``Where
the Bishop is, there let the multitude of believers be;
even as where Jesus is, there is the Catholic Church'' Ignatius of
Antioch, 1st c. A.D
Feast of St. Augustine
St. Augustine1
was
born on November 13, 354, in Tagaste, now known as Souk Ahras, Algeria,
which was about 60 miles southeast of Hippo Regius -- the ancient name
of the modern city of Annaba, Algeria
("Hippo" is a Latinization of a Punic word for "harbor.") His middle
class father was a pagan when he was born, but his mother, whom we know
as St. Monica, was Christian, and raised her son -- and his siblings
Perpetua and Navigius -- in the Faith.
But, as many do, Augustine strayed and fell away from the Church. He
was sent away to school at eleven, and fell in with a fast crowd. When
he was sixteen, he and some friends stole pears from a neighbor's
orchard -- not because he was hungry, not because he wanted to sell
them, but only because he knew it was forbidden, and being forbidden,
amusing and camaraderie-building. He later wrote about the incident in
his "Confessions" (Book II, chapters 4-10), using it to
explain the strange lure of sin.
When he was seventeen, he moved to Carthage (an ancient city in
present-day Tunisia) and took up with a young woman who eventually bore
him a son, Adeodatus, out of wedlock. He famously struggled with
chastity, recounting a prayer of his in "Confessions" (Book 8, chapter
7): "Grant me chastity and continency, but not yet."
It was in Carthage that he fell for Manichaeism, the "New Age" relgiion
of his day -- syncretic, dualist, and emphasizing personal spiritual
experience, but in a more formally organized and dogmatic way than the
modern movement. He held on
to this false religion even after he moved to Rome with his girlfriend
and son. For nine years he poured his heart and soul into this heresy,
but soon enough became disillusioned with it all and falling into a
state of existential crisis.
During all these problems and moving about, his mother's prayers for
him were ceaseless. And, finally, those prayers paid off: he moved to
Milan and
met St. Ambrose. He describes their meeting:
And to Milan I
came, unto Ambrose the bishop, known to the whole world as among the
best of men, Your devout servant; whose eloquent discourse did at that
time strenuously dispense unto Your people the flour of Your wheat, the
gladness of Your oil, and the sober intoxication of Your wine. To him
was I unknowingly led by You, that by him I might knowingly be led to
You. That man of God received me like a father, and looked with a
benevolent and episcopal kindliness on my change of abode. And I began
to love him, not at first, indeed, as a teacher of the truth -- which I
entirely despaired of in Your Church, -- but as a man friendly to
myself.
He learned what St. Ambrose had to teach him, but the supernatural gift
of Faith was
still not his. After reading about the Life of St. Anthony of the
Desert with friends, he broke down and begged God to help him. He wrote,
I flung myself
down, how, I know not, under a certain fig-tree, giving free course to
my tears, and the streams of my eyes gushed out, an acceptable
sacrifice unto You. And, not indeed in these words, yet to this
effect, spoke I much unto You -- But You, O Lord, how long? How long,
Lord? Will You be angry for ever? Oh, remember not against us former
iniquities; for I felt that I was enthralled by them. I sent up these
sorrowful cries -- How long, how long? Tomorrow, and tomorrow? Why not
now? Why is there not this hour an end to my uncleanness?
I was saying these things and weeping in the most bitter
contrition of my heart, when, lo, I heard the voice as of a boy or
girl, I know not which, coming from a neighbouring house, chanting, and
oft repeating, Take up and read; take
up and read.
"Take up and read" -- tolle et lege.
And when he opened the Book, he eyes fell on the words of Romans
13:13-14: "Not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and
wantonness, not in strife and envying; but put on the Lord Jesus
Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts
thereof." In an instant, all doubt vanished.
He went to tell his mother of his conversion, and any Catholic mother
can imagine her relief and joy! He was baptized, at the age of
thirty-one, by St. Ambrose at Easter of 387. His son was baptized with
him, and just in time: the next year, after he returned to Africa, his
son -- and mother -- died.
