The Presbyters Project

Chapter 5

Factus que presbyter monasterium intra ecclesiam mox instituit et cum Dei servis vivere coepit secundum modum et regulam sub sanctis Apostolis constitutam: maxime, ut nemo quicquam proprium in illa societate haberet, sed eis essent omnia communia, et distribueretur unicuique sicut opus erat; quod iam ipse prior fecerat, dum de transmarinis ad sua remeasset. [...]

(ed. A.A.R. Bastiaensen 1975: 140)

Chapter 5

Soon after he had been made presbyter he established a monastery within the church and began to live with the servants of God according to the manner and rule instituted by the holy apostles. The principal rule of this society was that no one should possess anything of his own, but that all things should be held in common and be distributed to each one as he had need, as Augustine had formerly done after he returned to his native home from across the sea. [...]

(trans. H.T.Weiskotten; http://www.tertullian.org/fathers/possidius_life_of_augustine_02_text.htm#C4)

Place of event:

Region

Latin North Africa

City

Hippo Regius

About the source:

Author: Possidius
Title: Life of Augustine, Vita Augustini
Origin: Calama (Latin North Africa)
Denomination: Catholic/Nicene/Chalcedonian

Possidius lived from AD 391 in the monastic community of Augustine in Hippo. After AD 397 he became bishop of Calama. Between AD 432 (the death of the Roman General Bonifatius) and AD 437 (the exile of Catholic bishops by the Vandal King Geiseric) he composed "The Life of Augustine", a substantially reliable biography of Augustine.

Edition:

A.A.R. Bastiaensen ed., Vita dei santi III, Roma-Milano 1975, 130-240.

Categories:

Described by a title - Presbyter/πρεσβύτερος

PR165.

Monastic or common life - Monastic superior (abbot/prior)

PR165.

Economic status and activity - Indication of poverty

PR165.

Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL: S. Adamiak, Presbyters in the Late Antique West, ER1359, https://www.presbytersproject.ihuw.pl/index.php?id=6&SourceID=1359