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Ordo (Eremitarum) S. Augustini / The Order of St Augustine (Hermits)

The brotherhood, based on the Rule of St Augustine, was founded by Pope Alexander IV, who decided to join several groups of hermits into a single community and create a new monastery dedicated to pastoral care in cities that would parallel Franciscans and Dominicans.

Augustinians became established in Lithuania during the time of Grand Duke Vytautas – the foundation of the first, and for a long time, the only convent in Brest is traditionally dated back to 1410. Despite their early settlement in Brest, several later attempts of Augustinians to expand their activity in Lithuania were unsuccessful. It was not until 1673 to 1675 that the second Augustinian community finally settled in Vilnius and became the second permanent base of the Augustinian Order in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Having recovered after the Great Plague, the Vilnius and Brest communities grew and flourished. In 1808, the Tsarist authorities took over their main building in Vilnius, but a new monastery was founded in Kaunas. It was returned to the Catholic Church in 1919, but the Augustinians did not return to Vilnius.