to new needs by combining the religious life with pastoral work. Finally, in the 19th century Adrien Grea (1828–1917), founder of the Congregation of the Immaculate Conception, in his writing put in its proper perspective the ecclesial dimension of the canonical life. In their independence and their local character, the canons regular had some resemblance to the Benedictine monks, as they did in their maintaining the vow of stability to a particular house. The individual houses often have differences in the form of the habit, even within the same congregation. Already in the Middle Ages canons regular were engaged in missionary work. Saint Vicelin (c. 1090 – 1154) took the Gospel to the pagan Slavs of Lower Germany; his disciple Meinhard (died 1196) evangelized the people of eastern Livonia. In the 16th century the Portuguese Congregation of Saint John the Baptist took the good news of salvation to the Congo, Ethiopia and India. At the general chapter of the Lateran Congregation held at Ravenna in 1558, at the request of many Spanish canons, Don Francis de Agala, a professed canon regular from Spain, who for some ten years had already laboured in the newly discovered country, was created vicar-general in America, with powers to gather into communities all the members of the canonical institute who were then dispersed in those parts, and the obligation to report to the authorities of the order. Especially from the 19th century onwards, the order has undertaken the work of evangelization. Ordo Novus By the 13th century, there was widespread adherence to the Rule of St. Augustine. This came in piecemeal fashion. There were in fact three different rules of St. Augustine from which to choose: Regularis informatio or Regula sororum: Often considered to be the oldest rule of St. Augustine, it was composed for a convent of nuns and attached to Letter 211. Its content and style is very close to the Praecepta. Ordo Monasterii or Regula secunda: This may have been a preface to the Praecepta, but it is unclear whether it is from the hand of St. Augustine or not. It is stricter than the Praecepta and differs in style, tone and vocabulary. Praecepta or Regula tertia: While this may in fact be the oldest of the three rules, the Praecepta clearly belongs to the Augustinian corpus. Its spirit and content are clearly Augustinian and fits his other writings on the common