Monks of Saint Paul the First Hermit

MONKS OF SAINT PAUL THE FIRST HERMIT. - They took their name from St. Paul of Thebes, the first hermit, who lived in Egypt in the 3rd-4th century, but their origin goes back to the hermits living in Hungary (Pannonia), founded at the beginning of the 13th century (1215) by Bartholomew, bishop of Pecs (Five Churches), at Patach on Mount St. James. Another branch arose in northern Hungary, founded by Eusebius, canon of Strigonium. The two branches united in 1250 under the direction of Eusebius, "co-founder and organizer." They obtained pontifical approval in 1309 from Clement V.

In 1340 the Congregation of Hermits living along the Danube and the Rhine, in Switzerland and in Germany, joined the Order. Toward the end of the 15th century the Portuguese Pauline Hermits adhered, themselves also composed of two branches: one founded by Benedict Romanus in the 12th century and the other by Mendo Gomez in 1420; but in the 16th century they separated. There also existed in France a Pauline Congregation founded by Callier (17th century), whose members were called "brothers of death." The Order spread in Hungary and neighboring countries where, in the 14th and 15th centuries, it had reached great importance: in Poland with the famous sanctuary of the wonder-working "Black Madonna" of Czestochowa founded in 1382, in Prussia and in Lithuania. The purpose of the Order at the beginning was exclusively contemplative; from the 16th century the Holy See entrusted it with charitable and missionary works as well as religious instruction. At present the priestly ministry is carried out in its own churches. Among its members there were numerous bishops, writers and scientists. In Hungary, among others, George Martinuzzi Ulisinovica distinguished himself, bishop and cardinal, intrepid fighter for Hungarian independence; in Poland Father Augustine Kordecki, defender of the sanctuary of Jasna Gora and of the homeland in 1655; in Croatia Father Martin Borkowica, pater patriae. The absolutism of the sovereigns in the 18th and 19th centuries nearly annihilated the Order in the Austrian Empire, in Germany, in Portugal, etc. In Poland a few convents survived the persecution, and after the First World War they took on new life.

Stanislao Nowak