Augustine was ordained in Hippo four years later, in A.D. 391, and five
years after that was made Bishop. He was famous for his sermons -- very
long sermons, thousands of them (around five hundred of them come down
to us today). And he was a most prolific writer, using his rhetorical
skills first to tackle the Manichaean problem that had possessed him
earlier in life, and then the heresy of Montanism, the Donatist schism,
the Pelagian heresy, and, finally, Arianism. Among his literary
achievements are the great classics of Christendom: "Confessions" and
"City of God," two works with which every Catholic should at least be
familiar.
He died at the age of seventy-five, on August 28, 430. His relics were
taken from Hippo to Sardinia, then to Pavia, Italy, where most of them
remain, housed in the church of San Pietro in Ciel d'Oro. Part of
his right arm was taken to Hippo -- now called Annaba, Algeria --
and can be venerated at the St. Augustin Basilica there.
St. Augustine, also sometimes known as "St. Austin," is a Doctor of the Church -- "the Doctor
of Grace." He is the patron of theologians, brewers, and printers.
Customs
Some Catholics prepare for this feast by praying the Novena to St. Augustine beginning on
August 19 and ending on August 27, the eve of his feast. For the day
itself, there is the Litany in
Honor of St. Augustine, or this shorter prayer:
We humbly
supplicate and beseech thee, O thrice blessed Augustine, our glorious
Father, that thou wouldst be mindful of us poor sinners this day,
daily, and at the hour of our death, that by your merits and prayers,
and the merits and prayers of all the saints of your holy Order, we may
be delivered from all evils, as well of soul as body, and daily
increase in virtue and good works; obtain for us that we may know our
God and know ourselves, that in His mercy He may cause us to love Him
above all things in life and death; impart to us, we beseech thee, some
share of that love with which you so ardently glowed, that our hearts
being all inflamed with this divine love, and happily departing out of
this mortal pilgrimage, we may deserve to praise with thee the most
amiable Heart of our dearest Jesus for a never ending eternity. Amen.
And I must include these threww prayers which are not to St. Augustine, but by him. The first is especially
recommended to be prayed before Communion, but it's a brilliant and
profound prayer that can be prayed any time. Consider the words:
Before thy eyes,
O Lord, we bring our sins, and with them compare the stripes we have
received. If we weigh the evil we have done, we find what we suffer to
be much less than what we deserve. "What we have committed far
outweighs what we endure. We feel the punishment of sin, and yet we
turn not from our willfulness in sinning. Our weakness faints under Thy
scourges; but our perverseness is still the same. Our diseased mind is
racked with pain, and our neck is as stiff as ever. Our life is spent
in sighs and grief; but in our actions we are not reformed. If Thou
expect our amendment, we grow no better; if Thou take revenge, we are
not able to subsist. When we are chastised, we acknowledge what we have
done; but when thy visitation is over, we forget what we have wept for.
If Thou stretch out Thy hand, we promise duty; if Thou suspend Thy
sword, we keep not our promise. If Thou strike, we cry for pardon; and
if Thou pardon, we provoke Thee again to strike. Here, O Lord, are
criminals confessing their guilt; we know that unless Thou forgive Thou
mayest justly destroy us. Grant, without our merit, what we ask, O
Almighty Father, Who out of nothing didst create us to ask Thee,
through Christ our Lord. Amen.
V. Deal not with us, O Lord, according to our sins.
R. Neither reward us according to our iniquities.
Let us pray. O God, Who by sin art offended and by penance
pacified, mercifully regard the prayers of Thy suppliant people, and
turn away the scourges of Thy wrath, which we deserve for our sins.
Through Christ, Our Lord. Amen.
And a much briefer but no less beautiful prayer by our Saint:
Breathe in me, O
Holy Spirit,
That my thoughts may all be holy.
Act in me, O Holy Spirit,
That my work, too, may be holy.
Draw my heart, O Holy Spirit,
That I love but what is holy.
Strengthen me, O Holy Spirit,
To defend all that is holy.
Guard me, then, O Holy Spirit,
That I always may be holy.
