The life of St Augustine

Born in Thagaste (Algeria)

Education • Patricius (Father) makes sacrifices for Augustine to have a classical

education. Augustine loves Latin literature and detests rote learning of Greek and Arithmetic• 366: he goes to study Rhetoric in Madaura, 20 miles South.

Searching…370-371• Has a year at home in 370 and enjoys causing trouble, like stealing

pears from a neighbour’s orchard.• 371: Study in Carthage – “a cauldron of illicit loves.” Joins a group of

students called the “Wreckers”.

Love and death• Augustine has a faithful relationship with a lover for 14 years. Their

son Adeodatus is born in 372. We don’t know the name of his lover.• In the same year his father Patricius dies. He is baptized a Christian on

his death-bed. Augustine remains resentful of his father: unfaithful to his mother, sometimes angry; did not provide a strong lead in Augustine’s turbulent adolescence.

Searching again: mind versus flesh• 372: takes active interest in the Manichees. They see opposing forces

of good and evil at work in the world, and associate good with rationality.• 373: inspired by Cicero’s Hortensius which eloquently argues for the

necessity of thinking philosophically• Abandons his career as a lawyer. Ponders the question of evil and how

to separate the rational mind from the power of sin.

Teaching career• 374: Teaches grammar in Thagaste. Monica at first refuses to let him

back in the house because he’s a Manichee. She prays for his conversion.• 376: The death of a close friend pitches him into despair. He moves to

Carthage and opens a school of rhetoric.• Stays for 8 years. Hates the rowdy behaviour of the students.• In 379 Theodosius I becomes Emperor and the Nicene Creed is

established as the statement of true Catholic belief. (Credo in unum Deum… et incarnates est, ex Maria virgine…)

His brilliant career…• Urged by Alypius, he moves to Rome in 383. The students are better,

but skip out when it’s time to pay. He deceives his mother to stop her following him.• Spotted by Symmachus (city prefect) and chosen for a post in Milan as

“rhetor” (speech-writer for the Emperor)• 384: Privately he becomes a catechumen of the Catholic church (a

seeker), impressed by the Sermons of Bishop Ambrose. Learns how to read the Bible spiritually.

“Let your door stand open to receive him, unlock your soul to him, offer him a welcome in your mind, and then you will see the riches of simplicity, the treasures of peace, the joy of grace.”

Separation from his lover

•385: Monica arrives and a condition of arranging a Catholic marriage is that Augustine must separate from his lover. He is torn apart.

Conversion• 386. Augustine and Alypius welcome a friend Ponticianus who

describes St Anthony and his desert monks. Augustine feels called to renounce pleasures of the flesh but wrestles in the garden with the impossibility of this call. He hears a child’s voice singing “tolle lege, tolle lege!” So he picks up the copy of St Paul’s letters and reads, “Put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh in its lust.”• Alypius and Monica share in Augustine’s sudden sense of joy and

clarity.

Death of Monica• 387: on the way home to Thagaste to set up a monastery, Monica

dies, aged 56.• A few days earlier, at the port of Ostia, Augustine shares a vision with

his mother.• QUOTE

Back to public life•388: sells his property and sets up a monastic

community with Alypius and other friends in Thagaste•390: deaths of Adeodatus and Nebridius prompt a

move to Hippo in 391, where he is instantly welcomed and ordained.•395: Made assistant Bishop: judging disputes;

intervening for prisoners, the poor, slaves and orphans.

Monastery to metropolis

Bishop of Hippo• He is installed as Bishop in 396 and begins a series of great works:• Confessions (begun 397) is a blazingly honest account of personal sin

and the need for grace, as well as a testament of faith: You have made us for Yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in You.• 399: On the Trinity• 413: Starts City of God, motivated by the sack of Rome (410)• Also writes against the Donatists (only good people can join the

Church) and Pelagius (we can qualify for Heaven on our own merit without need for grace)

Death and legacy•429: Vandals (Arian Christians) invade Africa and Catholic churches are banned. Refugees pour into Hippo.•28th August 430. Augustine dies even as Hippo is under siege.•His library is saved: 100 books; 240 letters and over 500 sermons

Footnote – Algeria today• Two Augustinian sisters, Esther and Caridad were martyred in Algeria

in 1995 at the hands of so-called “Islamist” rebels.• There is currently a bishop of Constantine and Hippo, leading a tiny

flock mainly of visiting African students.