Saint Augustine of Hippo stands at the heart of our spiritual and monastic tradition. His restless search for truth, his conversion to Christ, his love of Sacred Scripture, and his desire to seek God in community continue to shape the life of the Servants of God of St. Augustine.
For Augustine, the Christian life was not meant to be lived in isolation. His conversion led him toward a life shared with friends and companions, united by prayer, friendship, study, simplicity, and the common search for God.
“You have made us for Yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in You.” — Saint Augustine, Confessions
Augustine’s journey toward God was long and deeply human. He searched for happiness, wisdom, and truth in many places before discovering that the deepest longing of the human heart can find its fulfillment only in God.
His conversion was not simply a change of ideas. It transformed the direction of his life.
At the decisive moment of his conversion, Augustine and his close friend Alypius resolved to leave behind their former ambitions and dedicate themselves more completely to Christ. Augustine later described the joy of sharing this news with his mother, Saint Monica, whose years of prayer had accompanied him throughout his long spiritual journey.
The example of men who had embraced the monastic life, particularly the story of Saint Anthony of the Desert and those inspired by him, also played an important role in bringing Augustine to this moment of decision.
After his conversion, Augustine began to pursue a form of Christian common life with friends and companions.
Prayer, Sacred Scripture, contemplation, friendship, simplicity, and the search for truth became central to this way of life. Augustine understood that love of God naturally draws people into deeper communion with one another.
This vision was deeply inspired by the first Christian community described in the Acts of the Apostles, whose members were united in faith and shared what they possessed.
For Augustine, community was therefore not simply a practical arrangement. It was a spiritual path — a place where Christians could learn charity, humility, forgiveness, friendship, and mutual responsibility while journeying together toward God.
When Augustine was eventually called to serve the Church as a priest and later as Bishop of Hippo, he did not abandon his desire for monastic life.
According to the tradition preserved in our community, Bishop Valerius provided Augustine with a garden where he could establish a monastery. Even after becoming bishop, Augustine continued as far as possible to live according to the ideals of common prayer and shared life.
His experience as monk, priest, bishop, teacher, and pastor allowed his understanding of Christian community to mature. From this spiritual experience emerged the Rule associated with his name, which has guided communities of religious men and women for centuries.
The Rule of Saint Augustine is simple in structure but profound in purpose.
Its central vision is expressed at the beginning:
“Above all else, dear brothers, love God and then your neighbor.”
The Rule calls those who live together in religious community to place love at the center of everything. Prayer, possessions, correction, forgiveness, leadership, work, and relationships are all understood through the commandment to love God and one another.
At the heart of Augustinian common life is the desire to become:
“One in mind and heart intent upon God.”
This remains one of the defining principles of our own community.
Our community draws particular inspiration from the early monastic tradition that developed around the spirituality and Rule of Saint Augustine.
The surviving witness of Augustine’s contemporaries and early biographers offers glimpses into this primitive form of Augustinian monastic life: brothers living together in simplicity, prayer, fraternity, discipline, and service to Christ.
One important witness remembered in our tradition is the monastery associated with Abbot Liberatus and his companions at Gafsa. These monks lived according to the Augustinian tradition and ultimately bore witness to their faith through martyrdom in the fifth century.
Their example reminds us that religious life is not merely a set of customs, but a complete offering of oneself to God.
We call Saint Augustine our spiritual father because his vision continues to give shape and direction to our life.
His spirituality teaches us:
To seek God with an honest and restless heart
Augustine’s life reminds us that holiness is a journey of conversion. God continually calls the human heart away from distraction and self-centeredness and toward deeper communion with Himself and with others.
The Servants of God of St. Augustine seek to receive this spiritual inheritance not simply as a history to remember, but as a way of life to be lived.
Following the Rule of Saint Augustine and drawing inspiration from the early Augustinian monastic tradition, we seek to give ourselves to God through prayer, common life, fraternity, simplicity, and service.
Our circumstances are different from those of Augustine and his first companions, but the purpose remains the same: to seek God together and to allow our common life to become a school of charity.
“One in mind and heart intent upon God.”
For us, these words express the direction of our vocation and the hope of our life together.
