Augustine's schooldays - his parents deliver him to the schoolmaster

Augustine sets sail for Rome

Augustine the teacher in Rome

Augustine sets out from Rome to Milan

Augustine's conversion - Take up and read

Augustine is baptised by Ambrose

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Augustine's schooldays - his parents deliver him to the schoolmaster

1. Before all things, dear brothers, love God and then your neighbour, as these are the chief commandments given to us.

2. The following are the precepts we order you living in the monastery to observe.

Chapter I - Purpose and Basis of Common Life

3. Firstly, because you have come together in one place, that you may live harmoniously in this house, of one heart and mind in God.

4. Nor say anything is your property, but let everything be yours 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 they had all things in common and distribution was made to each one according to each one's need (4:32,35).

5. Those who owned something in the world should freely wish it to be shared amongst all.

6. 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 very necessities of life. And those should not consider themselves fortunate because them have found the kind of food and clothing which they were unable to find in the world.

7. Nor let them hold their up heads proudly, 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 worldly lest monasteries become of service to the rich and not the poor, if the rich are humbled there and the poor are puffed up with pride.

8. Indeed, those who were considered important in the world, must not look down upon their brothers who have come into this holy brotherhood from poverty. More, they should seek to glory in the fellowship of poor brothers rather than in the reputation of rich relatives. Nor should they be elated if they have contributed some part from 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 abroad by giving to the poor, and become poor oneself, when the unhappy soul is thereby more filled with pride in despising wealth than it had been in its possession ?

9. Therefore all of you, live together in oneness of mind and heart, mutually honouring God in yourselves, whose temples you have become.

Chapter II - Prayer

10. Attend to your prayers at the hours and the times appointed.

11. In the Oratory let no one do anything other than that for which was intended and from which it takes its name. Consequently, if there are by chance some who 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 there.

12. When you praise God in Psalms and hymns, turn over in your hearts the words in your voice.

13. Sing only what is declared proper for singing; moreover, let nothing be sung unless it is written that it may be sung.

Chapter III - Moderation and Self-Denial

14. Keep control of your flesh, so far as your health permits, by fasting and abstinence from food and drink. However, when someone is unable to fast, he should however take no food outside the prescribed times for meals unless he is ill.

15. When you come to table, listen until you rise again to leave to what it is the custom to read, without disturbance or strife. Let not your mouths alone take nourishment but let your ears, too, feed on the words of God.

16. Those who are infirm from their former way, if they are treated differently in the matter of food, 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 those people deem them more fortunate for having food which they do not have, but rather consider be grateful since they have health which the others do not.

17. And 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 to whom such things are not given ought to consider how far these others have come in passing 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 those who are stronger of body. 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 are coming to bear as much hardship as they can, the poor are turning to a more genteel way of life.

18. And 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 they may be restored more quickly, even though they come from a life of extreme poverty, as if their more recent illness has 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.

Chapter IV - Safeguarding Chastity, and Fraternal Correction

19. There should be nothing ostentatious about your clothing. Besides, you should not seek to please by your apparel, but by a good life.

20. Whenever you go out, walk together, and when you reach your destination, stay together.

21. In your walk, deportment, and in all actions, let nothing occur to give offence to anyone who sees you, but only what becomes your holy state of life.

22. Although your eyes may chance to light upon some woman, fix your gaze upon none of them. 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 the desire for women arises and thrives. And do not say that your hearts are pure if you have impure eyes, because the unchaste eye carries the message of an impure heart. And when such hearts announce their unchaste desires in a mutual gaze, even without saying a word, then it is that chastity suddenly goes out of their life, even though their bodies remain untouched by unchaste acts.

23. And 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 the greater notice on high 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. Knowing 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: An abomination to the Lord is he who fixes his gaze (Proverbs 27:20)

24. So when you are together in church and anywhere else where women are present, preserve your purity of life; for God, who lives in you will watch over you as well as you watch over yourselves.

