with time. After his death, some of

his monkswent to Europe . fleeing from the persecution of the Vandals, and of the Muslimssoon after. disseminating there Augustine s Rule and way of life. Islamic incursions and the impositionof the Benedictine Rule by the successors of Charlemagne, hindered this expansion.There issome information about a monastic Augustinian presence in Spain, but Augustinianlifewould resume with new energy only with a group of Canons Regular, who embraced the

Augustinian Rule as their way of life.

In the 13th century . as we have already seen . the Augustinian Order adopted that

same Rule when it was instituted by the Pope as a mendicant order. For thatreason, both itsspirituality and its way of life stand on two pillars: Augustine s legacy and the lifestyle of themendicant orders.

The image of Augustine handing the Rule to hisspiritual children found artistic expression along


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the centuries, for example in the marvelous bas-relief carvings on the tomb of Saint Augustine inPavia and in the paintings of Jan Van Scorel.

JAN VAN SCOREL, Augustine handing the Rule this spiritual children, Jerusalem

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3. Development of the Order

The Order had a spectacular expansion in its first century of life, reaching allthecountries of Europe. Around 150 monasteries in Italy, Austria, Germany,Switzerland,Holland, France, Spain, Portugal, Hungary, Bohemia, and England, merged in theGrandUnion of 1256. At the end of the 13th century, the Order counted 17 Provinces, and

approximately 400 friaries in almost all the European countries.

The Order had a large and strong presence in Italy for centuries. Many Italianfriariesof great influence in the history of the Order date from the 13th century. Thenumber ofProvinces . most of them founded in the Middle Ages . had always beenproportionally high,

as was the number of Italian friars during some periods of history.

Blessed Clement of Ossimo and blessed Agostino da Tarano, among the first priorsgenerals of the Order, played a decisive role in drafting the first officialconstitutions, whichhave been preserved. They are known as the Constitutions of Ratisbon in honor oftheGerman city from which they were promulgated by the general chapter in 1290.

Together with preaching and the administration of the sacraments, study acquiredparticular importance. Above all, theological reflection provided a bridge betweenChristianfaith and the culture of the time. Each Province established schools oftheological studieswhile General Houses of Study were opened at the most important universities ofthe time,like Paris, Rome, Bologna, Padua and Naples.

Clement of Ossimo was also the first who promoted . at the end of the 13th century.

the Augustinian theological school. Among its first illustrious theologians wereGiles ofRome, Blessed James of Viterbo and Augustine of Tarano who contributed greatly totheprominence of Augustinian thought. The Augustinian theological school underlinetheprimate of Jesus Christ s Grace, and in the ecclesiastical level, the defense of the Pope in thepolitical and religious conflicts . at the beginning of the 14th century . betweenBoniface VIIIand Philip the Handsome of France, and later on, between John XXII and Louis of


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Bavaria.The uninterrupted presence of an Augustinian in the papal court in the position ofSacristan .from 1352 until the reformation of the curia by Paul VI in 1967 . is an eloquentsymbol ofthe Order s fidelity to the Pope. In 1929, on occasion of the Lateran Pacts, the Sacristan wasalso appointed as Vicar of the Vatican City, until the year 1991.

The feminine branch of Augustinian life also flourished early. Their professionunderthe Augustinian Rule, in conformity with the form and doctrine of the Order,grants them thedesignation as Augustinians, and they always enjoyed the eminent position that theChurchand the Order gives to contemplative vocations.

During the period of the Grand Union of 1256, there were various convents ofcontemplative sisters who followed the Rule of St. Augustine in Palma de Mallorca,

Barcelona, Seville, and Toledo in Spain. Convents of Augustinian women religiousarose alsoin other countries, like the one in Oberndorf, Germany (1264), and those in Italy:Santa Crocesull Arno (1279) and Orvieto (1286). The convent of Obendorf is the first to be documentedas part of the Order and was recorded in two documents, one of the GermanProvincial, and


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one of Cardinal Annibaldi. The feminine branches of Augustinian life expandedthroughoutEurope, both by means of new foundations, as well as through the aggregation ofpreexistentconvents to the Order. Contemplation was the specific goal of these Augustiniancommunities, according to the concept of religious life for women at the time.

