Blessed Clement of Osimo and Augustine of Tarano, priests

The memory of these two friars takes us back to the early days of the Augustinian Order. At the Grand Union of 1256 Pope Alexander IV brought together a number of smaller, mainly eremitical groups using the Rule of St. Augustine to form the new Augustinian Order and to be similar in structure and apostolate to Dominicans, Franciscans and Carmelites. Naturally a vital early task for an Order created in this way was the establishing of unity and cohesion for the future. In this respect Clement and Augustine, who both take their surnames from their native towns, played a providential role in establishing the Augustinians as the fourth of the great mendicant orders.

In 1271 Clement, who had previously been Provincial in the Marches, the province of St Nicholas of Tolentino, was elected the Order’s third Prior General. To promote unity he set about visiting houses of the Order in Italy and neighbouring regions. He resigned from office in 1274 but ten years later was re-elected and served as Prior General up to his death in 1291. After his election in 1274 he took on the vital task for the new Order of revising its Constitutions. The result would be the Constitutions of Regensburg that would remain the basic rule book of the Order until after the Council of Trent in the mid 16th century. The opening sentence of the Acts of the Chapter of Regensburg of 1290, over which he presided, offered the key to his ministry and achievement: «We decree that our Order be uniform».

An earlier Chapter (Florence, 1287) had proclaimed the theology of Giles of Rome the official teaching of the Order. A common ritual was introduced. Clement promoted the founding of priories in the developing cities where there was a growing need for pastoral ministry and he disposed of many of the old hermitages and used the proceeds to develop the new urban foundations. His leadership qualities as well as his holiness left a lasting legacy and he was undoubtedly the greatest and most influential of the Priors General of the formative period of the Augustinian Order. Clement died at Orvieto on 8th April, 1291. His remains now rest, very fittingly, in the chapel of the Augustinian General Curia in Rome.

Augustine of Tarano, also known as Augustine Novello, studied canon and civil law at the famous university of Bologna and held an important post at the court of the king of Sicily before applying to join the Augustinians. Out of humility he concealed his background and became a simple Brother. When his education and ability were discovered the Prior General at the time, Clement of Osimo, had him ordained priest and called him to Rome to help him with the reform of the Order’s Constitutions. Later he himself would serve for a short period as Prior General (1298-1300) before resigning to spend his final years in a hermitage near Siena where he ministered to the local people and worked to develop a hospital in Siena. Augustine of Tarano died on 19th May in either 1309 or 1310. His remains, long venerated in Siena, have now been transferred to Termini Imerese in Sicily.

The Augustinian family jointly remembers these two important figures from its formation period on 19th May. Their cults were confirmed by Pope Clement XIII in 1759 (Augustine) and 1761 (Clement).