Akin to the Franciscans Order but with far less difficulty, the Augustinian Order has its founding controversy about the degree of poverty to adopt. Some groupings of Augustinian hermits came to the Grand Union of 1256 with the practice of absolute poverty, while other groups were permitting possessions by the community as authorized for the Order by a papal directive in 1257.
Image (below): St Francis of Assisi preaching to the birds. By Giotto di Bondone (1267 – 1337), circa 1297-99. Fresco, 270 x 200 cms, Upper Church of San Francesco, Assisi.
The above-mentioned divergence of opinion among the Augustinians endangered the whole program of the Order’s Cardinal Protector, Richard Annibaldi. Seeking to please everyone he declared in 1257 both forms of poverty permissible. It caused unrest, however, among the strictest group, the Brettini (or Brictini), who then in 1260 were permitted to revert to their strict eremitical life in their hermitage at Brettino. This did not, however, win the approval of the stricter party within the Order, of which Blessed Clement of Osimo O.S.A.was the main leader. Yes, it was a practical concession to the friars at Brettino, but they appreciated that it was not an ideological solution for the entire Augustinian Order.
Clement resigned as Prior General of the Order because Annibaldi insisted with great energy on his decision even in cases where it was clearly detrimental to the general welfare of the Order or at least not consistent with changed conditions. The judgment of Annibaldi in these matters was directed by demands of the canonistic exigencies, and disregarded deeper and more important religious necessities. As a member of the Brettini group drawn into the Grand Union of 1256, Blessed Clement believed in the mendicant way of life and did not accept reelection until after the Annibaldi had died.
Then Clement of Osimo O.S.A. did not rest until the General Chapter of Ratisbon in 1290 accepted an absolute poverty as the fundamental law of the Order. Consequently, all hermitages with possessions were to be sold and only those hermitages that could live by begging were to be retained. That the Papal Curia never fully approved these unrealistic ways is evident from its struggle with the Franciscan Spirituals (observant movement); the mendicants were expected to get settled and to conform in some measure with established monastic forms.
In March 1326, Prior General William of Cremona O.S.A. issued his Ordinationes pro reparatione Ordinis (“Directives for the Renewal of the Order”) to all the Provinces of the Order. In general terms, he complained that the Order, which was meant to be the third column in the house of God, had spiritually collapsed and had deviated from the observance of the old traditions and the Augustinian Constitutions. He blamed the Augustinian superiors for their negligence, by allowing a life of worldliness and vanity to creep into the Order under the guise of the religious habit. William's first concern was, therefore, to have good Superiors appointed at the Provincial Chapters.
His Vicar who presided over those Chapters was commanded, by virtue of the vow of obedience, to make a thorough investigation about the character of the candidates to be elected to the offices of Provincial, Definitors, and Priors, whether they had by any illegal machinations, directly or indirectly, procured their own election to those offices. The other goals of the Prior General were chiefly directed towards a strict observance of the Augustinian Constitutions, the education of novices, the care of the sick brethren, the performance of the religious exercises, and the restoration of the Order's monastic discipline as a remedy against the spiritual decay of the Order and the harmful influence of a materialistic the spirit of the age.
Besides his vigilant care for the whole Order, William of Cremona paid special attention to the Augustinian studium generale (house of studies) at Paris. In a letter dated April 1328 he revoked the numerous regulations and ordinances made by his predecessors for that house, in order to preclude perplexity and the danger of non-observance.
His new regulations stressed especially the performance of the religious and community exercises and the observance of regular discipline which appeared to have suffered greatly at Paris. William admonished professors and students alike to fulfil their respective duties carefully. William directed that, for the benefit of the Order, they also should engage themselves also in the care of souls by preaching and hearing sacramental confessions, i.e., they should have a public pastoral role as well as studying and/or teaching.
Like the other mendicant orders, they should also go out to collect alms in order to provide the necessary means of life. Other regulations are concerned with books necessary for study, which should not be in any way considered a personal possession of any one friar but should be kept together in the library. Finally, particular provisions were made to check the various forms of abuses against the vow of poverty. In a second letter, written on 8th May 1330, William of Cremona O.S.A. made additional provisions to remedy certain irregularities of the community life at Paris. The General Chapters celebrated during William's administration show the same zeal for general reform of the Order. In the Acts of the Chapter at Florence in 1326, where William of Cremona was elected Prior General, the same points touched in the letter to the individual Provinces were treated more extensively.
Two additional decrees deal with reducing certain extra expenses. Recognizing the poverty of some Provinces, the Chapter ordered that the Vicars General who preside over Provincial Chapters must not receive money for their work and expenses, unless they were sent by the General from outside the Province. In order to keep the goods of the Provinces intact, the Definitors of the Provincial Chapter could decide only upon the usual collection taken up in the Province; for additional grants of this kind the consent of the Provincial Chapter was required.
An important reason for the decay of the Order's discipline and regular observance was seen in the fact that outdated versions of the Augustinian Constitutions and outlawed definitions were in some places still kept side by side with the newest edition of the Constitutions. Therefore, the Chapter ordered a radical cure to be applied in order to establish uniformity in legislation; so as to avoid future confusion, the General Chapter decreed the re-examination of all copies of the Constitutions and the burning of the outdated ones.
In spite of the promulgation of these strict regulations in 1326, the General Chapter held at Grassa in 1335 again had to legislate measures against brethren who had private possessions, by testament or inheritance or purchase, outside the monastery. It was decreed that none of those concerned could stay with these possessions beyond three days continuously, without incurring the penalty of apostasy from the Order, unless, in particular cases, due permission was obtained from the Vicar General and the Definitors of their respective Augustinian Province.
The Chapter General held at Siena in 1338 strictly enforced the regulations concerning the administration of money as provided in the Constitutions against possible abuses. Under penalty of removal from office, no Prior was allowed to receive, handle, or spend money belonging to the monastery, nor to interfere in any way with the office of the Procurator beyond the regulations of the Constitutions. In addition, the Prior acting contrary to this decree was to be incapable, for the next three years, of any office to which the care of souls was annexed. At this Chapter also extensive regulations were made for reforming studies in general. Finally, special regulations for the house at Paris were added, in particular for the administration of money belonging to the community and to the fund for the Augustinians who were there as students or teaching staff.
As a means of protection for the brethren and in order to preclude scandals which might arise for the Order, the General Chapter of Toulouse in 1341 enforced a disciplinary precept of the Augustine's Rule and the Augustinian Constitutions. Accordingly, it was ruled that no brother was allowed to leave the monastery without a companion. Transgressors of this regulation were to be considered as apostates from the Order.