Order of Saint Paul the First Hermit
The Order of Saint Paul the First Hermit, abbreviated OSPPE and commonly called the Pauline Fathers, began in Hungary in the 13th century. Today most of its monks live and train in Poland. Its Latin name is Ordo Fratrum Sancti Pauli Primi Eremitæ, and it takes its title from a hermit of the Egyptian desert, Saint Paul of Thebes. How did scattered hermits in the hills of Hungary become a single order recognized by Rome? What nearly erased it from Central Europe? And what must a man go through before he puts on its white habit?
Blessed Eusebius of Esztergom was born in Esztergom, in the Kingdom of Hungary, around 1200, into a wealthy family. He was ordained in the cathedral there as a Canon Regular of Saint Augustine. One account says that in 1216 the bishop allowed him to leave the cathedral, and that he started a hermitage in the Pilis region.
In 1246 Eusebius resigned his dignities as a canon and gave his goods to the poor. He withdrew to the Pilis mountains, near a place called Zante, probably today's Pilisszántó. A few companions joined him there for a life of penance. By one account, more of his brother canons and other hermits along the river Danube soon lived nearby.
Bishop Bartholomew of Pécs had already been gathering hermits. Around 1225 he united those scattered across his diocese in a community at Patach, with a monastery dedicated to Saint James. Four years after Eusebius withdrew, a vision is said to have urged him to draw the neighboring hermits into one community. For them he built a monastery and church, whose ruins lie near the village of Pilisszentlélek.
Eusebius then proposed joining his followers to the Patach community, under the rule its founder had laid down, and he was chosen superior. The Order was formed in 1250 from the two groups. Around that year Eusebius founded the first true Pauline community at the Holy Cross monastery. In 1256 his brothers elected him their first Provincial.
Ladislaus, Bishop of Pécs, gave his approval to the new order just as the decrees of the Fourth Lateran Council were being published. Those decrees made a journey to Rome necessary, because only the Holy See could grant final authorization.
In 1262 Eusebius asked Pope Urban IV to approve the community, and it received only a temporary approval. The following year the Bishop of Pécs gave the congregation a new Rule. After Eusebius died on the 20th of January 1270, Andrew, Bishop of Eger, drew up yet another Rule, and the brothers followed it for decades.
The long wait ended on the 13th of December 1308. On that day Cardinal Gentile Portino da Montefiore, acting as legate of Pope Clement V, traveled from Rome to Hungary. He granted the approval and bestowed the Rule of Saint Augustine on behalf of the Holy See. A year later the first monastic constitutions were approved.
Later popes showered the Order with privileges, among them exemption from the authority of local bishops. Many monasteries were also given the means to pursue higher studies. One papal regulation barred any member from holding a dignity in the Order without a degree of Doctor of Divinity, earned through a rigid examination.
Szépjuhászné, meaning Beautiful shepherdess, lies in the saddle between Hárshegy and János Hill. Here stood the Monastery of St Lawrence at Buda, where the Order founded its first friary. The record also names László Báthory, who translated the Bible into Hungarian around 1456. No contemporary copies survive, but a 16th-century manuscript is most likely a copy of his work.
Hungary alone soon counted 170 Pauline houses. The Order also flourished in other lands, and it was divided into five provinces, among them Hungary, Germany, Poland and Sweden. The Hungarian province included Croatia, especially Istria.
In 1381 the body of Saint Paul, the Order's patron, was moved from Venice to the Monastery of St Lawrence at Buda. The move added greatly to the monastery's prestige.
Other famous houses stood in Pozsony, now Bratislava, and in Wiener Neustadt near Vienna. In Rome, Pope Gregory XIII attached the church of San Stefano Rotondo to the Hungarian College. Most celebrated of all was Our Lady of Jasna Góra, meaning Bright Mountain, in Częstochowa, Poland. It holds the Miraculous Icon of the Black Madonna, which legend says Saint Luke painted and Saint Helena discovered alongside the True Cross.
