totustuus20 Posted December 22, 2014 Share Posted December 22, 2014 I know a lot of religious orders are modeled after the Rule of St. Augustine, and I was wondering what that means. I tried to figure it out, but it seems like it is all jibberish. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
puellapaschalis Posted December 22, 2014 Share Posted December 22, 2014 St. Augustine wrote a rule of life for the religious communities he founded. The text itself is bound to be Googleable, and I don't think it's that long, so you can take a look for yourself. Whilst lots of orders and congregations follow St. Augustine's rule, they also have their own constitutions which make them unique. Those will adapt the rule to suit a particular time, place, or charism, etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheresaThoma Posted December 23, 2014 Share Posted December 23, 2014 Here is a link from EWTN with the rule. http://www.ewtn.com/library/PRIESTS/AUGRULE.TXT Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
totustuus20 Posted December 23, 2014 Author Share Posted December 23, 2014 Thank you so much! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
truthfinder Posted December 23, 2014 Share Posted December 23, 2014 It also has to do with a medieval prohibition on new rules. Many old communities such as the Norbertines started with their own rule, but when the prohibition occurred, most communities had to adopt one of a couple rules: Benedict, Albert, Augustine, Francis (although this was a bit of an exception if I recall correctly.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sr Mary Catharine OP Posted December 23, 2014 Share Posted December 23, 2014 As Dominicans we follow the rule of St. Augustine and it really does inform our way of life. The opening lines of the rule as in our constitutions is, "The FIRST REASON you have come to the monastery is to be of one mind and heart in God." This really does affect how we live our life and try to follow the Gospel. The common life is a big part of our life and often the most difficult for new comers. St. Augustine's understanding of forgiveness, of the tension between the common good and the need of the individual, etc. all are a part of our life. In my own monastery we follow some of the more "particular" aspects of the rule like not making your own clothes or doing your own laundry but one or two sisters are assigned to that so that we don't become fixated on caring for our clothing as though it were our own. And St. Augustine exhorts us to live the rule as FREE WOMEN LIVING UNDER GRACE! Now how wonderful is that?! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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