And, finally, the Petitions of St. Augustine:
Petitions of St. Augustine
O Lord Jesus, let me know myself, let me know Thee
And desire nothing else but only Thee.
Let me hate myself and love Thee;
And do all things for the sake of Thee.
Let me humble myself, and exalt Thee,
And think of nothing but only of Thee.
Let me die to myself, and live in Thee,
And take whatever happens as coming from Thee.
Let me forsake myself and walk after Thee;
And ever desire to follow Thee.
Let me flee from myself, and turn to Thee;
That so I may merit to be defended by Thee.
Let me fear for myself, let me fear Thee;
And be amongst those who are chosen by Thee.
Let me distrust myself, and trust in Thee,
And ever obey for the love of Thee.
Let me cleave to nothing but only to Thee,
And ever be poor for the sake of Thee;
Call me, that I may see Thee,
And forever possess Thee. Amen.
There are two musical pieces I know of for the day. The first is
Marc-Antoine
Charpentier's Pour St. Augustin (H307),
written around 1670:
The second is an oratorio in two parts, written by Johann Adolph Hasse
in 1750. It's called La conversione
di Sant'Agostino (The Conversion of St. Augustine). The voices
you'll hear belong to the characters of St. Augustine (alto); a priest
named Simpliciano (tenor); St. Monica, Augustine’s mother
(soprano); Augustine’s friend, Alipio (alto); and Augustine’s
brother (bass):
There are no traditional foods for the day that I am aware
of, but, in memory of St. Augustine's youthful theft of pears, a
pear-based dessert seems like a natural. Try this recipe for pear cake:
Pear Cake
4 cups peeled, cored and chopped pears
1 1/2 cups white sugar
4 egg whites
2/3 cup olive oil
1 cup chopped pecans
3 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground ginger (or nutmeg, your choice)
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cloves
Combine pears and sugar in a large bowl; let stand for one
hour. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F and spray a 10-inch Bundt pan with
non-stick cooking spray. Beat egg whites 'til frothy, then add in oil,
pecans, and pears. Separately, mix flour, salt, baking soda, nutmeg,
cinnamon, and cloves together; stir into the pear mixture. Pour batter
into the prepared pan. Bake about 1 hour and 10 minutes, until it tests
done. Let cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes, then remove from pan and
cool completely. Dust with powdered sugar, if desired, and serve topped
with whipped cream.
Read more about and from St. Augustine by visiting this site's Catholic Library, paying
special attention to his "Confessions" and "City of God," two classic
works you should know.
Readings
From The Liturgical Year
by Dom Prosper
Geuranger
Today Augustine, the greatest and the humblest of the Doctors, is
hailed by heaven, where his conversion caused greater joy than that of
any other sinner; and celebrated by the Church, who is enlightened by
his writings as to the power, the value, and the gratuitousness of
divine graoe.
Since that wonderful, heavenly conversation at Ostia, God had completed
His triumph in the son of Monioa's tears and of Ambrose's holiness. Far
away from the great cities where pleasure had seduced him, the former
rhetorician now cared only to nourish his soul with the simplicity of
the Scriptures, in silence and solitude. But grace, after breaking the
double ohain that bound his mind and his heart, was to have a still
greater dominion over him; the pontifioal consecration was to
consummate Augustine's union with that divine Wisdom, whom alone he
deolared he loved "for her own sole sake, caring neither for rest nor
life save on her account." From this height, to which the divine mercy
had raised him, let us hear him pouring out his heart:
"Too late have I loved Thee, O Beauty so ancient and yet so new! Too
late have I loved Thee! And behold Thou wast within me, and I, having
wandered out of myself, sought Thee everywhere without. . . . I
questioned the earth, and she answered me: 'l am not the one thou
seekest"; and all the creatures of earth made the same reply. I
questioned the sea and its abysses and all the living things therein,
and they answered: "We are not thy God; seek above us." I questioned
the restless winds; and all the air with its inhabitants replied:
"Anaximenes is mistaken, I am not God." I questioned the sky, the sun,
the moon, the stars, and they said: " We are not the God whom thou
seekest." And I said to all these things that stand without at the
gates of my senses: "Ye have all confessed concerning my God that ye
are not He, tell me now something about Him." And they all cried with
one great voioe: " It is He that made us." I questioned them with my
desires, and they answered by their beauty. — Let the air and the
waters and the earth be silent! Let man keep silenoe in his own soul!
