Canons Regular

A canons regular is a body of Canons (Priests) living under a rule. Most live under the Rule of St Augustine, but there are other canons regular.

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The regular canons live together as a community and take the three vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. Secular Canons live in the outside community and live on an income called a prebend. Both perform similar duties.

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According to the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life of the Holy See, "Canons Regular, who combine the clerical office and state with the observance of community religious life and the evangelical counsels, have their origin in the communities of clergy which lived with their bishop. It was St. Augustine who, at the end of the fourth and the beginning of the fifth centuries, gave this form of religious life its most characteristic features."

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See: Canon (priest)

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