HERMITS
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HERMITS
teenth century. At the present time there exists a
body of hermits on a mountain near Cordova.
We see, therefore, that the Church has always been anxious to form the hermits into communities. Never- theless, many preferred their independence and their solitude. They were numerous in Italy, Spain, France, and Flanders in the seventeenth century. Benedict XIII and Urban VIII took measures to pre- vent the abuses likely to arise from too great inde- pendence. Since then the eremitic hfe has been grad- ually abandoned, and the attempts made to revive it in the last century have had no success. (See Augus- tine, Rule of Saint; Camaldolese; Carmelite Order; Carthusian Order; Hiergnymites; also under Greek Church, Vol. VI, p. 761.)
BuLTEAU, Histoire des vioincs d'Orient (Paris, 1678); Ros- WEYDE, VitcE Palrum. P. L.. LXXIII, LXXIV; Besse, Lea moines d'Orient (Paris, 1900); Mabillon, Annates ordinis S. Benedicti (6 vols., Paris, 1703-.39); Helyot, Histoire des ordres monastiques. Ill, IV, VIII (Paris, 1792); Heimbucher. Die Orden und Kongregationen der katholischen Kirehe, I (Pader- bom, 1908).
J. M. Besse.
Hermits of St. Augustine (generally called Augus- tinians and not to be confounded with the Augustin- ian Canons), a religious ortler which in the thirteenth century combined several monastic societies into one, under this name. The order has done much to extend the influence of the Church, to propagate the Faith, and to advance learning.
Foundation. — As is well known, St. Augustine of Hippo, first with some friends and afterwards, as bishop, with his clergy, led a monastic community life. Vows were not obligatory, but the possession of pri- vate property was prohibited. Their manner of life led others to imitate them. Instructions for their guidance were found in several writings of St. Augus- tine, especially in "De opere monachorum" (P. L., XL, .527), mentioned in the ancient codices regularum of the eighth or ninth century as " The Rule of St. Au- gustine". Epistola ccxi, otherwise cix (P. L., XXXIII, 958) , contains the early " Augustinian Rule for Nuns " ; epistokB ccclv and ccclvi (P. L., XXXIX, 1570) "De moribus clericorum". The instructions herein con- tained formed the basis of the rule which, in accordance with the decree of the Lateran Synod, in 1059, was adopted by canons desiring to practise a common apos- tolic life (Holstenius, "Codex regularum", II, Rome, 1661, 120). Thence the title "Canons Regular of St. Augustine". Later, many monastic societies and brotherhoods, especially in Italy, adopted the Augus- tinian Rule, either voluntarily or by command of the pope, without, however, giving up certain peculiarities of life and dress introduced by the founder, or handed down by custom. These differences led to their being confounded with other orders (e. g., the Friars Minor) and gave rise to quarrels. To remedy these evils and to ensure harmony and unity amongst the various re- ligious congregations. Pope Alexander IV sought to unite them into one order. For this purpose he com- manded that two delegates be sent to Rome from each of the hermit monasteries, to discuss, under the presi- dency of Cardinal Richard of Santi Angeli, the ques- tion of union. The first meeting of the delegates took place on the first of March, 1256, and resulted in a union. Lanfranc Septala of Milan, Prior of the Bo- nites, was appointed the first prior-general of the new order. A uniform black habit was adopted, and the staves formerly carried by the Bonites to distinguish them from Friars Minor were dispensed with. The Bull "Licet ecclesise catholica>", issued on 4 May, 1256 (BuUarium Taurinense, 3rd ed., 635 sq.), ratified these proceedings and may lie regarded as the fovmda- tion-charter of the " Ordo Eremitarum S. Augustini " ; and furthermore, the pope commanded that all hermit monasteries which had sent no delegates, should con- form to the newly drawn up Constitutions.
