What does Leon XIV mean by this reference?

After a Jesuit, the Catholic church will be led by an Augustinian. The first words of the successor of Pope Francis, Léon XIV, sounded in a great silence on Saint-Pierre square this Thursday evening. The crowd, cheering after the appearance of white smoke, was killed to listen to Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, elected sovereign pontiff, pronounce a few words followed by a blessing. In this very first message turned to a call to “peace”the American presented himself. “I am an Augustinian, a son of Saint-Augustin”he slipped.

In fact, when he entered orders at 22, after training in mathematics and philosophy at the University of Villanova in Philadelphia, it is the novitiate of the religious family of the bishop of Hippone that had chosen to join the American. He pronounced his perpetual wishes there in 1981, before receiving the priestly ordination a year later in Rome. Father PREVOST then played a big role in his religious family which he will later become, for 12 years, prior general.

Poverty and common life

Since its foundation in the 13th century, the Order of Saint Augustine has been one of the four major orders “Beggars” In the Catholic Church, with the Franciscans, the Dominicans and the Carmes. The order brings together a large number of congregations of men and women in the world, with different lifestyles, but all refer to the same rule, erected by the famous author of the Confessions.

This community of community life written in the 4th century first emphasizes community life, unity and sharing of goods. “Live unanimous at home, having a single soul and one heart turned to God”said the first chapter. Augustin d’Hipipone invites the simplicity of life by signing up personal possessions. He advocates fasting and deprivation, but above all a deep charity, especially “The care of the patients”the “Sorry without discussing”and the absence of “Hard words”.

The theology of Saint Augustine, considered one of the founding fathers of the Church, emphasizes the search for inner truth. A central question for this great philosopher who said they were looking for God all his life. “I looked for you as much as I was able, as much as you gave me power, I looked for you, I wanted to see what I thought, I discussed and worked a lot”said one of the famous prayers of the bishop of Hippone. A formula sums up the Augustinian ideal: “A soul and a heart turned to God” (Acts 4,32).

Prior general of his order

The Augustinian rule would today be followed by “Over 50,000 religious and religious, in more than 130 consecrated institutes of life”in 2016 estimated Father Jean-François Petit, Augustin de l’Assumption and professor of philosophy at the Catholic Institute of Paris (ICP), during a meeting of the Catholic Academy of Val-de-Seine.

Among the families affiliated to this rule today, the order of Saint-Augustin, which the Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost joined, at 22 years old, was officially founded in 1256 by Pope Alexander IV, unifying several small groups of hermittes. It is a beggar order, active in preaching, teaching and missions. Present on the five continents, they practice various missions, from teaching in schools or universities to parish life, help to the poor, spiritual accompaniment, theological research. Robert Francis Prevost himself carried out a doctorate in canon law in 1987 at Angelicum (Pontifical University of Saint-Thomas of Aquin) with a thesis on the role of the local prior of the Order of Saint-Augustin.

Then, who left in Peru, he became prior of his religious community in the 1990s, ecclesiastical judge, director of the Augustinian seminar, as well as prefect of studies and rector of the diocesan seminar. Returning to Chicago in 1999, Father PREVOST then became elected prior general of the Order of Saint-Augustin, a charge he exercises during two six-year mandates, from 2001 to 2013.