Let him pass beyond his own thought; for beyond all language of men or
of angels, He, of Whom creatures speak, makes Himself heard; where
signs and images and figurative visions cease, there eternal Wisdom
reveals Herself. . . . Thou didst call and cry so loud that my deaf
ears could hear Thee; Thou didst shine so brightly that my blind eyes
could see Thee; Thy fragrance exhilarated me, and it is after Thee that
I aspire; having tasted Thee I hunger and thirst; Thou hast touched me
and thrilled me, and I burn to be in Thy peaceful rest. When I shall be
united to Thee with my whole being, then will my sorrows and labours
cease.'
To the end of his life Augustine never ceased to fight for the truth
against all the heresies then invented by the father of lies; in his
ever repeated victories, we know not which to admire most: his
knowledge of the holy Scriptures, his powerful logic, or his eloquence.
We see too that divine charitv which, while inflexibly upholding every
iota of God's rights, is full of ineffable compassion for the unhappy
beings who do not understand those rights.
"Let those be hard upon you who do not know what labour it is to reach
the truth and turn away from error. Let those be hard upon you, who
know not how rare a thing it is, and how much it costs, to overcome the
false images of the senses and to dwell in peace of soul. Let those be
hard upon you, who know not with what difficulty man's mental eye is
healed so as to be able to gaze upon the Sun of justice; who know not
through what sighs and groans one attains to some little knowledge of
God. Let those, finally, be hard upon you, who have never known
seduction like that whereby you are deoeived. ... As for me, who have
been tossed about by the vain imaginations of which my mind was in
search, and who have shared your misery and so long deplored it, I
could not by any means be harsh to you."
These touching words were addressed to the disciples of Manes, who were
hemmed in on all sides even by the laws of the pagan emperors. How
fearful is the misery of our fallen race, when the darkness of hell can
overpower the loftiest intellects! Augustine, the formidable opponent
of heresy, was, for nine years previously, the convinced disciple and
ardent apostle of Manicheism. This heresy was a strange variety of
Gnostic dualism, which, to explain the existence of evil, made a god of
evil itself; and which owed its prolonged influence to the pleasure
taken in it by Satan's pride.
Augustine sustained also a prolonged though more local struggle against
the Donatists, whose teaching was based on a 'principle as false as the
fact from which it professed to originate. This fact, which on the
petitions presented by the Donatists themselves was juridically proved
to be false, was that Caecilianus, primate of Africa in 311, had
received episcopal consecration from a traditor, i.e. one who had
delivered up the sacred Books in time of persecution. No one, argued
the Donatists, could communicate with a sinner, without himself ceasing
to form part of the flock of Christ; therefore, as the bishops of the
rest of the world had continued to communicate with Csecilianus and his
successors, the Donatists alone were now the Church. This groundless
schism was established among most of the inhabitants of Roman Africa,
with its four hundred and ten bishops, and its troops of Circumoellions
ever ready to commit murders and violence upon the Catholics on the
roads or in isolated houses. The greater part of our saint's time was
occupied in trying to bring back these lost sheep.
We must not imagine him studying at his ease, in the peace of a quiet
episcopal city chosen as if for the purpose by Providence, and there
writing those precious works whose fruits the whole world has enjoyed
even to our days. There is no fecundity on earth without sufferings and
trials, known sometimes to men, sometimes to God alone. When the
writings of the saints awaken in us pious thoughts and generous
resolutions, we must not be satisfied, as we might in the case of
profane books, with admiring the genius of the authors, but think with
gratitude of the price they paid for the supernatural good produced in
our souls. Before Augustine's arrival in Hippo, the Donatists were so
great a majority of the population, that, as he himself informs us,
they would even forbid anyone to bake bread for Catholics.
