The Prior General of the Augustinian Recollects, Javier Guerra, conveyed the message to the religious, the good news, recalling that this is “a project, which has been so desired for many years in the Order.”
This project includes the publication of all the doctrine of Saint Augustine on consecrated life, both the writings, which are integrally monastic in content, and other texts found in his other writings. The texts of Saint Augustine will be published in two volumes. The first has 440 pages, which contains the following texts on consecrated life written by the African Saint: De opere monachorum; De sancta virginitate; Sermones and Enarrationes in psalmos.
The following are included in the 2nd volume: Regula; Vita Possidii; Confessiones; Epistolae and other texts found in various works: De civitate Dei; De corruptione et gratia; De Trinitate; Contra litteras Petiliani; Soliloquia; De ordine; De moribus Ecclesiae catholicae; Contra Faustum.
Benedict XVI
Last year, Benedict XVI recalled the words of Saint Possidius from his Vita Sancti Augustini when he said that the faithful always find him alive in his writings. «When I read the writings of Saint Augustine – the Pope said – I have the impression that he is a man who died more or less 1,600 years ago, but I feel that he is a man of today: a friend, a contemporary, who speaks to me, who speaks to us with his unsullied and current faith. In Saint Augustine, who speaks to us, who speaks to me through his writings, we see the enduring actuality of his faith that comes from Christ ».
The Prior General, in his communication to the religious, encourages them to take into consideration the importance that Saint Augustine has in the life of the Church and that must be present in our Augustinian Recollect life.” What is certain is the fact that the works of Saint Augustine shows a faithful reflection of the evangelical life that the religious desire to live and a charismatic fount to renew their union with Christ, the life of his communities, and the missionary spirit of all apostolate which they offer to humanity.