A Brief Overview on the Life of St.

Augustine
Our knowledge, understanding and appreciation of
Augustine is immeasurably enhanced if we know
something of the age in which he lived. No genius is
completely liberated from his age and circumstances.
This is particularly true of Augustine. Living as he did
in some critical decades of European history-- it is
often said that he was a man living on the frontiers of
two worlds, the ancient world which was passing
away and the medieval world which was coming into
being.
Augustinus Aurelius, or famously known as St. Augustine, was born on November 13, 354 AD at
Thagaste, Numidia (now Souk Ahras, Algeria in Africa). Although Thagaste was a place where
Berber natives lived, his family name, Aurelius, suggests his father's ancestors were freedmen
with given full Roman citizenship and Latin as their language. His mother, Monica, was a fervent
Christian, while Patricius, his father was a pagan who was a small land
holder and town councillor. He had a brother, Navigius, and a sister whose name is lost but is
traditionally remembered as Perpetua. Unfortunately, Monica was unable to baptize her
children.
Although eminently respectable, the family had modest means, however, Augustine was still
provided with all that was needed for his good education. He spoke masterfully the Latin
language yet not fluent in Greek. As a young boy, he showed less interest in education because
his attention was still on playing with his peers.
TRIVIA!!! St. Augustine is the Patron Saint of Printers, Brewers, and Theologians. He died on
August 28, 430 AD, which is also his feast day.

St. Augustine and His Mother

Indeed, Monica played a significant role in the life
and works of her son. She’d been brought up in a
Christian family, and was a woman of inner
resources: Patient determined, dignified,
persevering, enduring, above gossip, firm peace
maker among her acquaintances and her
uncertainties were unnerving. She adhered to the
traditional practices of African church.
The name Monica was an outcry of the earlier beliefs
of her family, derived from local deity, the goddess Mon. She was brought up by a grey-haired
and sternly uncompromising serving-woman, who even measured the water to quench her
thirst.
Monica was born in the year 332 in Thagaste. She was married to Patricius (who was then 40
years old and one of the city’s magistrates), at the age of 22 by arrangement. She gave birth to
Augustine at the age of 23. Despite the unfaithfulness of her husband, she refused to be bitter
and unhappy. She was really and ideal Christian mother and wife.
As a young maiden, she acquired a behavior unbecoming of her age. She became fond of
drinking the thick wine of Numidia that tastes of violets and wasps. Fortunately a maidservant
discovered her in the dim cellar. She was called meribula which literally means a sot of
drunkard. This word sufficed to cure her.
Monica became a wife of a hot tempered husband but she succeeded in gaining and holding her
husband’s affection because when his fits of rage were upon him, she would leave him quietly
and without a word, to storm and curse until his passion was spent. When he assumed a milder
expression, she would explain with great gentleness how and where he had erred. She had been
a young woman with great sense.
The wise and patient wife living with a husband so violent had managed to maintain peace in
the household. Her powers of endurance had doubtless been strengthened by the lessons on
humility; she had received in her childhood both in her own home and from the church, much
more due to her natural gentleness and keen intelligence.
After marriage, they stayed in the house of her in-laws. Monica was not exempted in-law was
influenced by a malicious gossip of servants. So, she had begun hating the young wife. However,
by dint of much gentleness, docility and persevering endurance managed so cleverly that at last
the old woman herself ordered Patricius to have the slandering servants flogged, and
henceforth the two women lived in perfect harmony.
Monica died at the age of 56, on November 13, 387, while she, Augustine, Adeodatus, Alypius
and friends, were waiting for the boat at the port of Ostia to bring them back to Africa. She was
buried at Ostia. She had one wish to her son in her dying moment:
“…to bury my body anywhere; it does not matter. Do not let that disturb you. This only to ask—
that you remember me at the altar of God whenever you may be.”
Since her death, Monica has been considered as an inspiration to mothers who are tempted to
despair for the growth of faith within their children.
TRIVIA!!! Did you know that Monica later on became a saint? St. Monica is the Patron Saint of
wives and abused victims

St. Augustine and His Father

 Patricius, Augustine’s father belong to an influential family class in the local society. He was a
small landowner, a dignitary of the village but a citizen of slender means. He also served as a
decurio, a minor official of the Roman Empire. As a decurio, he was required to act as a patron
of his community and to make up for any shortfalls in taxes collected from the region.
Moreover, he was expected to procure funds for building public projects, temples, festivities,
games and
local his personal prestige. He also took charge for the collection of imperial taxes, provided
food and board for the army and supported their imperial post.
This responsibility probably kept a constant strain on the family finances and may account for
Augustine’s assertion that his family was poor.
Patricius, though pagan was generous but “hot tempered” and not always faithful to his wife
because he was addicted to carnal pleasures the point of repeated infidelities to his wife. The
relationship between him and his wife was slavish in nature. Monica’s humble nature was
eminent. She used to keep silence when Patricius got angry. She would wait without saying a
word to provoke him, until his anger was ended. After which, she would explain how she been
right.
With the kind of personality Patricius possessed, it was admirable of him not to put his hand on
his wife. As a father, although a violent man and no very refined personality, seemed to have
genuine concerns for his son—Augustine’s welfare and appreciation of his intellectual
capacities, as evidenced by his self-determination to send him to school.
What was admirable about Patricius was that though pagan, he had allowed Monica to raise their
children as Christians. Both parents had one common quality: Determination

St. Augustine and His Friends

“During those years, when I first began to teach, I
gained a friend, my equal in age, flowering like me
with youth, and very dear to me because of common
interests. As a boy, he had grown up with me, we
had gone to school together, and had played games
together. But in childhood he was not such a friend
as he became later on. Our friendship was sweet to
us, made fast by our ardor in like pursuits. This man
was now wandering with me in spirit, and my soul
could not endure to be without him.” (cf. The
Confessions, p. 97)

At first glance, St. Augustine may appear as a strongly devoted person who shuns the secular
world and who pursued the spirit life using methods preferred by religious people. Still,
surprisingly, he believes in friendship. St. Augustine’s Confessions show that he considers
friendship as an essential part of the Christian life. In his accounts,

Friends

St. Augustine named some of his friends: Alypius, whom he called “the brother of my heart;”
Evodius, a member if his Cassiclacum group; Severus, a part of his community; Possidius, his
biographer; and Nebridius, his disciple in Italy.
Possidius wrote the first biography of Augustine, in which he tells of their 40 years of close
friendship. After St. Augustine’s death, Hippo itself was attacked and burned in 431. Possidius
did return to Calama, but in 437 was exiled by King Hunmeric, who suppressed Christianity on
the territories that he conquered. During this time of exile, Possidius completed his famous
book, The Life of Augustine. Little else is known about the activities of Possidius during this
exile.

Alypius was referred to by Augustine as "brother of my heart". Both shared the same errors as
young men and both shared the same conversion to Christ, baptized together by Saint Ambrose
in 387. Alypius helped Augustine start the first monastery in northern Africa in Thagaste. When
Augustine was ordained a priest in Hippo, and started a monastery there, Alypius joined that
community.

Evodius was a friend who was in Milan when Augustine worked there as a rhetoric teacher.
When Augustine first met him, Evodius was already a baptized Christian. He agreed to return to
Thagaste with Augustine, who wanted to form a Christian lay community there.