Starting in the sixteenth century, the Augustinian Order lost a large number of monasteries. Because of Martin Luther, an Augustinian monk who was a spokesman for Divine Grace, the presence of Augustinians drastically diminished, while Augustine’s thought was the subject of discussion in the theological debates that led to the Counter-Reformation.
The founder’s words were in any case repeated in the works of the great seventeenth-century philosophers and became a point of reference for some religious movements, such as Jansenism.
As a result of Napoleon’s suppression of convents, in 1808 the convent of Sant’Agostino was closed down. The Augustinian friars continued to officiate in the church until 1972.
Currently the convent space is occupied by schools, while the church serves as the setting for cultural events.