The Rule of Saint Augustine
Written about the year 400, the Rule of St. Augustine
is one of the earliest guides for religious life. A short document, it is
divided into eight chapters:
Chapter I: Purpose and basis of common life
Chapter II: Prayer
Chapter III: Moderation and self denial
Chapter IV: Safeguarding chastity, and fraternal correction
Chapter V: Care of community goods and treatment of the sick
Chapter VI: Asking pardon and forgiving offences
Chapter VII: Governance and obedience
Chapter VIII: Observance of the Rule
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Chapter I
Purpose and basis of common life
Before all else, dear brothers, love God and then your neighbour, because
these are the chief commandments given to us.
1. The following are the precepts we order you who are living in the monastery
to observe.
2. The main purpose for you having come together is to live harmoniously
in your house, intent upon God in unity of mind and heart.
3. Call nothing your own, but let everything be held in common. Food and
clothing shall be distributed to each of you by your superior, not equally
to all, for not all enjoy equal health, but rather according to each one's
need. For so you read in the Acts of the Apostles that "all things were common
unto them... and distribution was made to each one, according as he had need"
(4:32,35).
4. Those who owned something in the world should be careful to want to share
it in common, once they have entered the monastery.
5. But they who owned nothing should not look for those things in the monastery
that they were unable to have in the world. Nevertheless, they are to be given
all that their health requires, even if, during their time in the world, poverty
made it impossible for them to find even the necessities of life. They should
not consider themselves fortunate because they have found the kind of food
and clothing which they were unable to find in the world.
6. And let them not hold their heads high, because they associate with people
whom they did not dare to approach in the world, but let them rather lift
up their hearts and not seek after what is vain and earthly. Otherwise, monasteries
will come to serve a useful purpose for the rich, and not the poor, if the
rich are made humble there and the poor are puffed up with pride.
7. The rich, for their part, who seemed important in the world, must not
look down upon their brothers who have come into this holy brotherhood from
a condition of poverty. They should seek to glory in the fellowship of poor
brothers, rather than in the reputation of rich relatives. They should neither
be elated if they have contributed a part of their wealth to the common life,
nor take more pride in sharing their riches with the monastery than if they
were to enjoy them in the world. Indeed, every other kind of sin has to do
with the commission of evil deeds, whereas pride lurks even in good works
in order to destroy them. And what good is it to scatter one's wealth by giving
to the poor, even to become poor oneself, when the unhappy soul is thereby
more given to pride in despising riches than it had been in possessing them?
8. Let all of you, then, live together in unity of mind and heart, mutually
honouring God in yourselves, whose temples you have become.
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Chapter II
Prayer
1. "Be instant in prayer" (Col. 4:2) at the hours and times appointed.
2. In the oratory, no one should do anything other than that for which it
was intended and from which it takes its name - that is to pray. Consequently,
if some might wish to pray there during their free time, even outside the
hours appointed, they should not be hindered by those who think something
else must be done.
3. When you pray to God in psalms and hymns, consider in your hearts the
words that come from your lips.
4. Chant only what is prescribed for chant; moreover, let nothing be chanted
unless it is so prescribed.
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Chapter III
Moderation and self-denial
1. Subdue the flesh, as far as your health permits, by fasting and abstinence
from food and drink. However, when someone is unable to fast, he should still
take no food outside mealtimes, unless he is ill.
2. When you come to table, listen until you leave to what is customary to
read, without disturbance or strife. Do not let only your mouths take nourishment,
but let your hearts also hunger for the words of God.
3. If those in more delicate health from their former way of life are treated
differently in the matter of food, this should not be a source of annoyance
to the others or appear unjust in the eyes of those who owe their stronger
health to different habits of life. Nor should the healthier brothers deem
those brothers more fortunate for having food which they themselves do not
have, but rather consider themselves fortunate for having the good health
which the other brothers do not enjoy.
