CANONICAL Life, the method or rule of living prescribed by the ancient clergy who lived in community. It was a kind of medium between the monastic and the clerical. Originally the orders of monks and clerks were entirely distinct; but in process of time pious persons instituted colleges of priests and canons, where clerks brought up for the ministry, as well as others already engaged therein, might live under a fixed rule. This was called the canonical life, and those who embraced it canons. Authors are divided about the founder of the canonical life. Some maintain that it was founded by the apostles; others ascribe it to Pope Urban I. (about 1230), who is said to have ordered bishops to provide such of their clergy as were willing to live in community with necessaries out of the revenues of their churches. It is generally attributed to St Augustin, who instituted a monastery within the episcopal palace. According to Onuphrus Panvinus, Pope Gelasius I., about A.D. 495, placed the first regular canons of St Augustin in the Lateran church.