Many lay persons who attended the churches of the Order became interested infollowing Augustinian spirituality within their own way of life. This broughtabout severallay associations, confraternities and, above all, the so-called Third Order. Bymeans of aprogram of Christian life, the members of the Third Order tried to express withinthe familyand within society the same values that friars and contemplative sisters professedin theircommunities.

Several centuries later, some groups of the Third Order became religiousCongregations, remaining associated with the Order as part of the AugustinianFamily. Inaddition, several new Congregations embraced the Augustinian Rule and requestedaffiliationto the Order. Therefore, the Augustinian Family was constituted by the masculinebranch, thecontemplative sisters, the lay persons associated in secular fraternities, and theaffiliatedreligious Congregations.

But the witness given by Augustinian saints is even more significant than theexpansion of the Order. These are creative and life-giving traces of the Gospel inhistory.God was for them an invisible thread weaving together the joyful and sorrowfulmysteries oftheir life. Saint Nicholas of Tolentine (1245-1305) was the first canonizedAugustinian, andhis devotion took root and spread across all the continents where the Order ispresent. Manyothers declared Blessed have been venerated for a long time, such as Frederick of Ratisbon,

Clement of Ossimo, Augustine of Tarano, Angelo of Furci, and Andrea of Montereale.In thefeminine branch and from the same period, two women stand out, Saint Claire ofMontefalco(1268-1308) and Saint Rita of Cascia (1381-1457) . whose devotion would permeatepopularreligiosity . as well as other contemplative religious women whose holiness hasbeenpublicly recognized by the Church. And yet, they are only the first fruits ofholiness in anOrder that has been blessed by the witness of its saints from its origin and into


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our own day.

4. Spiritual and moral decline of the medieval period and reforms

The Order . as the rest of the Church . experienced the spiritual and moraldeclinethat clouded the period from the 14th to the 16th century; a time marked by theBlack Plague,the Western Schism, the Hundred Years War and the beginning of Protestantism.Theseevents weakened religious life and brought about a serious spiritual and moraldecline which,however, was not always accompanied by a decrease in its membership.

Such difficulties generated contradictory reactions. Among them was the phenomenon

of reform movements that gave birth to observant congregations cultivating arigorousasceticism, especially that of the esteemed friary of Lecceto, among others inItaly. Similarmovements appeared in Vienna, Germany and Spain.


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Martin Luther belonged to one of these observant congregations in Saxony, Germany.

He entered the Order in Erfurt, in 1505 and was ordained priest in 1507. Hisinterior life wastormented by scruples. He was a man both compassionate and arrogant who raised hisvoiceagainst the scandals in the life of the Church at his time. The ProtestantReformation beganthis way in 1517, when he made public his 95 theses denouncing the abusivepractices of thepapacy and moved away from essential points of Church doctrine and from theobedience tothe Church. Martin Luther abandoned the Order and the Church in 1521. A tormentedspirit,indeed; but also one who possessed a deep religiosity, managed in a veryautonomous way

Lord God, You have entrusted me to guide and shepherd the Church.You know that I am unsuitable to fulfill such a difficult mission, and if Iattempted it without counting on You, mistakes would follow one afteranother. For that reason I turn to You Use me as an obedientinstrument of yours. O my Beloved Lord, do not abandon me in anyway, because if I were alone, I would spoil everything for sure. Amen.

Martin LUTHER

In spite of his errors, Luther was perceptive. He denounced a number of

intolerablesituations, recognizing that some preachers were more apt to proclaim their ownideas than toproclaim the Word of God. He translated the Bible into German, and contributed toa betterknowledge of the Bible among ordinary people. The Order suffered greatly from theProtestant Reformation, to the point that some Provinces of Germany and theCongregationof Saxony disappeared, while others were notably weakened. Meanwhile, the ProvinceofHungary was lost as a consequence of the Turkish incursions.