4. If something in the way of food, clothing and bedding is given to those
coming to the monastery from a more genteel way of life, which is not given
to those who are stronger and therefore happier, then these latter ought to
consider how far the others have come in moving from their life in the world
down to this life of ours, though they have been unable to reach the level
of frugality common to the stronger brothers. Nor should all want to receive
what they see given in larger measure to the few, not as a token of honour,
but as a help to support them in their weakness. This would give rise to
a deplorable disorder - that in the monastery, where the rich come to bear
as much hardship as they can, the poor are turning to a more genteel way
of life.
5. Just as the sick must take less food to avoid discomfort, so too, after
their illness, they are to receive the kind of treatment that will quickly
restore their strength, even though they come from a life of extreme poverty.
Their more recent illness has, as it were, afforded them what accrued to the
rich as part of their former way of life. But when they have recovered their
former strength, they should go back to their happier way of life which, because
their needs are fewer, is all the more in keeping with God's servants. Once
in good health, they must not become slaves to the enjoyment of food which
was necessary to sustain them in their illness. For it is better to suffer
a little want than to have too much.
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Chapter IV
Safeguarding chastity, and fraternal correction
1. There should be nothing about your clothing to attract attention. In
any case, you should not seek to please by your clothes, but by a good life.
2. Whenever you go out, walk together and, when you reach your destination,
stay together.
3. In your walking, deportment and all actions, let nothing occur to give
offence to anyone who sees you, but only do what becomes your holy state of
life.
4. Although your eyes may chance to rest upon some woman or other, you must
not fix your gaze upon any woman. Seeing women when you go out is not forbidden,
but it is sinful to desire them or to wish them to desire you, for it is not
by touch or passionate feeling alone, but by one's gaze also that lustful
desires mutually arise. Do not say that your hearts are pure if there is immodesty
of the eye, because the unchaste eye carries the message of an impure heart.
When such hearts disclose their unchaste desires in a mutual gaze, even without
saying a word, then chastity suddenly goes out of their life, even though
their bodies remain unsullied by unchaste acts.
5. Whoever fixes his gaze upon a woman and likes to have hers fixed upon
him must not suppose that others do not see what he is doing. He is very much
seen, even by those he thinks do not see him. But suppose all this escapes
the notice of man - what will he do about God Who sees from on high and from
Whom nothing is hidden? Or are we to imagine that He does not see because
He sees with a patience as great as His wisdom? Let the religious man, then,
have such fear of God that he will not want to be an occasion of sinful pleasure
to a woman. Ever mindful that God sees all things, let him not desire to look
at a woman lustfully. For it is on this point that fear of the Lord is recommended,
where it is written: "Hell and destruction are never filled: so the eyes
of men are never satisfied." (Prov. 27:20)
6. So when you are together in church and anywhere else where women are
present, exercise a mutual care over purity of life. Thus, by mutual vigilance
over one another will God, who dwells in you, grant you His protection.
7. If you notice in one of your brothers this wantonness of the eye, of
which I am speaking, admonish him at once so that the beginning of evil will
not grow more serious, but will be promptly corrected.
8. But if you see him doing the same thing again another day, even after
your admonition, then whoever had occasion to discover this must report him
as he would a wounded man in need of treatment. But let the offence first
be pointed out to two or three so that he can be proven guilty on the testimony
of these two or three and be punished with due severity. Do not accuse yourselves
of ill-will when you bring this offence to light. Indeed, yours is the greater
blame if you allow your brothers to be lost through your silence when you
are able to bring about their correction by your disclosure. If your brother,
for example, were suffering a bodily wound that he wanted to hide for fear
of undergoing treatment, would it not be cruel of you to remain silent, and
a mercy on your part to make this known? How much greater, then, is your obligation
to make his condition known, lest he continue to suffer a more deadly wound
of the soul.