When the saint died, things were very different; but the pastor, who
had made it his first duty to save, even in spite of themselves, the
souls oonfided to him, had been obliged to spend his days and nights in
this great wori, and had more than onoe run the risk of martyrdom. The
leaders of the schismatics, fearing the force of his reasoning even
more than his eloquence, refused all intercourse with him; they
declared that to put Augustine to death would be a praiseworthy action,
which would merit for the perpetrator the remission of his sins.
"Pray for us," he said at the beginning of his episcopate, pray for us
who live in so precarious a state, as it were between the teeth of
furious wolves. These wandering sheep, obstinate sheep, are offended
because we run after them, as if their wandering made them cease to be
ours. — Why dost thou call us? they say; why dost thou pursue us? — But
the very reason of our ories and our anguish is that they are running
to their ruin. — If I am lost, if I die, what is it to thee? what dost
thou want with me? — What I want is to call thee back from thy
wandering ; what I desire is to snatch thee from death. — But what if I
will to wander? what if I will to be lost? — Thou wiliest to wander?
thou willest to be lost? How much more earnestly do I wish it not! Yea,
I dare to say it, I am importunate; for I hear the Apostle saying:
"Preach the word: be instant in season, out of season." In season, when
they are willing ; out of season, when they are unwilling. Yes then, I
am importunate: thou wiliest to perish, I will it not. And He wills it
not, who threatened the shepherds saying: "That whioh was driven away
you have not brought again, neither have you sought that which was
lost." Am I to fear thee more than Him? I fear thee not; the tribunal
of Donatus cannot take the place of Christ's judgment seat, before
which we must all appear. Whether thou will it or not, I shall call
back the wandering sheep, I shall seek the lost sheep. The thorns may
tear me; but however narrow the opening may be, it shall not check my
pursuit; I will beat every bush, as long as the Lord gives me strength;
so only I can get to thee wherever thou strivest to perish."
Driven into their last trenohes by such unconquerable charity, the
Donatists replied by massacring clerics and faithful, since they could
not touch Augustine himself. The bishop implored the imperial judges
not to inflict mutilation or death upon the murderers lest the triumph
of the martyrs should be sullied by such a vengeance. Such mildness was
certainly worthy of the Church; but it was destined to be one day
brought forward against her in contrast to certain other facts of her
history, by a school of liberalism that can grant rights and even
preeminence to error. Augustine acknowledges his first idea to have
been that constraint should not be used to bring any one into the unity
of Christ; he believed that preaching and free discussion should be the
only arms employed for the conversion of heretics. But on the
consideration of what was taking place before his eyes, the very logio
of his charity brought him over to the opinion of his more ancient
colleagues in the episcopate.
"Who," he says, "could love us more than God does? Nevertheless God
makes use of fear in order to save us, although He teaches us with
sweetness. When the Father of the family wanted guests for His banquet,
did He not send His servants to the highways and hedges, to compel all
they met to oome in? This banquet is the unity of Christ's body. If,
then, the divine goodness has willed that, at the fitting time, the
faith of Christian kings should recognize this power of the Church, let
the heretics brought back from the by-ways, and schismatics forced into
their enclosures, oonsider not the constraint they suffer, but the
banquet of the Lord to which they would not otherwise have attained.
Does not the shepherd sometimes use threats and sometimes blows, to win
back to the master's fold the sheep that have been enticed out of it?
Severity that springs from love is preferable to deceitful gentleness.
He who binds the delirious man, and wakes up the sleeper from his
lethargy, molests them both, but for their good. If a house were on the
point of falling, and our cries could not induoe those within to come
out, would it not be cruelty not to save them by force in spite of
themselves? and that, even if we could snatch only one from death,
because the rest, seeing it, obstinately hastened their own
destruction: as the Donatists do, who in their madness commit suicide
to obtain the crown of martyrdom. No one can become good in spite of
himself; nevertheless, the rigorous laws, of which they complain, bring
deliverance not only to individuals, but to whole cities, by freeing
them from the bonds of untruth and causing them to see the truth, which
the violence or the deceits of the schismatics had hidden from their
eyes. Far from complaining, their gratitude is now boundless and their
joy complete; their feasts and their chants are unceasing."
