AUGUSTINE NOVELLUS, BL.

Jurist and Augustinian prior general; b. Tarano, in Sabina, Italy, date unknown; d. near Siena, May 19, 1309. He studied law at the University of bologna and became chancellor to Manfred, King of Sicily. After the death of the king (1266) he entered the augustinian Order as a brother and took the name Augustine. According to the traditional account, he was ordained a priest after his identity as a famed jurist became known among his fellow religious. He was appointed papal confessor by nicholas iv and served as papal legate in Siena under boniface viii. Together with Bl. Clement of Sant'Elpidio (d. 1291) he revised the early constitutions of his order and in 1298 was elected prior general. After resigning in 1300, he retired to the hermitage of San Leonardo near Siena. The designation "Novellus" was added in the 15th century, when his cult became widespread, in order to distinguish him from St. augustine of Hippo. The cult was confirmed by clement xiii in 1759, and his relics are preserved in a church dedicated to him at Siena, where there is also an early 14th-century portrait.

Feast: May 19.

Bibliography: Acta Sanctorum May 4:614–626. Analecta Augustiniana 6 (1915–16) 120–133. a. corrao, Sopra la patria del beato Agostino Novello (3d ed. Palermo 1922). jordan of quedlinburg, Liber vitasfratrum, ed. r. arbesmann and w. hÜmpfner (New York 1943), passim. m. nicolosi, "Il codice senese della vita di Matteo Novelli. Codice Senese (K.VII, 36). Annotazioni codicologiche" Analecta Augustiniana 54 (1991) 303–319.

[a. j. ennis]