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Today I want to write about St. Alypius, who was a close friend of St. Augustine. In addition to being Augustine’s friend, Alypius was a member of Augustine’s monastic community in Hippo (the ancient name of Annaba, a coastal city in Algeria). Augustine once called Alypius “the brother of my heart.” Both shared the same errors as young men, and both shared the same conversion to Christ.

The years from 1936-1939 were very difficult ones for the Catholic Church in Spain. During these years of the Spanish Civil War more than 7,000 priests, friars, and religious sisters were martyred. In addition, over 3,500 lay persons were put to death for the cause of Christ. Besides Blessed Anselm Polanco, O.S.A., who was martyred in 1939, six groups of Augustinian friars totaling 98 persons, gave their lives for the cause of Christ.

Before I was ordained to the priesthood I was on the editorial board for Ancient Christian Writers, a book series of English translations of early Christian writers. The managing editor was Fr. Dennis Mc Manus, a priest of the Archdiocese of Mobile. Fr. McManus also worked as a liturgist for a number of years at the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Camillo Barone, a staff reporter for the National Catholic Reporter (NCR) tells the story in a recent column in NCR about Fr. McManus and the late James Cardinal Hickey, former Archbishop of Washington. (Cardinal Hickey ordained me to the diaconate and priesthood in 1998.)

Today we continue the series of reflections on various beatified and canonized members of the Augustinian order.  Our saints today are Saints Liberatus, Boniface, and Companions.  Their feast day is celebrated on August 26. They were seven monks from North Africa who were martyred during the Christian persecutions of the late fifth century. They chose to live monastic life under the inspiration of Saint Augustine’s early communities and to meet death together rather than deny their faith.  Saints Liberatus, Boniface, and Companions are known today as the Augustinian Martyrs of Gafsa (Africa). 

I am continuing this series of canonized and beatified members of the Augustinian order. This week we are looking at Blessed Ann Catherine Emmerich (1774-1824), who was an Augustinian Canoness noted for her visions of Christ and other mystical gifts. You might be wondering what an Augustinian Canoness is. A canoness is a member of a religious community of women, historically a stable community, dedicated to the celebration of the Liturgy of the Hours in a particular church. Blessed Ann Catherine Emmerich is called an Augustinian Canoness because her community followed the rule of Saint Augustine. Once again, I have relied on a website maintained by the Midwest Augustinians for much of the information in this column.