Augustine in His Own Words
The Bishop 109 could not have found on the outside. (6) Nor should they be stiff-necked or haughty because they associate with those they would not have dared approach on the outside, but let them lift up their hearts, not seeking empty earthly goods. Otherwise, monasteries might begin to be useful for the rich but not for the poor if the rich are humbled there but the poor become puffed up there with pride.
(7) But, on the other hand, those who were seen to have been something in the world should not look down on their brothers who come to that holy community from poverty. Instead, they should strive to boast not about the social status of their wealthy relatives, but about the community of their poor brothers. Let them not hold a high estimate of themselves if they have contributed their wealth to the common life, lest they become more proud over their wealth, because they shared it with the monastery, than they would have been if they had simply enjoyed it in the world. Every other vice leads to evil deeds, but pride disguises itself among good deeds in order to spoil them. What good does it do to distribute one's goods by giving them to the poor and to become poor oneself if the unhappy soul then becomes prouder by despising wealth than it had been by possessing it? (8) Therefore, all of you, live in single-minded unity and in harmony; and honor in one another the God whose temple you have become (2 Cor 6:16).45
Monastery as Seminary
There was no such thing as a seminary or divinity school in the early Church. But Augustine's monastery came to function as a training center for episcopal openings around North Africa. From Possidius of Calama, Life of Saint Augustine:
(11) As the divine teaching prospered, the clerics of the church at Hippo, who had served God in the monastery of holy Augustine, began to be ordained. Consequently, the truths taught by the Catholic Church, as well as the manner of life practiced by the holy servants of God, especially their continence and extreme poverty, became more celebrated day by day. To insure peace and unity, the Church eagerly began to
45. Regula: Praeceptum 1.1–8 (George Lawless, ed., Augustine of Hippo and His Monastic Rule [Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1987], 80–82); my trans. Two other documents included among Augustinian monastic legislation are: Regulations for a Monastery (Ordo monasterii), authored perhaps by Alypius; and Reprimand (Obiurgatio), with a feminine version of the Rule (Praeceptum), preserved among Augustine's letters as ep. 211. The research of Luc Verheijen, La Règle de saint Augustin, 2 vols. (Paris: 1967) overturned the earlier view that the feminine version of the Praeceptum was the earliest, and showed that the masculine version dates to Augustine's early years as bishop. See George Lawless, "Regula," AugEncy, 707–9; Kevin Madigan, "Regula, Use after Augustine," AugEncy, 709–10. On the Rule's spirituality, see Luc Verheijen, Saint Augustine's Monasticism in the Light of Acts 4:32–35 (Villanova: Villanova University Press, 1979).