25. If you notice in someone 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.

26. But if you see him doing the same thing again on some other 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 a second or third person so that he can be proven guilty on the testimony of these two or three and be punished with due severity. And do not judge yourselves malevolent when you bring this offence to light. Indeed, you yourselves are the more guilty if you allow your brothers to be lost through your silence when you are able to bring about their correction by your disclosure. If you brother, for example, were suffering a wound to his body that he wanted to hide for fear of undergoing treatment, surely it would be cruel of you to remain silent and a merciful 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.

27. But if, having been admonished, he fails to correct the fault, 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 the event he denies the charge so that corrected in private, his fault can perhaps be kept from the others. But should he deny the accusation, the others are to be summoned so that in the presence of all he can be proven guilty, not on the word of one, but of two or three. Once proven guilty, he must suffer proper punishment according to the judgment of the superior or priest having the proper authority. If he refuses to submit to punishment, he shall be cast out from your community even if he does not withdraw of his own accord. For 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.

28. And let everything I have said about not fixing one's gaze also be observed carefully and faithfully 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.

29. But if anyone should go so far in wrongdoing as to receive letters in secret from any woman, or any kind of token, if he confesses this, you ought to show that man mercy and pray for him. 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.

Chapter V - The Treatment of Those in Need and the Care of Goods

30. Keep your clothing in one place in charge of one or two, or of as many as are needed to care for them and to prevent damage from moths. And just as you are fed from the one store, so, too, you are to be clothed 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 that no one is denied what he needs. If, however, disputes and murmurings arise between you on this account 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 of his brethren, 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 the common charge.

31. In this way, no one shall perform any task for their own benefit but all your work shall be done for the common good, with greater zeal and more speed than if you were to work for your own interests. For charity, as it is written, is not self-seeking (1 Cor 13:5) meaning that it places the communal good before its own, not its own before the communal good. So whenever you show greater concern for the common good than for your own, you may 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.

32. It follows, therefore, that if anyone brings something for their sons 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. But if someone secretly keeps something given to him, he shall be judged guilty of theft.

33. Your clothing should be cleaned either by yourselves or by the launderers, as the superior shall determine, so that too great a desire for clean clothing may not be the source of interior stains on the soul.

34. 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 complaint, 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 perhaps not be good for him, his wish shall not be fulfilled. For sometimes we think something is beneficial because it pleases, even though it may prove harmful.

35. Finally, if the cause of a brother's bodily pain is not apparent, God's servant may be believed without hesitation 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.

36. When there is need to go to the baths or any other place, no fewer than two or three should go together, and whoever has to go somewhere must not go with those of his own choice but with those designated by the superior.

37. The care of the sick, whether those in convalescence after illness or others suffering from some indisposition, even though free of fever, shall be assigned to a brother who can personally obtain from the larder whatever he sees is necessary for each one.

38. Those in charge of the larder, or of clothing and books, should serve their brothers without complaint.

39. Books are to be requested at a fixed hour each day, and anyone coming outside that hour is not to receive them.

40. But as for clothing and shoes, those in charge shall not delay the giving of them whenever they are required by those in need of them.

Chapter VI - Asking Pardon and Forgiving Offences

41.Your should either have no quarrels 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: Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer (1 John 3:15).

42. 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, and 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 on account 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, is in the monastery without good reason, even if he is not expelled. You must then avoid being too harsh in your words, and should they escape your mouth, let that same mouth not be ashamed to heal the wounds they have caused.

43. But whenever the good of discipline requires you to speak harshly in correcting those in your charge, then, even if you think you have been unduly harsh in your language, you are not required to ask forgiveness lest, by practicing too great humility toward those who should be subject to you, your 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.

Chapter VII - Governance and Obedience

44. The superior should be obeyed as if he were a father, served with honour so as not to offend God in his person, and, even more so, the priest who bears responsibility for you all.

45. But it shall pertain chiefly to 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.

46. He who governs you, 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 below your feet in humility. He must show himself as an example of good works toward all. Let him admonish the unruly, cheer the fainthearted, support the weak, and be patient toward all. Let him uphold discipline readily 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.

47. 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.

Chapter VIII - Observance of the Rule

48. The Lord grant that you may observe all these precepts diligently 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.

49. And that you may see yourselves in this little book, as in a mirror, have it read to you once a week so as not to neglect any 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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