Meanwhile the justice of heaven was falling upon the queen of nations;
Rome, after the triumph of of the cross, had not profited of God's
merciful delay; now she was expiating, under the hand of Alaric, the
blood of the saints which she had shed before her idols. Go out from
her my people.' At this signal the city was evacuated. The roads
were all lined with barbarians; and happy was the fugitive who could
succeed in reaching the sea, there to entrust to the frailest skiff the
honour of his family and the remains of his fortune. Like a bright
beacon shining through the storms, Augustine, by his reputation,
attracted to the African coast the best of the unfortunates ; his
varied correspondence shows us the new links then formed by God,
between the bishop of Hippo and so many noble exiles. At one time he
would send, as far as Nola in Campania, charming messages, mingled with
learned questions and luminous answers, to greet his dear lords and
venerable brethren, Paulinus and Therasia, his fellow disciples in the
sohool of our Lord Jesus.' Again it was to Carthage, or even nearer
home, that his letters were directed, to console, instruct, and fortify
Albina, Melania, and Pinianus, but especially Proba and Juliana, the
illustrious grandmother and mother of a still more illustrious
daughter, the virgin Demetrias, the greatest in the Roman world for
nobility and wealth, and Augustine's dear conquest to the heavenly
Spouse. ' Oh! who,' he wrote on hearing of her consecration to our
Lord, 'oould worthily express the glory added this day to the family of
the Anicii? For years, it has ennobled the world by the consuls its
sons, but now it gives virgins to Christ! Let others imitate Demetrias;
whosoever ambitions the glory of this illustrious family, let him take
holiness for his portion!' Augustine's desire was magnificently
realized, when, less than a century later, the gens Anicia gave to the
world Soholastioa and Benedict, who were to lead into intimate
familiarity and union with God so many souls eager for true nobility.
When Rome fell, the shock was felt throughout the provinces and even
beyond. Augustine tells us how he, a descendant of the ancient
Numidians, groaned and wept in his almost inconsolable grief; so great,
even in her decadence, was the universal esteem and love for the queen
city, through the secret action of Him who was holding out to her new
and higher destinies. Meanwhile the terrible crisis furnished the
occasion for Augustine's most important writings. The City of God was
an answer to the still numerous partisans of idolatry, who attributed
the misfortunes of the empire to the suppression of the false gods. In
this great work he refutes, in the most oomplete and masterly way, the
theology and also the philosophy of Roman and Greoian paganism; he then
proceeds to set forth the origin, the history, and the end of the two
cities, the earthly, and the heavenly, which divide the world between
them, and which are founded upon "two opposite loves: the love of self
even to the despising of God, and the love of God even to the despising
of self."
But Augustine's greatest triumph was that which earned for him the
title of the Doctor of grace. His favourite prayer: Da quod Jubes, et jube quod vis,
offended the pride of a oertain British monk, whom the events of the
year 410 had led into Africa. This was Pelagius, who taught that
nature, all-powerful for good, was quite capable of working out
salvation, and that Adam's sin injured himself alone, and was not
passed down to his posterity. We can well understand Augustine, who
owed so muoh to the divine mercy, feeling so strong an aversion for a
system whose authors seemed to say to God: "Thou madest us men, but it
is we that justify ourselves."
In this new campaign no injuries were spared to the former convert; but
they were his joy and his hope. He had already said, with regard to
similar arguments adduced by other adversaries: "Catholics, my beloved
brethren, one flock of the one Shepherd, I care not how the enemy may
insult the watch-dog of the fold; it is not for my own defence, but for
yours, that I must bark. Yet I must needs tell this enemy that, as to
my former wanderings and errors, I condemn them, as every one else
does; I can but see therein the glory of Him who has delivered me from
myself. When I hear my former life brought forward, no matter with what
intention it is done, I am not so ungrateful as to be afflicted
thereat; for the more they show up my misery, the more I praise my
physician."