Meanwhile, in England and Ireland, schism unleashed persecutions which took thelife of the martyrs Saint John Stone (1539) and Blessed William Tirry (1654),while most ofthe Augustinian houses were suppressed.

During this time of doctrinal controversy and disciplinary upheaval, anAugustinianwho had a particularly critical role in Church leadership was Jerome Seripando .


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PriorGeneral of the Order . who became a Cardinal and President of the Council ofTrent.

There were attempts at renewal in Germany, Holland, and France; but it was inSpainthat such efforts bore the most fruit. The 1500s were truly a Golden Century forthe Order inSpain, where reforms later promulgated by the Council of Trent were anticipated.SeveralAugustinian saints emerged out of the fervor of this renewal movement, such asJohn ofSahagun, Thomas of Villanova, Alfonso de Orozco, and other venerable religious,some ofthem missionaries.

The witness of their lives speaks by itself of the spiritual health of the

CastilianProvince, particularly in the friary of Salamanca, which is probably the mostsignificanthouse in the history of the Order for excellence in science and for depth inholiness. Another


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member of this friary was Luis de Leon, the great writer and spiritual author,unjustlyimprisoned by the Inquisition.

The Recollect reform began in Spain in this century, as an initiative of theProvince ofCastile after the Provincial Chapter permitted a more rigorous life style for somefriars whofelt called to a more withdrawn life of contemplation. The group that embracedthis form oflife soon became an observant congregation within the Order, enjoying greatautonomy ingovernment. The Augustinian Recollects became an independent Order at thebeginning ofthe 20th century.

In a similar way in Italy, the congregation of the Discalced Augustinians wasborn.They became an autonomous Order in 1930.

Implementing the reforms of the Council of Trent improved the moral climate of the

Order, and brought about strong growth in the number of friars. Around 1575, therewerealready 40 Provinces, about 1,000 houses and almost 16,000 friars. Communities ofcontemplative sisters in the Order also flourished considerably during the 14thcentury and

many new convents were founded in Spain and Italy.

5. Missionary movement

It was in the context of this spiritual fervor that a missionary movement emergedinthe Order, after the explorations and discoveries of the 16th century. The SpanishProvincesand the Province of Portugal sent many friars to the Americas and the Far East.

Prior GeneralJerome Seripando . in harmony with the desires expressed by Emperor Charles V andhis sonPhilip II . told the Spanish Provincials that the friars destined to the missionsshould beholy, wise, and ready to go voluntarily to the Americas. In this way, he

wished to ensurethat the life of the missionaries became the first visible sign of the Gospelmessage they wereto preach.


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Gifted with prophetic vision, Saint Thomas of Villanova promoted the sending ofmissionaries to the new territories, affirming that in the future the Americasmight very wellbecome more significant and important for the Church than Europe at that moment.EuropeanChristian society risked internal division due to the Protestant reformation andthe loss of itsidentity and faith as one result of the Turkish threat to Vienna.


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First group of seven Augustinian missionaries

The encounter with the American continent opened the door to the evangelizingmission of the Augustinian friars who disembarked at Veracruz in present-dayMexico onMay 22, 1533. This first group of seven Augustinian missionaries was portrayedwith wingsin a 16th century painting to symbolize their holiness. The Order wascharacterized in theAmericas as being close to the natives and taking up their defense, learning theirlanguages,respecting some of their secular traditions, writing catechisms, constructingaqueducts andopening hospitals and schools. It was said of our friars that in the art of founding towns,civilizing and administering them, they excelled as true leaders of

civilization. TheAugustinians were the first to welcome natives to the Eucharist, while sometheologians werestill discussing the equality of those native peoples to the rest of humansociety.

The Order grew very quickly on the American continent. The first friary wasfoundedin Ocuituco, Mexico, in 1533. Only thirty years later, there were 50 houses and300missionaries in Mexico. A Province was founded there in 1568, and a second Mexican

Province, that of Michoacan, in 1602.