Extension of the Order. — The Bull "Licet ec-
clesiae catholicae " mentions the hermit convents which
had been invited to take part in the proceedings at
Rome, in 1256, which led to the union. " Qusedam
[domus] S. Ciuillelmi, qua?dam S. Augustini ordinum,
nonnulte autem fratris Joannis Boni, aliqua" vero de
F^abali, alia' vero de Britinis." — According to this
statement, the original branches of the hermits were:
(1) The Williamites, founded by St. William of Male-
val shortly before his death in 1157. F'rom this con-
gregation sprang two others, the principal houses be-
ing at Stabulum Rodis, in the valley of Maleval, and
at Fabah on Monte Fabali. The mode of life, origi-
nally very severe, was mitigated by Pope Gregory IX,
under whom the majority of the W'illiamite monas-
teries adopted the Rule of St. Benedict. When these
were required by the Bull " Licet ecclesia' catholica "
to join the new order, they raised objections and ob-
tained a prohibition to exchange the Benedictine Rule
for the milder one of the Augustinians. (See Guil. de
Waha, "Explanatiovita>S.GuillelmiMagni" etc. ,1693;
"Acta Sanct. Boll.", Feb., II, 450 sqq.; "Kirchen-
lex. ", 2nd ed., XII, 1609 sqq.) (2) Several unspecified
houses of the Order of St. Augustine, established
chiefly in Italy, and forming separate congregations.
To these belong the Hermits of the Holy Trinity in
Tuscany, who had already been united into an Augus-
tinian congregation by Pope Innocent IV, in 1243,
with Cardinal Richard for a protector, and with indul-
gences granted to those who visited their churches (in
1244). (3) The Bonites, so called from their founder,
Blessed John Buoni, a member of the Buonuomini
family, born about 1168 in Mantua. He lived a her-
mit's life at Cesena, and died in his native city in 1249
(Lodi, "Vita e miracoli del b. Giov. Buoni", Mantua,
1591; "Acta SS. Boll.", Oct., IX, 693 sq.). In the
year 1256 the Bonites possessed eleven monasteries
and gave the first general to the Augustinian Order
(see above). (4) The Brittinians (Brictinians), so
called from their oldest foundation, that of St. Blasius
de Brittinis, near Fano, in the district of Ancona.
Many congregations, such as the Brothers of Penance
of Christ {Saccati, or "Sack-bearers"), the founda-
tions of Durandus of Huesca (Osca), and those of the
"Catholic Poor", united with the Bonites.
The Hermits of St. Augustine spread rapidl}', partly because they did not radiate from a single parent monastery, and partly because, after violent conflicts in the previously existing congregations, the active life was finally adopted by the greater number of com- munities, following the example of the Friars Minor and the Dominicans. To the Brittinians alone, in 1260, was granted permission to continue following the contemplative life. A few years after the reorgani- zation of the Augustinian Ortler, Hermit monasteries sprang up in Germany, France, and Spain. Germany soon possessed forty, many of them large and impor- tant, such as those at Mainz, Wiirzburg, Worms, Nuremberg, Speyer, Strasburg, Ratisbon, all built between 1260 and 1270. As early as the year 1299, the German province was divided into four sub- provinces: the Rhenish-Swabian, the Cologne, the Bavarian, and the Saxon. At the period of its greatest prosperity the order possessed 42 provinces and 2 vicariates numbering 2000 monasteries and about 30,000 members. (Cf . Aug. Lubin, " Orbis Augustini- anus sive conventuum O. Erem. S. A. chorogiaphica et topographica d&scriptio", Paris, 1659, 1671, 1672.)
Present Condition of the Order. — Since the sixteenth century the order, owing to many causes, particularly to the Reformation, lost numbers of mon- asteries. During the French Revolution the greater part of the 157 monasteries were destroyed, as well as all the monasteries of the Discalced Augustinian Her- mits. The secularization of the religious houses in Germany, Austria, and Italy brought about great losses. In 1835, out of a total of 153 in Spain, 105 were suppressed. The Augustinian monasteries in
