Order of Saint Paul the First Hermit

The Order was formed in 1250 by the Blessed Eusebius of Esztergom (Hungarian: Boldog Özséb) of two communities: one founded at Patach around 1225 by Bishop Bartholomew of Pécs, who had united the scattered hermits of his diocese, and the other consisting of his own followers. In 1246, Blessed Eusebius, Canon of the Cathedral of Esztergom, resigned his dignities, distributed his goods among the poor and withdrew to the solitude of the Pilis mountains, near Zante (probably related to present day Pilisszántó) to lead a life of penance with a few companions (see the ruins of the Holy Cross Monastery at present-day Kesztölc-Klastrompuszta). Four years later, he is said to have been admonished in a vision to gather into community the other hermits living in the vicinity, for whom he built a monastery and church the ruins of which are near the village of Pilisszentlélek (today a part of Esztergom).[3]

In the same year, Eusebius proposed and obtained affiliation with the Patach community under the rule prescribed by its founder and was chosen superior. He received the approbation of Ladislaus, Bishop of Pécs, for the new Order, but the publication of the decrees of the Fourth Lateran Council at this time necessitated a journey to Rome to secure final authorization by the Holy See.[3]

In 1263, a new Rule was given the congregation by the Bishop of Pécs, which was superseded by still another drawn up by Andrew, Bishop of Eger, after the death of Eusebius (20 January 1270), and this was followed until 1308 when the permission of the Holy See was obtained to adopt the Rule of St. Augustine. The Order was accorded many privileges by succeeding pontiffs, among others that of exemption from episcopal jurisdiction, and provisions were made for the pursuit of higher studies in many of the monasteries, one papal regulation ordaining that no member could be raised to any dignity in the Order without the degree of Doctor of Divinity, for which a rigid examination was prescribed.[3]

Remains of first friary, at Budapest

In the saddle between Hárshegy and János Hill is Szépjuhászné, 'Beautiful shepherdess', the site of the first Pauline monastery, known as the Monastery of St Lawrence at Buda (Hungarian: Budaszentlőrinci pálos kolostor), where the Pauline Order founded their first friary.[4] László Báthory translated the Bible into Hungarian circa 1456,[5] but no contemporary copies have survived. However, the 16th century Jordánszky Codex is most likely a copy of Báthory's work in the 15th century.[6]

The Pauline Order spread rapidly through Hungary, where alone it soon numbered 170 houses, and it attained an equal degree of prosperity in other countries, being divided into five flourishing provinces: Hungary (including Croatia, especially Istria), Germany, Poland, Sweden. In 1381, the body of St. Paul, the patron saint of the order, was transferred from Venice to the Monastery of St. Lawrence at Buda, which thereby gained greatly in prestige. Among the other famous houses of the congregation are the historical Polish Monastery of Our Lady of Jasna Góra (Our Lady of Bright Mountain) in Częstochowa, Poland, with its Miraculous Icon of the Black Madonna of Częstochowa (according to legend the work of St. Luke and discovered by St. Helena with the True Cross), and the monasteries at Pozsony (now Bratislava) and Wiener Neustadt near Vienna. The church of San Stefano Rotondo at Rome was attached to the Hungarian College by Gregory XIII.[3]

In 1783, a number of houses in Bohemia, Austria proper, Styria, etc., were suppressed, and political disturbances in Hungary brought the same fate to most of the Hungarian monasteries which had rendered incalculable services to religion and education. The destruction of the annals of these houses left the historical sources very meager.[3] There remained a handful of houses of the order in Poland. At the beginning of the 20th century, only two Pauline monasteries remained. One of them was the Church of Saint Michael the Archangel and Saint Stanislaus of Szczepanów — Bishop and Martyr connected to a monastery Na Skałce (On the Rock) in Kraków, Poland, founded by Jan Długosz, and regarded as a national sanctuary.[3] The other was recalled earlier: the Monastery of Our Lady of Jasna Góra.