The Order spread out from Mexico to all the territories that had been recentlydiscovered, resulting in the organization of new Provinces. The provinces of Peruand ofQuito in present-day Ecuador were founded in the 16th century. The ColombianProvince wasestablished in 1601, and the Province of Chile just a few years later.

In 1555, the Augustinian Provincial Chapter of Peru stated the following:

Since we are sent as preachers to these people who do not know God, weare obliged to adopt a more perfect way of living, not only in our obediencebefore God, our Lord, but also before all people.


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After a century of Augustinian presence, the Order had extended over the entireLatinAmerican continent, leaving its signature on the culture by the magnificence ofits friaries,the inspiring witness of holiness and the courageous defense of the native peoples. as in thecase of Diego Ortiz, protomartyr of Peru, and bishops Augustin of Coruna and LuisLopez ofSolis, among many others.

Together with the pastoral work of the missions, the promotion of culture wouldalsobe reflected in the construction of lasting artistic monuments of extraordinaryvalue. Themissionaries of the 14th century . probably inspired by the Renaissance .conceived Christianfaith as a process of human perfection also influencing the natural order.

The leadership of the Order in the evangelization of the Philippines is alsosignificant,given that several Augustinians accompanied Legazpi in his voyage of 1565. TheAugustinian geographer Andres of Urdaneta was among them. The Province of thePhilippines . founded in 1575 . evangelized the archipelago without outside helpfor fifteenyears, under the protection of the Child Jesus as the Santo Nino of Cebu. Theroutesdescribed by Urdaneta guided sailors for three centuries.

In 1584, the desire to preach the Christian faith took the Order to Japan, bearing

wonderful fruits of holiness, as in the case of the Blessed friars BartholomewGutierrez, PeterZuniga, Francis Terrero, Vincent Simoes, and of Saint Magdalene of Nagasaki. Abook couldbe written about the events in the life of another Japanese martyr, Kintsuba. Hewas anAugustinian who worked underground ministering to the Christians inside the verypalace ofthe Emperor.

On their way to India, the Portuguese Augustinians evangelized numerous places inAfrica, from 1572 to 1834, following the colonial roads of his country. In theEast Coast ofAfrica, a Christian community of priests, religious and lay persons was martyredin the cityof Mombasa.


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Meanwhile, the Augustinians continued growing in Europe, and the Belgians made aneffort at evangelizing Holland, laying the groundwork for the future DutchProvince.

The Irish Province, founded shortly before and at this time experiencingpersecution,established a college in Rome in 1656, because of the difficulty in Ireland ofpreparingcandidates to the Order.

6. The suppressions of the 18th and 19th Centuries

Two strongholds of traditional society came under suspicion with the critique ofreligious understanding introduced by the Enlightenment at the end of the 18thcentury:

Revelation and the Church as bearer and interpreter of Revelation. The Church wassoimportant in society that . inevitably . such a widespread desire for change hadto affect herin a direct way.


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Another factor was the French Revolution, that set in motion a period ofuncertaintythat impinged on the life of the Church and, certainly, on the Augustinian Order.Thepromoters of the Revolution tried to eliminate deep-rooted structures, traditions,and forms oflife, in order to impose a new social and cultural order, in which the life of theindividualswould be governed strictly by reason.

By the end of the French Revolution, the Order had lost the provinces of France.BothNapoleon s invasion and the liberal revolutions carried the secularization policy to otherEuropean countries, such as Germany, Italy (Rome included), Poland, Belgium,Portugal and. for different reasons . Ireland. Napoleon took the Pope as hostage, and thePapal Sacristan

. the holy Augustinian bishop Bartolomeo Menocchio . remained in charge of thePapalPalace, the Quirinale.

Spain was the only Province that . together with the Latin American colonies . did

not experience a decrease in the number of religious. For that reason, in 1804King CharlesIV asked the Pope to grant autonomous administration to the Spanish religious. Afew yearslater, with the independence of the Latin American countries and the

secularization of 1837the Order lost all of its friaries in Spain, except for the one in Valladolid .belonging to theProvince of the Philippines . and another in Monteagudo . belonging to theAugustinianRecollects.

