HERMITS
283
HERMITS
and French congregations of Discalced, or Barefooted,
Augustinians (see below), and the Congregation del
Bosco in Sicily established in the year ISIS and having
3 convents.
Among these reformed congregations, besides those of the Barefooted Augustinians, the most important was the German (Saxon) Congregation. As in Italy, Spain, and France, reforms were begun as early as the fifteenth century in the four German provinces exist- ing since 1299. Johannes Zachariae, an Augustinian monk of Eschwege, Provincial of the Order from 1419- 1427, and professor of theology at the University of Erfurt, began a reform in 1492. Andreas Proles, prior of the Himmelpforten monastery, near Wernigerode, strove to introduce the reforms of Father Heinrich Zolter in as many Augustinian monasteries as possible. Proles, aided by Father Simon Lindner of Nuremberg and other zealous Augustinians, worked indefatigably till his death, in 1503, to reform the Saxon monas- teries, even calling in the assistance of the secular ruler of the country. As the result of his efforts, the German, or Saxon, Reformed Congregation, recog- nized in 149.3, comprised nearly all the important con- vents of the Augustinian Hermits in Ciermany. Johann von Staupitz his successor, as vicar of the congregation, followed m his footsteps. Staupitz had been prior at Tubingen, then at Munich, and had taken a prominent part in founding the University of Wittenberg in 1502, where he became a professor of theology and the first dean of that faculty. He continued to reform the or- der with the zeal of Proles, as well as in his spirit and with his methods. He collected the " Constitutiones fratrum eremitarum S. Aug. ad apostolicorum privi- legiorum formam pro Reformatione Alemannis", which were approved in a chapter held at Nuremberg in 1504. A printed copy of these is still to be seen in the university library of Jena. Supported by the gen- eral of the order, iEgidius of Viterbo, he obtained a papal Brief (15 March, 1506), granting independence under their own vicar-general to the reformed German congregations and furthermore, 15 December, 1507, a papal Bull commanding the union of the Saxon prov- mce with the German Congregation of the Regular Observants. All the Augustinian convents of North- ern Germany were, in accordance with this decree, to become parts of the regular observance. But when, in 1510, Staupitz commanded all the hermits of the Saxon province to accept the regular observance on pain of being punished as rebels, and to obey him as well as the general of the order, and, on 30 September, published the papal Bull at Wittenberg, seven con- vents refused to obey, among them that of Erfurt, of which Martin Luther was a member. In fact, Luther seems to have gone to Rome on this occasion as a representative of the rebellious monks.
In consequence of this appeal to Rome, the consoli- dation did not take place. Staupitz also continued to favour Luther even after this. They had become ac- quainted at Erfurt, during a visitation, and Staupitz was responsible for Luther's summons to Wittenberg in 1508; nay, even after 1517 he entertained friendly sen- timents for Luther, looking upon his proceedings as being directed only against abuses. From 1519 on he gradually turned away from Luther. Staupitz re- signed his office of vicar-general of the German con- gregations in 1520. Father Wenzel Link, preacher at Nuremberg, former professor and dean of the theo- logical faculty at Wittenberg, who was elected his successor, cast in his lot witri Luther, whose views were endorsed at a chapter of the Saxon province held in January, 1522, at Wittenberg. In 1523 Link re- signed his office, became a Lutheran preacher at Al- tenberg, where he introduced the Reformation and married, and went in 152S as preacher to Nuremberg, where he died in 1547. The example of Luther and Link was followed by many Augustinians of the Saxon province, so that their convents were more and more
deserted, and that of Erfurt ceased to exist in 1525.
The German houses that remained faithful united with
the Lombardic Congregation. There were, however,
many Augustinians m Germany who by their writings
and their sermons opposed the Reformation. Among
them Bartholomaus Arnoldi of LTsingen (d. 1532 at
Wiirzburg), for thirty years professor at Erfurt and
one of Luther's teachers, Johannes Hoffmeister (d.
1547), Wolfgang Cappelmair (d. 1531), and Konrad
Treger (d. 1542).
The Discalced Augustinians (sometimes called the Barefooted Augustinians, or Augustinian Recol- lects). — More fortunate than that of the German (Saxon) province was the reform of the order begun in Spain in the sixteenth century, which extended thence to Italy and France. The originator of this reform was Father Thomas of Andrada, afterwards called Thomas of Jesus. Born at Lis- bon, in 1529, he entered the Au- gustinian Order in his fifteenth year. Although aided in his efforts at re- form by the Car- dinal Infante Henryof Portugal, and his teacher. Louis of Montoya, his plans were im- peded at first by the hesitation of his brethren, then by his captivity among the Moors (1578), on the oc- casion of the cru- sade of the youth- ful King Sebastian of Portugal, and lastly by his death in prison which took place on 17 April, 15S2. The celebrated poet and scholar Fray Luis Ponce de Leon (d. 1591), of the Augustinian monastery at Salamanca, took up the work of Thomas of Andrada. Appointed pro- fessor of theology at the University of Salamanca in 1561, he undertook the revision of the constitutions of his order and in 1588 Father Diaz, with the support of Philip II, established at Talavera the first monastery of the Spanish Regular Observance. In a short time many new monasteries of Discalced Augustinians sprang up in Spain and were followed by others in the Spanish colonies. In 1606 Philip III sent some Discalced Augustinians to the Philippine Islands where, as early as 1565, Fray Andres de Urdaneta, the well-known navigator and cosmographer (cf. "La Ciudad de Dios", 1902; "Die katholischen Mis- sionen", 1880, pp. 4 sqq.), had founded the first mis- sion station on the island of Cebii. In a few years many mission stations of the Discalced Augustinians sprang up in the principal places on the islands and developed a very successful missionary activity. In 1622 Pope Gregory XV permitted the erection of a separate congregation for the Discalced, with its own vicar-general. This congregation comprised four provinces: three in Spain and the Philippine prov- ince, to which was later added that cf Peru. When the Discalced Augustinians in Spain were either put to death or obliged to flee, during the revolution of 1835, they continued to flourish in the Philippines and in South America.
In Italy, Father Andres Diaz introduced the re- formed congregations in 1592, the first house being
Hermit of St. Augustine in Full
OR Choral Habit
