Hieronymites

The Hieronymites (also spelled Jeronymites or Jeronimites, also formally known as the Order of Saint Jerome (Latin: Ordo Sancti Hieronymi; abbreviated OSH), is a Catholic cloistered religious order and a common name for several congregations of hermit monks living according to the Rule of Saint Augustine, though the role principle of their lives is that of the 5th-century hermit and biblical scholar Jerome.

The principal group with this name was founded in the Iberian Peninsula around the 14th century. Their religious habit is a white tunic with a brown, hooded scapular and a brown mantle. For liturgical services, they wear a brown cowl.

Origins

Established near Toledo, Spain, the order developed from a spontaneous interest of a number of eremitical communities in both Spain and Portugal imitating the life of Jerome and Paula of Rome. This way of life soon became widespread in Spain. Two of these hermits, Pedro Fernández y Pecha and Fernando Yáñez y de Figueroa, decided it would be more advantageous to live a more regular way of life in a community, under an authorized monastic rule.

Under their leadership, the Monastery of Saint Bartholomew was then founded in Lupiana, with Fernández y Pecha acting as the first prior. On 18 October 1373, Pope Gregory XI issued a papal bull recognizing them as a religious order, under the Rule of Saint Augustine. The constitutions included the teachings of their patron saint.