The Declaration of Independence of Ecuador was signed in the beautiful ChapterHallof our principal friary in Quito. But in the process of emancipation of the newLatin

American nations, the liberal governments imposed a secularization policy on theAugustinian Provinces, which in turn became very weak.

The Italian Provinces went through a similar experience some years later, underthelaw that expropriated ecclesiastical properties and goods during the nationalunificationprocess.


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7. Rebirth and new missionary ventures

Life in the Order inevitably suffered the effects of all these events. However, anewmissionary and vocational effort was set in motion with the Irish mission in theUnited States,which started in 1796. The beginnings were difficult but in five years time thestately churchof Saint Augustine in Philadelphia was consecrated. A humble start eventually gavebirth tothe Province of Villanova and its famous university.

The establishment of Augustinian life in Australia in 1838 is also due to themissionary spirit of the Irish Province.

In southern Europe, the Province of Sicily, which had a significant and numerouspresence on the island, founded the Province of Malta in 1817.


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The Province of the Philippines in Spain . with the friary of Valladolid as theirmother-house . was able to motivate Augustinian life, keeping its missionaryspirit in thePhilippines and later on in Latin America, and at the same time . thanks to astable politicalsituation . it renewed the intellectual tradition of the Order in Spain. In 1865,the provinceacquired the monastery of Santa Maria de la Vid . an old Norbertine monastery .transforming it into a formation house for theological studies. It also renewedthe theologicalstudies program for the formation of its seminarians, and in 1881 it launched amagazineentitled The City of God. Four years later it also accepted the monastery of El Escorial,establishing a university in its adjacent buildings.

As we begin our departure from Spain, further signs of growth should be recounted.

The Province of the Philippines also helped restore the Province of Castile(1881), andcreated the Province of Madrid (1895). Later, it would also found the Province ofthe SacredName of Jesus in Spain (1926). Meanwhile, Pope Leo XIII re-united the SpanishAugustinians to the rest of the Order on July 4, 1893, with the significant helpof TomasCamara, Augustinian bishop of Salamanca.

The foundation of several congregations under the Augustinian rule . mainlyfeminine . in the second half of the 19th century once again enlarged the

Augustinian family.Many of them are affiliated to the Order and are officially part of theAugustinian Family.

As a flame arises from ashes which seem cold, Augustinian life spread throughoutIreland reaching, in time, the United Kingdom and a new Province of England-Scotland wasestablished there.

Elsewhere on the continent, the German Province was restored through the ardentdedication of the Venerable Pius Keller, while the General Chapter of 1895approved the newProvinces of Madrid and Holland.

In 1752, in a historically unique gesture, Benedict XIV conferred the privilege of

appointing a Prior-for-life at the Abbey of Brno and, at a later date, granted himthe title of


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Abbot. Subsequently, the policy of Joseph II who required monasteries to provideactivitiesof a social nature turned this abbey into a cultural reference point. Abbot FranzNapp foundedthe Agricultural Society of Moravia, and carried out multiple experiments on thebreedingand cultivation of certain plants. It was Gregor Mendel . his disciple andsuccessor . whotook over this task, and is now considered the Father of Genetics because of hisdiscovery ofthe laws of heredity.

The Order lost Saint Augustine s Friary in Rome during the expropriation thataccompanied the process of Italian unification. It was here that the General Curiawaslocated. Here, as well, the renowned Angelica Library was housed. Founded byAngeloRocca, this was the first library in the world to open its doors to the public. In1882 . thanks

to the diligence of the Vicar General Pacifico Neno . the Order acquired VillaCesi in Rome,located alongside the Bernini colonnade encircling Saint Peter s Square. This is the presentlocation of the General Curia, Saint Monica s International College and, since 1970, theAugustinian Patristic Institute. Pacifico Neno also encouraged the secularizedfriars to resumeAugustinian life and return to their communities.


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The restored province of Castile established a new apostolic presence in theAntilles,while the province of the Philippines . besides helping the provinces of Peru andColombia .accepted responsibility for the Apostolic Vicariate of Iquitos Peru, and openednewcommunities of the Order in Brazil and Argentina.

