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One Mind, One Heart:
St. Augustine's Spirituality of Religious Community Life

St. Augustine is recognized as one of the most influential architects of monastic community life in the Western Church. His Rule provides the basic principles which guide not only the Augustinians of the twenty-first century, but hundreds of other contemporary religious communities as well.

Augustine's Early Experiences of Christian Monastic Community

Even before his conversion to Jesus Christ, Augustine was drawn to life in community. Following his turn away from the ways of the world and his embracing of the ways of Christ in the year 386, sealed by his Baptism in 387, he gave up his teaching position in Milan and visited several existing Christian monastic communities.

He saw people living in harmony and devotion to God. They prayed, studied and discussed together. They worked to support themselves, and shared with each other all they possessed. Christian love of each other and love of God were central values of their way of life. Their style of life appealed to Augustine.

Augustine returned home to Africa, gave his material goods to the poor and turned his home in Tagaste into a monastery for himself and a group of friends who joined him there.

In this house, the community's ambition was to love and unite themselves to God through prayer and monastic harmony. Compassion for others in need soon led the group to complement its contemplative dimension with active charitable service.

After four years of living in community in Tagaste, Augustine found himself walking one day to the city of Hippo. He was going there to look for a possible location for another monastery. He stopped to worship at the church there.

Bishop Valerius was preaching. His remarks included the need for a fit and holy priest in Hippo. By this time Augustine's fame as a holy man had spread. The people recognized him and immediately insisted that he would be the ideal new priest.

Augustine accepted this call and was ordained a priest in 391. His priesthood could have pulled him away from life in community, but it did not. He founded his new monastery in Hippo. A number of men of all social classes were quickly attracted to this new community.

A year later, Augustine established a third monastery. This one was in Carthage, a center of learning in Roman Africa. Monastic life there was based on the same principles as the life in Hippo and Tagaste.

Following his ordination as Bishop in 395, Augustine had to change his residence. He did so, but in the process did not give up life in community. Instead, he gathered the clergy of Hippo into a new community. Here, he established a program of formation in which candidates for priesthood would study Sacred Scripture and grow in knowledge of God.

Augustine's Vision of Christian Monastic Community

These early experiences of monastic or community life helped shape Augustine's vision of what a Christian monastic community should be. Always the biblical description of the first Christian community in Jerusalem (Acts 2:42-47; 4:32-35) served as the foundation of his views.

Augustine's vision of life in community, as found in his Rule and other writings, includes two essential elements: the union of hearts and the community of goods.

Indeed, the first two precepts in the Rule are:

• The main purpose for your having come together is to live together in harmony, intent upon God in unity of mind and heart. and

• Call nothing your own, but let everything be yours in common. ... Your superior should see to it that each person is provided with food and clothing. He does not have to give exactly the same to everyone, for you are not all equally strong, but each person should be given what he personally needs. For so you read in the Acts of the Apostles that "they had all things in common and distribution was made to each one according to each one's need." (Acts 4:32,35)

From these flow several fundamental principles of the Augustinian spirituality of community life:

• Mutual Charity - To be a friar means serving God united with others in a community of hearts. Harmony, support of each other out of Christian love, forgiveness and fraternal correction when necessary, but always charitably motivated, are essential.

• Poverty - Common ownership of goods helps put the interests of Jesus Christ before the interests of the individual. The goods of the community should be neither overly rich nor overly poor. They should be sufficient to meet the needs of all. The sharing of goods in common, rather than individual seeking to acquire and possess, builds community.

• Obedience - This arises from the friar's agreement to be part of the community. It is accepted freely and directed by grace. It is necessary for peace and harmony. Love characterizes both the exercise of authority and obedient acceptance of it. Authority is seen as caring service.

• Chastity - Uniting oneself to the type of community envisioned by Augustine presupposes a renunciation of married life. Augustine demanded a purity of heart reflected in all external actions. Love of God and love of the community are sources of the strength that make this possible and permit spiritual delights to succeed to the place of carnal delights.

• Humility - This is an integral part of community harmony and peace. Augustine's monasteries welcomed rich and noble people as well as the very poor and those considered low class. Those with wealthy backgrounds were tempted to consider themselves somehow better than the rest. Those with backgrounds of poverty, on the other hand, were tempted to think that they were in some way superior to others of similar background because they were now considered the equals of those who had been rich. To eliminate this sort of vanity, Augustine advises a humility which honors God in one another, regardless of background, since each one has become God's temple. (2 Cor 6:16)

• Prayer - Both private prayer and community prayer are needed. Community prayer, from Augustine's time until today, usually includes singing the Psalms (called Divine Office or Liturgy of the Hours) and celebration of Eucharist. Augustine tells the friars to think in their hearts what their lips are saying. Augustine stresses that private prayer as well should come from the heart. One can pray continually from the heart even while doing other things. One can also keep a brief prayer in mind and heart and return to it frequently. One can practice prayer without words (contemplation, meditation) and prayer with words (vocal prayer). Augustine required that each monastery have a room where the friars could go during free time to pray without being interrupted or distracted by other activities.

• Active and Comtemplative Life - For Augustine the friar is not so apart from the world that he never thinks of the welfare of his neighbor, nor so active in ministry that he no longer has time for prayer and reflection. Service and ministry on the one hand, and prayer and contemplation on the other hand, are essential to Augustinian life.

• Study - Especially recommended are the study of Sacred Scripture and things of God, but the study of human matters is also encouraged. The former bring us wisdom while the latter produce knowledge.

• Labor - Augustine required honest work of his friars. He wanted them to support themselves and not be a burden on others.

--Adapted from One Mind, One Heart: Augustinian Spirituality of the Religious Life, Robert E. Heslinga, Editor
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Rule of St. Augustine Guides Order's Spirituality

The basic principles of the Augustinian spirituality of religious life can be found in Augustine's Rule. Written to guide the members of his early monasteries, this brief document presents Augustine's vision of the values that underlie the life of a vibrant and holy religious community.

In reading the Rule, one must occasionally make allowance for references to certain time-bound customs of Augustine's fifth-century culture. These include, for example, attitudes about bathing in the public baths of Roman Africa, and the "one-size-fits-all" clothing style that was the norm.

      » Read the Rule of St. Augustine

Is God Calling You to the Augustinians?

Does Augustinian spirituality and vision of religious community life appeal to you? If it does, perhaps God is calling you to the Augustinians. For information about Augustinian vocations, or to contact the Augustinian Vocations Director for help in your vocational discernment:

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