Pope Leo XIV - Dissertation
“The role of the local prior in the Order of Saint Augustine.”
Pope Leo XIV (born Robert Francis Prevost; September 14, 1955) is the current head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State. He was elected by the papal conclave May 8, 2025, and took the papal name Leo XIV.
Order of Saint Augustine.
Pope Leo XIV is the first pope to come from the Order of St. Augustine.
The Order of St. Augustine, or Augustinian Order, fundamentally based upon the teachings of Jesus Christ and later of Aurelius Augustine, the Bishop of Hippo (354 - 430 A.D.), was founded to live and promote the spirit of community as lived by the first Christian communities (Acts of the Apostles 4, 32-35).
The Order of Saint Augustine was born juridically in March 1244, when Pope Innocent IV united various groups of hermits in service to the Universal Church as a community of Mendicant Friars. The Order, from its very beginning, has recognized Saint Augustine of Hippo as its father, teacher, and spiritual guide, not only because it has received the Rule1 and the name of the Order from him, but also because it has received from him its doctrine and spirituality.2
Doctoral Dissertation
Pope Leo XIV (as Robert Francis Prevost) earned a licentiate and doctorate in canon law from the Pontifical College of St. Thomas Aquinas (Angelicum) in Rome. (1987).
His doctoral thesis was titled “The office and authority of the local Prior in the Order of Saint Augustine.”3 It focused on the governance and responsibilities of the local prior within the Augustinian order, reflecting his early interest in Church administration and the structure of religious communities.
Importance of St. Augustine
Order of St. Augustine. The purpose of the Order consists in this, that united harmoniously in brotherhood and spiritual friendship, we seek and worship God and work for the service of his people. In this way, we share in the Church’s work of evangelization bringing the Good News to the whole world to that we may transform the world from within. The Rule of Saint Augustine, written in about the year 400, is a brief document divided into eight chapters and serves as an outline for religious life lived in community.
Prevost, Robert F. 1987. “The Office and Authority of the Local Prior in the Order of Saint Augustine.” Dissertation, [Erscheinungsort nicht ermittelbar]: [Verlag nicht ermittelbar]. Pontifical College of St. Thomas Aquinas (Angelicum) https://search.worldcat.org/title/310749292 - Pontifical College of St. Thomas Aquinas (Angelicum)