Mexico and the countries of South American experienced a gradual rebuilding of the

Order s presence; in some cases with the help of friars from different European countries.

The celebration of general chapters resumed in 1889 . after an interruption of 24

years . with the participation of some provinces that had been absent for decades.TheSpaniards . who had not participated since 1804 . took part in the Chapter of1895, havingreturned to ordinary form of governance.

The canonization of Clare of Montefalco and Rita of Cascia by Leo XIII helpedstimulate a spiritual renewal within the Order, as did the beatification ofAlfonso de Orozcoand several Italian friars.

Some years later, Pius X beatified Stephen Bellesini, an extraordinary Italianeducatorand parish priest. Expelled from the Papal States by Napoleon s troops, Stephen Bellesinifounded a school in Trent, his native city, formulating educational principlesthat are stillvalid today. The model was applied to all public schools in the Trent area, andBellesini wasappointed Education Minister. But as soon as religious life was restored in thePapal States,he abandoned this high political position out of his love for community life. He

was master ofnovices and parish priest in Genazzano for many years, and would eventually die oftheplague that took the lives of so many members of his parish.

8. The 20th Century: tribulations and hopes


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A beautiful expression of the Order s rebuilding was the restitution in 1900 of thechurch and friary in Pavia, where the relics of St. Augustine are preserved. Inthis symbolicevent, we recovered the legacy of our past, which in turn engendered hope andenergy for thefuture. The contours of that future soon became visible.

It was at this time that the Province of Villanova brought Augustinian life to the

Caribbean island of Cuba.

The recently founded Dutch Province expanded its presence in Holland, and alsofounded the first new communities in Paris since Napoleon s suppression of the Order.

Nearby, the revitalization of the Province of Belgium began in 1902.

The German Province expanded, establishing new communities soon after itsrestoration in 1895. It founded friaries in the United States in the 1920s, andsoon after inCanada, setting the basis for the future Canadian Province.


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This revitalization and growth, however, would soon come up against formidableresistance. Europe would experience the horror of two World Wars in the first halfof the 20thcentury, as well as devastating civil conflicts. Among these was the civil war inSpain. All ofwhich would inflict profound anguish and hardship upon the Order.

Spain suffered a brutal civil war accompanied by an explosion of violentanticlericalism. More than a hundred Augustinian friars from the four Provincesweremartyred, among whom was Anselmo Polanco, bishop of Teruel, who was beatified byJohnPaul II. The Province of Germany lost 70 brothers in World War II. The Province ofPolandmourned the death of eight brothers. Violent unrest was not limited to Europe.Mexicoexperienced persecution and bore the fruits of martyrdom, as in the case ofBlessed Elias del

Socorro Nieves.

The Order found new vitality after World War II, in the context of a society thatendured pain and loss and struggled to retrieve human and religious values. Thenumber ofProvinces in the United States increased with the birth of the Midwest Province(Chicago), in1941, and the foundation of the Western (California) Province. The EuropeanProvinces ofItaly, Ireland, Germany and Spain, and the Mexican Province of Michoacan, alsofounded

communities in the United States. The Spanish Provinces founded newcircumscriptions inBrazil (vicariates of Castillia, Spain and Matritense in Brsil), Argentina-Uruguay, Venezuelaand . more recently . in Panama and Central America, intensifying the presence ofthe Orderin Latin America.

The Province of Holland established a Vicariate in Bolivia. Chicago and theItalianFederation did the same in Peru. The Province of Malta went to Brazil, and the

Irish Provinceto Ecuador.

The exiles from the Province of Bohemia during the communist dictatorship foundedthe Vicariate of Vienna.

Ireland, after consolidating the Augustinian presence in Australia, established a


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newProvince there in 1952. After years of missionary work in Africa, the IrishProvince alsocreated a Vice-Province in Nigeria, which achieved status as a Province in 2001.

More and more, Augustinian life reached geographical areas where it had neverexisted or where it had been absent for centuries.

