 | This article needs additional citations for verification .(July 2014) |
The Augustinian Province of England and Scotland is an administrative unit for the Order of Saint Augustine that covers England and Scotland. It comprises all the Augustinian works that take place in England and Scotland.
The Order of Saint Augustine is a Roman Catholic religious order. It was created in the 13th century and based upon the Rule of St. Augustine of Hippo. There are Augustinians in the majority of countries around the world, including Europe, Oceania and the Americas.
The Augustinians, known from medieval times in England as the Austin Friars, came to England in 1248, when Richard de Clare, Earl of Gloucester and Hertford offered Augustinian friars in Normandy, land on which to establish their first foundation in England. [1] Clare Priory thus became the first Augustinian foundation in the English-speaking world. Other houses were opened in quick succession. In 1253 they settled in London where "Austin Friars" was to become the most important house of the Order in England. [2]
The priory at Clare reflected the contemplative nature of the friars. The foundation in London reflected the missionary zeal of the new mendicant order. The next development, the setting up of houses in the university cities of Oxford (1266) and Cambridge (1289), represented the Order’s desire to further the study of theology and to maintain high standards of scholarship. Initially the houses in England had been part of the French Augustinian Province. By the year 1265 when the first provincial chapter was celebrated at Clare, England had become a separate province with its own prior provincial. Like all provinces, the English priories came under the authority of the Prior General. In 1291, Holy Jesus Hospital was founded at Newcastle upon Tyne. The priory served as a lodgings house because it was on one of the main roads to the north. (The building is used as the central office of the National Trust; The site holds remains of a 14th century church wall and window from the priory.
In 1300, the Austin Friars had twenty-two houses in Britain and a five priories in Ireland, which were then occupied principally by English Augustinians. [2] Further expansion in England raised this number to thirty-four before the end of the fourteenth century. At the moment of its greatest expansion in 1350 the province would have numbered more than 700 friars and yet the fifteenth century saw it decline until at the moment of suppression in 1538 there were only 317 members. [2] Fathers John Stone, Martin de Condres, and Paul of Saint William (all of Droitwich) were martyred at Canterbury in December 1538 for their adherence to papal supremacy despite Henry VIII's claims to the contrary. [3]
Among the members of the Province there were noteworthy writers: poet Osbern Bokenham, Biblical commentator and historian John Capgrave, Biblical translator Myles Coverdale, and William Flete, spiritual adviser to St Catherine of Siena.
In 1260 there was an Augustinian house in Berwick-upon-Tweed, then in Scotland. Robert the Bruce contributed £20 towards the building of a new Augustinian church.
Around 1344, Ralph Stafford, 1st Earl of Stafford founded a house for the Austin friars at Stafford; this was late followed by a house at Newport, Wales, where they also had a hospital. [4]
There were some attempts to restore or to continue Augustinian life by individuals who came from Spain, Rome and Ireland. Eventually, thanks to the Irish Province, it was possible to make a new start in the second half of the nineteenth century when St Monica’s, Hoxton Square, the first permanent foundation since the Reformation, was opened in 1864, followed by Our Lady of Good Counsel, Hythe (1891) and St Augustine's Church, Hammersmith (1903). The consolidation of these communities continued and was followed by significant expansion in the second half of the century. The Order took on the responsibility of the parish of SS Peter and Paul, Dundee, in 1948. The return to Scotland heralded the renaissance of the Anglo-Scottish province. Further development took place in 1951: a new school, Austin Friars, was established in Carlisle, in the north of England. Austin Friars began as a boarding school for boys (11 yrs – 18yrs), with some day pupils. In the twenty-first century, it is co-educational, educates only day pupils.
Clare Priory, the first-ever Augustinian foundation in Britain, was bought back and became the novitiate for the vice-province. [5] The first chapter of the Order to be held in England since 1532 took place at Clare in 1970. The 1970s saw further, considerable growth, with the establishment of parishes in Woodvale, Southport, and Bishop’s Court Preparatory School nearby, together with St Mary’s, Great Yarmouth. In 1973, the friars took over the parish of St Mary's Church, Harborne, Birmingham from the Passionists. [6]
With such growth, supported by generous assistance from the mother Province in Ireland and encouraged by several vocations from England and Scotland, the vice-province was granted full Province status in September 1977. Fr Bernard O’Connor became Provincial of the new Anglo-Scottish Province. Saint John Stone, martyred under Henry VIII, was named patron of the re-established Province.
