The spirituality of the Order of Saint Augustine is based on the life, writings, and teachings of Saint Augustine of Hippo, located in present-day Algeria in Africa.
The root of Augustinian spirituality can be traced to Augustine's dramatic conversion to Christianity. In his Confessions, Book Eight,
Chapter 12, Augustine speaks of hearing the voice of a child while sitting under a fig tree:
And suddenly I heard a voice from a neighboring house in a singing tune saying and often repeating,
in the voice of a boy or a girl: Take and read, take and read!' 'Tolle lege! Tolle lege!'
Immediately, Augustine returned to the place where he had left the book of the Apostles,
opened it and read in the silence of his heart the first passage that met his eyes:
Not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying:
but put you on the Lord Jesus Christ and make not provision of the flesh in concupiscence (Romans 13:13)
The spirituality of our Order, therefore, proceeds from the following of Christ according to the wisdom of the Gospel and the action of the Holy Spirit. Its principal point of reference is the teaching and example of Saint Augustine, complemented by the tradition of the Order. The principal document of our spirituality is Augustine's Rule, which directs our lives and actions and informs our characteristic values of unity, truth and charity. Community is the axis around which Augustinian religious life turns: a community of brothers who live harmoniously together, united by a single soul and a single heart, seeking God together and open to the service of the Church.
Our Charism