The Provinces of Belgium and Germany opened new mission posts in Congo.Likewise, the Province of Holland set up missions in Papua. Throughout the 20thcentury, theHoly See entrusted some significant missionary duties to the Order under the formofApostolic Vicariates in Peru, Argentina, Nigeria, Congo, and Papua.

The Province of the Philippines founded communities in Tanzania and India, andrenewed contacts in China, reconnecting with our Chinese brothers. The mission inChina,where Fr. Abilio Gallego was martyred, had been established at the end of the 19thcentury.


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The Province of Poland regained strength and was able to recover the friary ofSaintCatherine in Krakow, its Mother House. The Czech friars of the Bohemian Provinceand ofthe Abbey of Brno . who remained in their homeland and survived the communistregime .were able to restart Augustinian life after the fall of the Berlin wall in 1989.

The Province of Villanova opened missions in Japan and South Africa, while theProvinces of England and Australia founded communities in Korea, with theimmediateparticipation of the young Province of Cebu in the Philippines.

Before the unification of the Italian Provinces, the Province of Umbria opened amission in Slovakia, which is now part of the Italian Province. The General Curiaopened a

mission in Kenya with the help of several Circumscriptions.

During the 20th century, the Order took up educational apostolates in manycountries,establishing secondary schools and universities. At the same time, there was asignificantincrease in its collaboration in parochial ministries.

In 1933, the Province of Malta made the courageous decision of opening a community

in a particularly symbolic Augustinian location, the ancient city of Hippo,present-dayAnnaba, in Algeria.

In the 1960 s, the 2nd Vatican Council invited religious communities to return to theorigins of their foundations as a way of inspiring a renewal of religious life.This opportunitywas whole-heartedly embraced by the Order and it stimulated wide interest in thestudy of

Augustinian spirituality, since Augustine and his way of life are an essentialsource of ourcharism. The revision of the Constitutions (1968), and the approval of the RatioInstitutionis(1995) . a document guiding the formation of new candidates . are a fruit of thisreflection.


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9. Present and future

Today the Order continues to follow its path of service to the Church and strivestolive by its ideals. Following the counsel of the last General Chapters, the Orderis nowreaching out to new geographical, social and cultural frontiers in greatersolidarity with thehuman family and fuller collaboration in the mission of the Church. A number ofsignificantinitiatives have been undertaken in this spirit: sharing our mission andspirituality with laypeople and promoting Augustinian Secular Fraternities; special attention to youththrough thesponsorship and organization of international youth gatherings; a working presencein the UNas a Non-Governmental Organization; collaboration and leadership in makingavailable thecomplete works of Saint Augustine on the Internet and in various languages;

publishingprinted materials and producing audiovisual materials to promote a betterknowledge ofAugustine and his thought.

This attention to the mission of the Augustinian Order today has prompted otherimportant initiatives. In the spirit of our roots as a mendicant order, there hasbeen an effort toincrease communication and international collaboration among the Provinces, andbetweenthem and the General Curia; a greater number of joint projects and activities are

underway,


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usually by means of National or International Federations; future planning is morefrequentlycarried out collaboratively to enhance the quality of our ministry in the Churchfor the worldof today. For instance, in Latin America the Order began a process of personal and

community renewal in 1992, in order to improve our response to the needs of thecontinent.In addition, thanks to the planning and work done by a number of commissions,severalinternational events have taken place in the Order, such as congresses, studyweeks, meetingsof lay people, formators, youth, vocation promoters and specialists in theAugustinian Order.

At the same time, the many branches of the verdant tree which is the AugustinianFamily . recognizing Saint Augustine as their common Father, and sharing anintimate

spiritual bond . have worked to strengthen their relationship to one another.

The Order continually strives to be attentive to the signs of the times. What isrevealedare the most pressing needs arising from the often unique circumstances of thepeople in theregions we serve. After reading those signs, choices are made to shape and directourapostolic and cultural presence. Accordingly, some communities promotescholarship, whileothers direct their energies to liturgy, new social initiatives or traditional

activities, such asmissions, education or parish ministry. In all cases, the friars work to integrateGospel valuesin a particular social and cultural context.

