Rule of St. Augustine

The Rule of St. Augustine is presented as the governing rule adopted by the hermit community founded at Groenendaal in 1343. Its significance in this account lies in giving a shared form to a community seeking a setting for sustained spiritual life; the book does not specify the rule’s individual requirements.

Adoption at Groenendaal

In 1343, John of Ruusbroec left Brussels with his uncle, a canon, and another canon to settle at an old hermitage in Groenendaal. The three began a community of hermits that adopted the Rule of St. Augustine. Ruusbroec became its prior and remained there for the last thirty-eight years of his life. The rule thus appears in the account at the community’s foundation, as the common framework accompanying its move from the city to a new religious household.

The Community’s Setting and Purpose

The move reflected the founders’ view that urban life hindered deep spiritual development. Construction at St. Gudula’s was noisy and distracting, and the men regarded the city as saturated with materialistic values. Their new home was a rural hermitage where they could seek a more focused spiritual life. The community attracted others, and Groenendaal became a place of pilgrimage. The Rule of St. Augustine is named as the rule the hermits adopted, but the account does not establish that any particular feature of the rule caused the move or describe how its provisions shaped daily life.

Scope of the Account

The book supplies no text from the Rule of St. Augustine and does not enumerate its observances, offices, or disciplinary practices. It therefore supports identifying the rule’s place in the formation of the Groenendaal community, not reconstructing its detailed contents. Elsewhere, the book discusses prayer, silence, and other spiritual practices in a range of settings, but does not identify those practices as requirements of this rule.