Several Paulines reached prominence. George Martinuzzi became bishop of Nagyvárad, now Oradea, and a cardinal, and he was murdered on the 16th of December 1551. Matthias Fuhrmann of Hernals, who died in 1773, wrote history of Austria and edited the Acts of Saint Paul of Thebes. Fortunatus Dürich and Franz Faustin Prochaska, who died in 1809, edited a Czech translation of the Scriptures.
Eusebius had been buried in the crypt of the Holy Cross monastery, the house where he died. During 150 years of Turkish occupation in Hungary, the church and monastery were destroyed, and his tomb with them.
In 1783 a wave of suppression closed houses in Bohemia, Austria proper, Styria and other regions. Political disturbances in Hungary brought the same fate to most of the Hungarian monasteries, which had given incalculable service to religion and education. The destruction of their annals left historians with very meager sources. Only a handful of houses survived, in Poland.
By the start of the 20th century, just two Pauline monasteries remained. One was Jasna Góra. The other was the Church of Saint Michael the Archangel and Saint Stanislaus of Szczepanów, Bishop and Martyr, linked to the monastery Na Skałce, meaning On the Rock, in Kraków. Jan Długosz founded it, and it is regarded as a national sanctuary.
The Hungarian people never lost their attachment to the founder. They called Eusebius Blessed from soon after his death, and they still do. On the 16th of November 2004 the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments approved the Order's new liturgical calendar and authorized the 20th of January as his feast.
Around 1341 the Pauline habit changed from brown to white. It consists of a white tunic with a white belt, and over it a white scapular with a hood. In choir, and more often at liturgical events, monks in perpetual profession wear a white mantle. The Order also holds the privilege of a white zucchetto, though many monks choose not to wear one. A black cloak may be added against the weather or the winter cold, and white socks go with the habit, as with all religious in white.
Paul of Thebes died around 345, and Pope Gelasius I canonized him in 491. The Monastery of Saint Paul the Anchorite, founded after his death, still exists and takes him as its model.
The Pauline coat of arms gathers symbols that, by pious tradition, Saint Jerome linked to Paul's last moments. A date palm recalls the clothing Paul made from its leaves and the fruit that fed him in the desert. A raven with a loaf in its beak recalls the bird that brought him half a loaf of bread every day for 90 years. Two lions complete the picture, for tradition says they dug his grave, where Saint Anthony the Great buried him.
Every Friday of the novitiate is a day when novices may not speak to one another. The day closes with a joint ceremony, the Via Crucis, or Way of the Cross. Candidates are cut off from personal and telephone contact with family and friends. Their letters are censored, and they meet their families only twice, at the clothing in the habit and at first profession. The novices work on the monastery farm, digging potatoes and raising pigs, and they tend the flower and vegetable garden. The whole period is meant to test their convictions and stability, while older monks judge whether each man suits life in the community.
The Order generally accepts men who have finished high school. A future priest starts with a postulancy, ideally in a parish or monastery of the Order. Next comes a pre-novitiate at the Monastery of Skałka in Kraków, lasting roughly from the 15th of July to the 31st of August. The novitiate follows in Żarki-Leśniów. It runs a year, beginning and ending on the 8th of September, and includes the investiture in the habit and first vows. Back in Kraków, the seminarian studies two years of philosophy and four of theology. He then professes solemn vows and is ordained a deacon, then a priest.
Men without secondary education, or men called to community life but not the priesthood, can remain religious brothers for life. They begin with six months of postulancy at Jasna Góra. A two-year novitiate in Żarki-Leśniów follows, with the habit received in the first year and first vows pronounced in the second. Then come two years of juniorate at or near Jasna Góra, and two more at a facility chosen by superiors, before perpetual vows. Hungary and Cameroon also offer formation, and some candidates are sent to Rome to begin or finish their studies.
The Australian province follows a different program. A potential member first stays in regular contact as a candidate, visiting the monasteries often. After discernment he petitions for admission, and his postulancy takes place at Penrose Park monastery. Lay-brother postulants may even do their novitiate in Australia. Others go to Poland for the pre-novitiate at Skałka and the novitiate at Żarki-Leśniów. At the investiture he may propose and petition for a new religious name, and he is strongly encouraged to learn some Polish.