Augustinian and Patristic studies have a special place in our schools and inpublications disseminated by a number of Provinces. The prestigious AugustinianPatristicInstitute of Rome deserves special mention, since it offers an extraordinaryintellectualservice to the Church in studies and research on the Fathers of the Church. At a

differentlevel, an Institute of Augustinian Spirituality was recently founded offeringinternational andregional workshops. Other centers of higher education, such as Universities andColleges .plus the presence of Augustinian friars in different universities . are anoutstandingcontribution of the Order to the Church for the evangelization of culture.


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The Provinces of Nigeria and the Philippines (Santo Nino of Cebu) are the youngest

in the Order. The Province of Colombia, and most recently Peru have regainedordinarygovernance as a result of an increase in the number of friars.

There are signs of hope in our work for new vocations in various regions of theOrder;for example in almost all of Latin America. The same can be said for some areas inAfricaand Asia, particularly India and the Philippines.

By contrast, other Provinces with a considerable historical tradition . locatedwithinmarkedly secularized societies . suffer a shortage of new members and aprogressive aging.In a response to this reality, with the purpose of supporting community life and

providingquality ministry for the Church s mission, the Order promotes a reorganization of the currentregions through the merging of some Provinces or the modification of theirjuridical status.

After joining the Church in the celebration of the Jubilee Year in 2000, the Prior

General and his Council invited the entire Augustinian Family to celebrate threesuccessiveJubilee Years: the anniversary of Saint Augustine s birth in 2004; the combined

anniversariesof the death of Saint Nicholas of Tolentine (700th anniversary) and the death ofSaint Thomas


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of Villanova (450th anniversary), both in 2005; and the 750th anniversary of theGrand Union,the Order s foundation, in 2006. The events and initiatives surrounding these jubilees haveprovided valuable opportunities of Augustinian and ecclesial renewal for theentireAugustinian family and the wider Church community with whom we minister.

Sensitivity to social and cultural issues has grown in recent decades, increasingtheinitiatives in favor of those most in need. In that context, the General Chapterof 2001decided to intensify our attention to Africa, where a number of Provinces havebeen engagedin effective ministry for years.

When we began this journey, we admitted that retelling history is seldom as simpleasit may seem. Nonetheless, the images and commentary we have shared have allowed ustolook out upon the vast historical landscape of the Augustinian Order and see howinspiration,dreams, disappointment and victories have been woven together. It is a historythat is, indeed,stimulating; but one which also, leaves us with some unanswered questions. It is acertificateof achievement as well as a mirror reflecting our humanity.

Founded to proclaim the salvation that is ours in Jesus Christ, the AugustinianOrderrecognizes that its most valuable patrimony is people. These are, in the firstplace, its saintlyand blessed members and the missionaries that proclaimed the Gospel in differentculturalcontexts; men and women in love with God, who were not embarrassed by that Gospel.

Alongside them are the theologians, scientists, writers, artists, professors,pastoral ministers,tailors, carpenters. With them, too, are the sisters of contemplative life who maynot have

passports, but who understand what it means to travel across the landscape of thespirit. Theyhave learned that the only way to reach God is when dressed in robes of silence.They aremen and women who lived on the edge of heroism, and preached the Gospel withintelligenceand authenticity, authentic evangelizers who shun routine and convention and offerthe worlda witness of community life and an unmistakable preference for the poor andhumble.


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We celebrate this history and pledge to carry it forward. We believe that the loveofGod reaches every woman and man across time, in the present and into the future.We are thebearers, witnesses and teachers of Augustinian spirituality. Augustine s message hasconquered time, penetrating the most intimate recesses of the human heart.

As at Pentecost, Mary . our Mother of Good Counsel, has walked alongside usthroughout this many-faceted history. She reminds us that only the Spirit of Godcan makeour life truly fruitful. When the action of the Spirit inspires and shapes ourefforts and plans,history is transformed into a journey toward the Reign of God.


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