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St. Augustine
Bishop of Hippo, Doctor of the Church (354-430 A.D.)

"Late have I learned to love you, Beauty, at once so ancient and so

new! Late have I come to love You! You were within me, and I was
in the world outside myself You were with me, but I was not with
You,"

IMPORTANT PERSONS IN HIS LIFE

HIS FAMILY:

• Monica – his mother

• Patricius – his father
• Navigius – his brother
• Perpetua – his sister who became Superior of a religious community
for women.
• Melania – his girlfriend and mother of his son (unknown person in his
book Confessions but for historical representation, other writers used
this name).
• Adeodatus – his son (died as a teenager).

HIS FRIENDS:

• Alypius – his townmate, companion at Carthage, Rome, Milan, and

Thagaste, as his “my other half”, “the brother of my heart”. Bishop of
Thagaste.
• Evodius –his townmate, member of Cassiciacum group in Milan, one
of the first Augustinians in Africa. Bishop of Usala.
• Severus – another Augustinian at Thagaste, part of his first
community. Bishop of Melivis.
• Possidius – his biographer. Bishop of Calama.
• Nebridius – his disciple in Italy.

HIS MOTIVATIONS AND INSPIRATIONS:

• Romanianus – rich friend of the family from Thagaste, paid his

studies at Carthage.
• Cicero – Latin poet author of Hortensius.
• St. Ambrose – Bishop of Milan. Baptized St. Augustine.
• Victorinus – famous philosopher of the 4th century.
• St. Jerome – translated the Bible into Latin.
• Faustus – Bishop and mentor of the Manicheans. The much awaited
dialogue with him signified a total disappointment, as a consequence,
he left the Manichean sect and moved to the Catholic Church.

HIS LIFE
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A. From Birth to Conversion (354-386)

Augustine was born on November 13, 354 at Thagaste where the

population 'was mostly of Berber stock. His mother, Monica, was a fervent
Christian. Patricius; his father, was a pagan who was a small landholder
and town councilor. Despite the family's limited resources, he provided his
son with all that was needed for his good education. He had a brother,
Navigius and a sister whom tradition called Perpetua. He was African in
descent, yet Roman in culture, education and language. He studied at
Thagaste, Madaura and Carthage. He taught rhetoric at Carthage, then at
Rome and Milan. He was a master of the Latin language and culture yet
not fluent in Greek. He knew little or no Punic. He was brought up as a
Christian. In intention, he always remained one.

At 19, reading Cicero's Hortensius, he was converted to the love of

wisdom, which, disappointed by his reading of Scripture, he sought among
the Manichees to whom he adhered for 9 years. Having been disillusioned
by the weakness of the Manichean system, he turned to skepticism. When
in Milan, aged 32, he began the return-journey through St. Ambrose's
preachings on the Catholic interpretation of Scripture. He overcame
skepticism by accepting the authority of the church. He overcame his
materialism by discovering, with the help of Platonism, the true notion of
evil. He overcame his naturalism and the problem of meditation by reading
St. Paul and recognizing Jesus Christ as Mediator of grace and Redeemer.

Thus his return to the Catholic faith was complete. Yet his problem
was how to live the Christian ideals. After struggles, he chose to abandon
all worldly aspirations including marriage and consecrated himself totally to
that ideal.

B. From Conversion to Priesthood (386-391)

Augustine withdrew to Cassiciacum (probably modern-day Cassago

Brianza), returned to Milan the following March, followed Ambrose's
catechism and was baptized by him on the night of Holy Saturday, April 24-
25, 386.

While planning to return to Africa with his family to carry out the "holy
aim" of living together in God's service, Monica died at Ostia. Thus, he
returned to Rome and spent 8-10 months interesting, himself in monastic
life.

Returning to Africa, he settled at Thagaste where "together with those

who were united to him he lived for God and instructed those present and
absent through discourses and books" (Possidius).

C. From Priesthood to Episcopate (391-396)

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Augustine went to Hippo Regius "to look for a place to find a

monastery and live with my brother" (Sermon 355, 2). There he was
surprised by the priesthood, which he reluctantly accepted as God's wish.
As he had planned, he founded a monastery where he lived as priest and
monk, in ascesis and study, following the ways and rules established at the
time of the Apostles” (Possidius 5).

In 395/396, he was consecrated assistant bishop. Leaving the lay

monastery, which would become a "seminary" of priests and monks for the
whole Africa (Possidius 11), he withdrew to a clerical monastery of Hippo
(Sermons 355 and 356).

D. From Episcopate to Death (396-430)

Augustine's pastoral activities comprised: (1) the church of Hippo:

preaching (2 times a week-Saturday and Sunday, often on several
consecutive days or even 2 times a day) "audientia episcopalis", care of the
poor and orphans, training of the clergy, organization of male and female
monasteries, administration of church property (not enjoyed but submitted
to), visiting the sick; (2) the church of Africa: participation in annual
councils, frequent journeys in response to colleagues' invitations or
ecclesiasticals' necessity; (3) the universal church: dogmatic controversies
against the Manichees, the Donatists and the Pelagians.

Augustine died on August 28, 430. History tells that a group of African
bishops took the body of Augustine with them while fleeing from the
Vandals. It was deposited in Sardinia on payment of gold' equaling the
weight of Augustine's body. A king of Lombardy brought it to Pavia where it
was buried in the Church of Ciel D'oro. A relic of his right forearm is
retained in the Cathedral of Hippo, present-day Annaba.

See: Augustine, Confessions, trans. R. S. Pine-Coffin (Baltimore: Penguin,

1961); Peter Brown, Augustine of Hippo (Berkeley, Calif: University of
California Press, 1967).