Pauline monks in procession for the Feast of Corpus Christi at Parrocchia Santi Urbano e Lorenzo in Prima Porta, Rome

Among the members of the order to attain prominence were George Martinuzzi, bishop of Nagyvárad (Oradea) and cardinal (murdered 16 December 1551), an important figure in the history of Hungary; Matthias Fuhrmann of Hernals (died 1773), historian of Austria and editor of the Acts of St. Paul of Thebes; Fortunatus Dürich (1802) and Franz Faustin Prochaska (died 1809), editors of a Czech translation of the Scriptures.[3]

The habit was originally brown but, in about 1341, white was adopted with a white belt or cincture and, over the white tunic, a white scapular with a hood. In choir or more commonly in liturgical events, a white mantle is worn by monks in perpetual profession.[3] The Order is also known for its privilege of wearing a white zucchetto, although many monks choose not to wear them. Monks also may make use of a black cloak either to protect their habit from the elements or to keep warm in winter. Like all religious who wear white habits, white socks ought to be worn with the habit of the order.[7]

• Et tu Hungaria, mi dulcis patria, cum Paulinis crescis et, cum itidem, decrescis.
• És te Magyarország, édes hazám, a pálosokkal együtt növekedsz és velük hanyatlasz.
• And you Hungary, my sweet fatherland, who with the Paulines grows and, with whom, likewise fades.

— Péter Pázmány[8]

Eusebius was born in Esztergom in the Kingdom of Hungary around 1200. He came from a wealthy, well to do family. He received his ordination in the cathedral in Esztergom as a Canon Regular of Saint Augustine. In 1216, he received permission from the bishop to leave the cathedral and he began a hermitage in Pilis. In 1246, more of his brother canons and other hermits along the river Danube lived with him near Pilisszántó.

Around 1250, he founded the first real Pauline community at the monastery of the Holy Cross where they adopted the hermits rule from the monastery of St. James in Patach (founded in 1225 by Bishop Bartholomew of Pécs). In 1256, he was elected the first Provincial of the Order. In 1262, he asked Pope Urban IV for approval of the religious community and they were given temporary approval. On 13 December 1308, Cardinal Gentile Portino da Montefiore, as a legate of Pope Clement V, traveled from Rome to Hungary to grant the approval and, on this day, he also bestowed the rule of Saint Augustine on behalf of the Holy See. A year later, the first monastic constitutions were approved.

Eusebius died on 20 January 1270, in the Monastery of the Holy Cross. He was interred in the Monastery crypt. During the 150 years of Turkish occupation in Hungary, the Church and Monastery of the Holy Cross, including his tomb, was destroyed.

On 16 November 2004, the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, in approving the new liturgical calendar of the Pauline Order, authorized the inclusion of the 20 January as the feast of Bl. Eusebius of Esztergom. It is noteworthy to mention that due to the close relation between the Hungarian people and the Order of Saint Paul the First Hermit, Blessed Eusebius was always referred to by the people as Blessed, from soon after his death to this very day.

The Pauline coat of arms contains within it the symbols listed by St. Jerome, according to pious tradition, which are associated with the last moments of St. Paul of Thebes' life.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Order of Saint Paul the First Hermit.

• Paul of Thebes on OrthodoxWiki
• "The Australian Province of Order Of Saint Paul The First Hermit". Archived from the original on 2022-03-07. Retrieved 2022-04-07.
• "Paulinerorden" [Pauline Order] (in German). Archived from the original on 2021-11-13. Retrieved 2022-04-07.
• "Magyar Pálos Rend" [Hungarian Pauline Order] (in Hungarian). Archived from the original on 2022-04-01.
• "Aktualności - Zakon Świętego Pawła Pierwszego Pustelnika" [News - Order of Saint Paul the First Hermit] (in Polish). Archived from the original on 2022-03-12. Retrieved 2022-04-07.
• "The Order of St. Paul the First Hermit | The Pauline Fathers and Brothers USA". Archived from the original on 2022-02-01. Retrieved 2022-04-07.