Our Augustinian
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Legacy
By Father Michael Di Gregorio, O.S.A., Prior Provincial
his present year, 2021, we observe the 225th anniversary of Augustinian presence in the United States. We date the beginning of the Order’s establishment in this country from the arrival in Philadelphia of Fr. Matthew Carr in April 1796. Though not the first Augustinian to disembark on American soil, he is the friar who, just months after his arrival, received the explicit mandate to establish the Order of St. Augustine here, together with his appointment by the General Curia in Rome as vicar general of the new Province of Our Lady of Good Counsel, as it was then named. Over the course of two plus centuries, the fledgling province slowly came to flower, resulting in the present configuration of three provinces and two overseas mission territories with a combined current total of more than 200 friars. While this number does not reflect the highpoint in United States membership, it is a sign, nonetheless, of the Order’s vibrancy and stability through the highs and lows of the nation’s 1244, Augustinian development and the Church’s growth. Founding document
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rom its’ foundation in 1244, the Order of St. Augustine understood its role in the Church as evangelization in the broadest sense. We had been charged to take up the work of proclaiming the Gospel in the emerging cities and towns of a rapidly changing European society. Our friars formed part of the Mendicant Movement, a new expression of religious life at the time, characterized by mobility of its members in contrast to the stability promised by monastic communities; individual – and initially – corporate poverty; engagement with, and availability to the masses; a familiar and popular style of
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preaching attuned to the needs and competencies of ordinary people. To carry out this mission, the friars quickly viewed their own preparation as being of utmost importance and attached themselves to universities in the various countries where their membership was quickly expanding. Not surprisingly, the focus of the friars’ service was centered on both pastoral ministry and the field of education.