Australian seminarians go to Rome, to the Monastery and Parish at Prima Porta, Santi Urbano e Lorenzo a Prima Porta. At the Angelicum they study two years of philosophy and three of theology, in English or Italian, and they are urged to learn Italian. Every second summer the seminarian returns to Australia to see his family and gain pastoral experience in the province's monasteries and houses. After earning a Bachelor of Sacred Theology degree, he returns, professes solemn vows and is ordained a deacon, and finally a priest.
On the 8th of December 2020, the Order of Saint Paul the First Hermit had 71 homes, monasteries and parishes in 16 countries. It counted 493 monks, 50 of them in various stages of formation, and 3 of them bishops.
The Order has its own constitution and directory, and it lives under the Augustinian rule. It is classified as monastic yet organized like a mendicant order. Its members are monks, not friars. Over time pastoral work has grown, even to running parishes, but the Order remains monastic at heart. Its essence is contemplation of God in solitude, love of liturgical prayer, and a poor and industrious life. It also spreads devotion to Our Lady, and the imitation of her virtues, by running shrines in her honor. Its members carry out apostolic activity, especially preaching and administering the sacraments.
The Chapter General elections of the 4th and the 5th of March 2020 chose the Order's leaders for six-year terms. Arnold Chrapkowski became Father General, and Michał Lukoszek became Vicar General and first Definitor. Ryszard Dec, Piotr Łoza and Bernard Kluczkowski took the second, third and fourth Definitor posts. Bazyli Degórski became General Procurator to the Holy See, Marek Moga Administrator General, and Paweł Przygodzki Secretary General.
The Province of Germany was founded in 2002, and Benjamin Bąkowski led it as of 2020. The American Province and the Province of Australia were both founded in 2008. Tadeusz Lizinczyk led the American Province as of April 2022. Albert Wasniowski leads the Australian one, which has two monasteries and four parishes, with 1 bishop, 11 priests, three lay brothers and four seminarians. Two quasi-provinces, Hungary and Croatia, complete the map.
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Common questions
What is the Order of Saint Paul the First Hermit?
The Order of Saint Paul the First Hermit, abbreviated OSPPE and commonly called the Pauline Fathers, is a monastic order of the Catholic Church founded in Hungary in the 13th century. It takes its name from the hermit Saint Paul of Thebes.
Who founded the Order of Saint Paul the First Hermit?
Blessed Eusebius of Esztergom founded the Order. The Order was formed in 1250 from his followers and the hermit community at Patach, which Bishop Bartholomew of Pécs had founded around 1225.
When did the Order of Saint Paul the First Hermit receive the Rule of Saint Augustine?
The Order received the Rule of Saint Augustine on the 13th of December 1308. Cardinal Gentile Portino da Montefiore, legate of Pope Clement V, traveled from Rome to Hungary to grant it.
What do the symbols on the coat of arms of the Order of Saint Paul the First Hermit mean?
The date palm, the raven with a loaf of bread and the two lions recall the last moments of Saint Paul of Thebes. The raven brought him half a loaf every day for 90 years, and the lions dug his grave.
What color is the habit of the Order of Saint Paul the First Hermit?
The habit is white, with a white belt and a white scapular with a hood. It was originally brown, and the Order adopted white around 1341.
How many monks are in the Order of Saint Paul the First Hermit?
As of the 8th of December 2020, the Order had 493 monks, including 50 in formation and 3 bishops. They lived in 71 homes, monasteries and parishes across 16 countries.
Where does the Order of Saint Paul the First Hermit train new members?
Most formation takes place in Poland, with the pre-novitiate at Skałka in Kraków and the novitiate at Żarki-Leśniów. Hungary and Cameroon also offer formation, and some candidates are sent to Rome.
All sources
11 references cited across the entry
- 1Order of Saint Paul the First Hermit (Institute of Consecrated Life - Men)David M. Cheney — 2021
- 3BookMedieval Buda in ContextAndras Vegh — Brill Publishers — 2016
- 5JournalA "Báthory-biblia" körül. A mű és szerzőLászló Mezey — 1956