Augustinian Canons

Augustinian Canons, an order of monks who observed the rule attributed to St. Augustine of Hippo. They first appear under this name in the eleventh century, and were introduced into England about 1105. They had nearly 200 monasteries in England and Wales. Augustinian Friars, or Austin Friars, who have left their name to a street in the city of London, were organised and put by the Pope under the rule of their alleged founder, St. Augustine of Hippo, in the latter part of the thirteenth century. They were an austere order, holding no property and living only on the alms of the faithful. In 1570 a portion of them adopted a more austere rule forbidding shoes - whence the term "barefooted friars." Augustinian Nuns, vowed to the service of the sick, and claiming to have been founded by St. Augustine of Hippo, were till recently nurses at the Hotel Dieu in Paris.