Canons Regular in the context of "St. Augustine"

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⭐ Core Definition: Canons Regular

The Canons Regular of St. Augustine are Catholic priests who live in community under a rule (Latin: regula and κανών, kanon, in Greek) and are generally organised into religious orders, differing from both secular canons and other forms of religious life, such as clerics regular, designated by a partly similar terminology. As religious communities, they have laybrothers as part of the community.

At times, their Orders have been very popular: in England in the 12th century, there were more houses of canons (often referred to as an abbey or canonry) than monasteries of monks.

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Canons Regular in the context of Augustinians

Augustinians are members of several religious orders that follow the Rule of Saint Augustine, written about 400 A.D. by Augustine of Hippo. There are two distinct types of Augustinians in Catholic religious orders dating back to the 12th–13th centuries:

  • Various congregations of Canons Regular follow the Rule of Saint Augustine, embracing the evangelical counsels and leading a semi-monastic life, while remaining committed to pastoral care appropriate to their primary vocation as priests. They generally form one large community which might serve parishes in the vicinity, and are organized into autonomous congregations.
  • Several orders of friars who live a mixed religious life of contemplation and apostolic ministry. The largest and most familiar is the Order of Saint Augustine (O.S.A.), founded in 1244 and originally known as the Hermits of Saint Augustine (O.E.S.A.). They are commonly known as the Austin Friars in England. Two other orders, the Order of Augustinian Recollects (O.A.R.) and the Discalced Augustinians (O.A.D.), were once part of the original Order under a single Prior General. The Recollects, begun in 1588 as a reform movement in Spain to recover the Order's eremitical roots, became autonomous in 1612. At the 100th General Chapter of the Order held in Rome in May 1592, those seeking reform of their way of life came to be called the Discalced (barefoot) and were authorized to seek their goals as an semi-independent branch. They were raised to the status of a separate mendicant Order in 1610.

There are also some Anglican religious orders created in the 19th century that follow Augustine's rule. These are composed only of women in several different communities of Augustinian nuns.

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Canons Regular in the context of Territorial abbacy

A territorial abbey (or territorial abbacy) is a particular church of the Catholic Church comprising defined territory which is not part of a diocese but surrounds an abbey or monastery whose abbot or superior functions as ordinary for all Catholics and parishes in the territory. Such an abbot is called a territorial abbot or abbot nullius diœceseos (abbreviated abbot nullius and Latin for "abbot of no diocese"). A territorial abbot thus differs from an ordinary abbot, who exercises authority only within the monastery's walls or to monks or canons who have taken their vows there. A territorial abbot is equivalent to a diocesan bishop in Catholic canon law.

While most belong to the Latin Church, and usually to the Benedictine or Cistercian Orders, there is one Eastern Catholic territorial abbey: the Italo-Albanian Greek Catholic Abbey of Grottaferrata. The closest equivalent in the Eastern Orthodox Church would be a stauropegion (e.g. most famously, Mount Athos).

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Canons Regular in the context of Domherr

Canon (Ancient Greek: κανονικός, romanizedkanonikós) is a Christian title usually used to refer to a member of certain bodies in subject to an ecclesiastical rule.

Originally, a canon was a cleric living with others in a clergy house or, later, in one of the houses within the precinct of or close to a cathedral or other major church and conducting his life according to the customary discipline or rules of the church. This way of life grew common (and is first documented) in the 8th century AD. In the 11th century, some churches required clergy thus living together to adopt the rule first proposed by Saint Augustine that they renounce private wealth. Those who embraced this change were known as Augustinians or Canons Regular, whilst those who did not were known as secular canons.

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Canons Regular in the context of Klosterneuburg Abbey

Klosterneuburg Abbey (German: Stift Klosterneuburg) is a twelfth-century Augustinian monastery of the Catholic Church located in the town of Klosterneuburg in Lower Austria. Overlooking the Danube, just north of the present Vienna city limits at the Leopoldsberg, the monastery was founded in 1114 by Saint Leopold III of Babenberg, the patron saint of Austria, and his second wife Agnes of Germany.

The abbey church, dedicated the Nativity of Mary (Mariä Geburt), was consecrated in 1136 and remodeled in the Baroque style in the seventeenth century. The impressive monastery complex was mostly constructed between 1730 and 1834. Its foundations, including a castle tower and a Gothic chapel, date back to the twelfth century. Other older buildings still extant within the complex include the chapel of 1318 with Saint Leopold's tomb. From 1634 on, the Habsburg rulers had the facilities rebuilt in the Baroque style, continued by the architects Jakob Prandtauer and Donato Felice d'Allio. The plans to embellish the monastery on the scale of an Austrian Escorial were later resumed by the Neoclassical architect Joseph Kornhäusel, though only small parts were actually carried out. In 1879, the abbey church and monastery were restored according to plans by Friedrich von Schmidt, and the neo-Gothic twin steeples were erected.

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Canons Regular in the context of Holyrood Abbey

Holyrood Abbey is a ruined abbey of the Canons Regular in Edinburgh, Scotland. The abbey was founded in 1128 by David I of Scotland. During the 15th century, the abbey guesthouse was developed into a royal residence, and after the Scottish Reformation the Palace of Holyroodhouse was expanded further. The abbey church was used as a parish church until the 17th century, and has been ruined since the 18th century. The remaining walls of the abbey lie adjacent to the palace, at the eastern end of Edinburgh's Royal Mile. The site of the abbey is protected as a scheduled monument.

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