9. But if he fails to correct the fault, despite this admonition, he should
first be brought to the attention of the superior before the offence is made
known to the others who will have to prove his guilt, in case he denies the
charge. Thus, corrected in private, his fault can perhaps be kept from the
others. But should he feign ignorance, the others are to be summoned so that
he can be proven guilty in the presence of all, rather than stand accused
on the word of one alone. Once proven guilty, he must undergo salutary punishment
according to the judgment of the superior or priest having proper authority.
If he refuses to submit to punishment, he shall be expelled from your brotherhood,
even if he does not withdraw of his own accord. This, too, is not done out
of cruelty, but from a sense of compassion, so that many others may not be
lost through his bad example.
10. And let everything I have said about not fixing one's gaze be also carefully
and faithfully observed with regard to other offences: to find them out, to
ward them off, to make them known, to prove and punish them - all out of
love for man and a hatred of sin.
11. If anyone should go so far in wrongdoing as to receive secret letters
from any woman or small gifts of any kind, you ought to show mercy and pray
for him if he confesses this of his own accord. But if the offence is detected
and he is found guilty, he must be more severely chastised, according to the
judgment of the priest or superior.
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Chapter V
Care of community goods and treatment of the sick
1. Keep your clothes in one place in the charge of one or two brothers,
or as many as are needed to care for them and to prevent damage from moths.
Just as you have your food from the one pantry, so, too, you are to receive
your clothing from a single wardrobe. If possible, do not be concerned about
what you are given to wear at the change of seasons, whether each of you gets
back what he had put away or something different, providing nobody is denied
what he needs. If disputes and murmuring arise because someone complains that
he received poorer clothing than he had before and thinks it is beneath him
to wear the kind of clothing worn by another, you may judge from this how
lacking you are in that holy and inner garment of the heart when you quarrel
over garments for the body. But if allowance is made for your weakness and
you do receive the same clothing you had put away, you must still keep it
in one place under a common charge.
2. In this way, no one shall perform any task for his own benefit, but all
your work shall be done for the common good, with greater zeal and more haste
than if each of you were to work for yourself alone. For charity, as it is
written, "seeketh not her own"16:51 08/10/2006 (1 Cor 13:5), meaning that
it places the common good before its own, not its own before the common good.
So whenever you show greater concern for the common good than for your own,
you know that you are growing in charity. Thus let the abiding virtue of charity
prevail in all things that minister to the fleeting necessities of life.
3. It follows, therefore, that if anyone brings something for their sons
or other relatives living in the monastery, whether a garment or anything
else they think is needed, this must not be accepted secretly as one's own,
but must be placed at the disposal of the superior so that, as common property,
it can be given to whoever needs it. If someone secretly keeps something given
to him, he shall be judged guilty of theft.
4. Your clothing should be cleaned either by yourselves or by those who
perform this service, as the superior shall decide, so that too great a desire
for clean clothing may not be the source of interior stains on the soul.
5. As for bodily cleanliness too, a brother must never deny himself the
use of the bath when his health requires it. But this should be done on medical
advice, without complaining, so that, even though unwilling, he shall do what
has to be done for his health when the superior orders it. However, if the
brother wishes it when it might not be good for him, you must not comply
with his desire, for sometimes we think something is beneficial for the pleasure
it gives, even though it may prove harmful.
6. Finally, if the cause of a brother's bodily pain is not apparent, you
may take the word of God's servant when he indicates what is giving him pain.
But if it remains uncertain whether the remedy he likes is good for him, a
doctor should be consulted.
7. When there is need to go to the public baths or any other place, no fewer
than two or three should go together. Whoever has to go somewhere must not
go with those of his own choice, but with those designated by the superior.
8. The care of the sick, whether those in convalescence or others suffering
from some indisposition, even though free of fever, shall be assigned to a
brother who can personally obtain from the pantry whatever he considers necessary
for each one.
9. Those in charge of the pantry, or of clothing and books, should render
cheerful service to their brothers.
10. Books are to be requested at a fixed hour each day, and anyone coming
outside that hour is not to receive them.