As of 2024, there are 4 Augustinian communities around the UK; St. Mary's, Harborne, Clare Priory in Suffolk, St Augustine's Church, Hammersmith and St Monica's Church, Hoxton. There are around 20 Augustinian Friars in total serving in the UK involved in a variety of ministries, including prison and University chaplaincy. [7] Clare Priory, serves as a parish and retreat centre and also houses a shrine dedicated to Our Lady, Mother of Good Counsel. [1]
There is also a community of Augustinian Canonesses at the Boarbank Hall in Cumbria. [8]
Augustinians are members of several religious orders that follow the Rule of Saint Augustine, written in about 400 AD by Augustine of Hippo. There are two distinct types of Augustinians in Catholic religious orders dating back to the 12th–13th centuries:
Osbern Bokenam was an English Augustinian (Austin) friar and poet. He was a follower of Geoffrey Chaucer.
Canons regular are priests who live in community under a rule and are generally organised into religious orders, differing from both secular canons and other forms of religious life, such as clerics regular, designated by a partly similar terminology.
Edward Welby Pugin was an English architect, the eldest son of architect Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin and Louisa Barton and part of the Pugin & Pugin family of church architects. His father was an architect and designer of Neo-Gothic architecture, and after his death in 1852 Edward took up his successful practice. At the time of his own early death in 1875, Pugin had designed and completed more than one hundred Catholic churches.
The Crutched Friars were a Roman Catholic religious order in England and Ireland. Their name is derived from a staff they carried with them surmounted by a crucifix. There were several orders devoted to the Holy Cross, collectively known as Crosiers, that had some presence in England and there is much confusion to which specific order the friars belonged. Earlier literature linked most of the Crutched Friars to the Italian Crosiers, but later it was proven that they were a branch of the Belgian Canons Regular of the Order of the Holy Cross. The Crutched Friars were suppressed during the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1538.
The Order of Augustinian Recollects (OAR) is a mendicant Catholic religious order of friars and nuns. It is a reformist offshoot from the Augustinian hermit friars and follows the same Rule of St. Augustine. They have also been known as the "Discalced Augustinians".
The Order of Saint Augustine, abbreviated OSA, is a religious mendicant order of the Catholic Church. It was founded in 1244 by bringing together several eremitical groups in the Tuscany region who were following the Rule of Saint Augustine, written by Saint Augustine of Hippo in the fifth century.
Clare Priory is a religious house in England, originally established in 1248 as the first house of the Augustinian Friars in England. It is situated on the banks of the River Stour, a short distance away from the medieval village of Clare, Suffolk. The friary was suppressed in 1538 and the property passed through many hands until it was again purchased by the Augustinian friars in 1953. Today the Priory offers modern retreat facilities for guests.
John Stone, OSA was an English Augustinian friar who was executed, probably in December 1539; he was canonized in 1970 by Pope Paul VI. He was a doctor of theology from Canterbury.
Augustinian nuns are the most ancient and continuous segment of the Roman Catholic Augustinian religious order under the canons of contemporary historical method. The Augustinian nuns, named after Saint Augustine of Hippo, are several Roman Catholic enclosed monastic communities of women living according to a guide to religious life known as the Rule of St. Augustine. Prominent Augustinian nuns include Italian mystic St. Clare of Montefalco and St. Rita of Cascia.
Austin Friars is a coeducational private day school located in Carlisle, England. The Senior School provides secondary education for 350 boys and girls aged 11–18. There are 150 children aged 4–11 in the Junior School and the Nursery has places for 16 children aged 3–4. Founded by the Augustinian friars in 1951, it is one of the network of Augustinian schools in other parts of the world and welcomes pupils of all denominations.
The Canonesses of St. Augustine of the Mercy of Jesus are a Roman Catholic religious order of canonesses who follow a semi-contemplative life and are also engaged in the ministry of caring for the sick and needy, from which they were also known as the "Hospital Sisters".
The Augustinian Friary of the Most Holy Trinity was an Augustinian Roman Catholic Priory, founded c. 1259, by the family of Talbot on the south bank of the river, in what is now Crow Street, Dublin. At the time the priory was built, it was just outside the city walls. The Friary most likely followed the design of the parent priory Clare Priory in the town of Clare, Suffolk (England). The Friary was suppressed in 1540 when it was described as a "church with belfry, a hall and dormitory". The friars continued to operate in secret within the city. and there are several mentions of them in the city archives until the late 1700s when they consecrated a new church.
St Joseph's Church, Sighthill,, is a Roman Catholic church situated in Broomhouse, in the west of Edinburgh, Scotland. The parish boundary extends to Broomhouse, Parkhead, Saughton, Sighthill, Gorgie and further.
St Monica's Church is a Roman Catholic parish church in Hoxton, London. It was founded by the Augustinian Friars, built in 1866 and designed by E. W. Pugin. It is located on Hoxton Square. It is a Grade II listed building.
St Augustine's Church is a Roman Catholic parish church in Hammersmith, London, England. It is a Romanesque revival style church and was built in 1916. It is located on Fulham Palace Road, south of the Hammersmith Flyover. It was founded by Augustinian Friars from St Monica's Church in Hoxton who continue to serve the church.
