This energetic book packs a great deal of information into its 160 pages.
When Cardinal Robert Prevost was elected Pope in 2025, he became the first U.S.-born pontiff in history and also the first member of the Order of Saint Augustine to assume the role. Today, Pope Leo animates the spirit of his religious order from the Chair of Saint Peter. We want to know, what does it mean to be Augustinian? For this reason, this book is timely. And if it weren’t for Pope Leo, we probably wouldn’t be highlighting it for you. As Kelley writes, “[Pope Leo’s] pontificate opens a new chapter in the Augustinian tradition and provides a global context for Augustinian spirituality.”
Augustinian spirituality begins with Augustine of Hippo, or “Saint Augustine,” as he is most often known. He wrote the world’s first spiritual autobiography, called Confessions, which is still read by millions of people each year. It is one of the three or four most essential Christian classics. He also wrote The City of God, which you may have heard of, as well as a very influential book on the Trinity and a monastic Rule that predates the one written by Saint Benedict. Augustine died in the year 430, at about the time of the fall of the Roman Empire.
“After Augustine’s death, his example and writings continued to guide small monastic communities of men and women,” writes Kelley in his Introduction. The Augustinian tradition dates itself from those early days; so, although the official religious order by that name did not begin until 1244, a form of Augustinian spirituality — and emphases for the spiritual life — are much older.
Kelley explains all of this very well. Augustinian emphases include contemplating the mystery of Christ, seeing one’s life as a pilgrimage of conversion, listening and interiority, friendship and hospitality, peace, hope, and all of the ways that, in Kelley’s words, “Augustinian spirituality attends to prayer, restlessness, and questions of the human heart.”
It is true that these themes can be found in many Christian – and other religious and spiritual – traditions and schools of thought and conversion, but the Augustinians have a unique way of blending them all, which this book helps to explain. We’re seeing this take place now in the messaging and workings of Pope Leo — which is good, because the world would benefit from all of it.