11. As for clothing and shoes, those in charge shall not delay the giving
of them whenever they are required by those who need them.
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Chapter VI
Asking pardon and forgiving offences
1.You should either avoid quarrels altogether or else put an end to them
as quickly as possible; otherwise, anger may grow into hatred, making a plank
out of a splinter, and turn the soul into a murderer. For so you read: "Whosoever
hateth his brother is a murderer" (1 Jn. 3:15).
2. Whoever has injured another by open insult or by abusive or even incriminating
language, must remember to repair the injury as quickly as possible by an
apology. He who suffered the injury must also forgive, without further wrangling.
But if they have offended one another, they must forgive one another's trespasses
for the sake of your prayers which should be recited with greater sincerity
each time you repeat them. Although a brother is often tempted to anger, yet
prompt to ask pardon from one he admits to having offended, such a one is
better than another who, though less given to anger, finds it too hard to
ask forgiveness. But a brother who is never willing to ask pardon, or does
not do so from his heart, has no reason to be in the monastery, even if he
is not expelled. So you must avoid being too harsh in your words and, should
they escape your lips, let those same lips not be ashamed to heal the wounds
they have caused.
3. Whenever the good of discipline requires you to speak harshly in correcting
your subjects, then, even if you think you have been unduly harsh in your
language, you are not required to ask forgiveness lest, by practising too
great humility toward those who should be your subjects, the authority to
rule is undermined. But you should still ask forgiveness from the Lord of
all, Who knows with what deep affection you love even those whom you might
happen to correct with undue severity. Besides, you are to love another with
a spiritual, rather than an earthly, love.
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Chapter VII
Governance and obedience
1. The superior should be obeyed as a father with the respect due him, so
as not to offend God in his person, and, even more so, the priest who bears
responsibility for you all.
2. It shall chiefly be a matter for the superior to see that these precepts
are all observed and, if any point has been neglected, to take care that the
transgression is not carelessly overlooked, but is punished and corrected.
In doing so, he must refer whatever exceeds the limit and power of his office
to the priest who enjoys greater authority among you.
3. The superior, for his part, must not think himself fortunate in his exercise
of authority but in his role as one serving you in love. In your eyes, he
shall hold the first place among you by the dignity of his office, but in
fear before God, he shall be as the least among you. He must show himself
as an example of good works toward all. "We beseech you, brethren, rebuke
the disorderly, comfort the feeble-minded, support the weak, be patient towards
all men" (1 Thess. 5:14). Let him uphold discipline while instilling fear.
And though both are necessary, he should strive to be loved by you, rather
than feared, ever mindful that he must give an account of you to God.
4. It is by being more obedient, therefore, that you show mercy, not only
toward yourselves, but also toward the superior whose higher rank among you
exposes him all the more to greater peril.
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Chapter VIII
Observance of the Rule
1. The Lord grant that you may observe all these precepts in a spirit of
charity as lovers of spiritual beauty, giving forth the good odour of Christ
in the holiness of your lives: not as slaves living under the law, but as
men living in freedom under grace.
2. And that you may see yourselves in this little book, as in a mirror,
have it read to you once a week, so that you do not neglect even one point
through forgetfulness. When you find that you are doing all that has been
written, give thanks to the Lord, the Giver of every good. But when one of
you finds that he has failed on any point, let him be sorry for the past,
be on his guard for the future, praying that he will be forgiven his fault
and not be led into temptation.
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This translation by Robert Russell OSA is based on the text by Luc Verheijen
OSA (La regle de saint Augustin, Etudes Augustiniennes, Paris, 1967). Two
sentences not contained in the Verheijen text have been included to conform
with the official text published with the Constitutiones Ordinis Fratrum S.
Augustini (Rome 1968). They are the opening sentence of the Rule and, from
Chapter V: "If someone secretly keeps something given to him, he shall be
judged guilty of theft."