While he made so little account of himself, his reputation was
spreading throughout the world, by reason of the victory he had won for
grace. "Honour to you," wrote the aged St. Jerome from Bethlehem ;
"honour to the man whom the raging winds have not been able to
overthrow! . . . Continue to be of good courage. The whole world
celebrates your praises; the Catholics venerate and admire you as the
restorer of the ancient faith. But what is a mark of still greater
glory, all the heretics hate you. They honour me, too, with their
hatred. Not being able to strike us with the sword, they kill us in
desire."
These lines reveal the intrepid combatant with whom we shall make
acquaintance in September, and who, soon after writing them, was laid
to rest in the saored oave near which he had taken refuge. Augustine
had yet some years to continue the good fight, to complete the
exposition of Catholic doctrine in contradiction to some even holy
persons, who were inclined to think that at least the beginning of
salvation, the desire of faith, did not require the special assistance
of God. This was semi-pelagianism. A century later (529) the second
Council of Orange, approved by Rome and hailed by the whole Church,
closed the struggle, taking its definitions from the writings of the
bishop of Hippo. Augustine himself, however, thus concluded his last
work: "Let those who read these things give thanks to God, if they
understand them; if not, let them pray to the teaoher of our souls, to
him whose shining produces knowledge and understanding. Do they think
that I err? Let them reflect again and again, lest perhaps they
themselves be mistaken. As for me, when the readers of my works
instruct and correct me, I see therein the goodness of God; yea, I ask
it as a favour, especially of the learned ones in the Church, if by
chance this book should fall into their hands, and they deign to take
notice of what I write."
But let us return to the privileged people of Hippo, won over by
Augustine's devotedness, even more than by his admirable discourses.
His door was open to every comer; and he was ever ready to listen to
the requests, the sorrows, and the disputes of his children. Sometimes,
at the instance of other ohurohes, and even of councils, requiring of
Augustine a more aotive pursuit of works of general interest, an
agreement was made between the flock and the pastor, that on certain
days of the week no one should interrupt him. But the convention could
not last long. Whoever wished could claim the attention of this loving
and humble shepherd, beside whom the little ones especially knew well
that they would never meet with a refusal. As an instance of this we
may mention the fortunate child, who wishing to enter into
correspondence with the bishop, but not daring to take the initiative,
received from him the touching letter which may be seen in his works.
Besides all his other glories, our saint was the institutor of monastic
life in Roman Africa, by the monasteries he founded, and in which he
lived before he became bishop. He was a legislator by his letter to the
virgins of Hippo, which became the rule whereon so many servants and
handmaids of our Lord have formed their religious life. Lastly,
together with the clerics of his church who lived with him a common
life of absolute poverty, he was the example and the head of the great
family of Regular Canons. But we must close these already lengthy
pages, which will be completed by the narrative of the holy liturgy.
Let us, then, read this authentic acoount. Independently of the present
feast, the Church, in her martyrology, makes special mention of
Augustine's conversion on the fifth of May.
Augustine was
born at Tagaste in Africa of noble parents. As a child he was so apt in
learning that in a short time he far surpassed in knowledge all those
of his own age. When he was a young man he went to Carthage where he
fell into the Manichaean heresy. Later on, he journeyed to Rorne, and
was sent thence to Milan to teach rhetoric. Having frequently listened
to the teaching of Ambrose the bishop, he was through his influence
inflamed with a desire of the Catholic faith and was baptized by him at
the age of thirty-three. On his return to Africa, as his holy life was
in keeping with his religion, Valerius the bishop, who was then
renowned for his sanctity, ordained him priest. It was at this time
that he founded a religious community with whom he lived, sharing their
food, and dress, and training them with the utmost care in the rules of
apostolic life and teaching. The Manichaean heresy was then growing
very strong: he opposed it with great vigour and refuted one of its
leaders named Fortunatus.
Valerius perceiving Augustine's great piety made him his
coadjutor in the bishopric. He was always most humble and most
temperate. His clothing and his bed were of the simplest kind: he kept
a frugal table, which was always seasoned by reading or holy
conversation. Such was his loving kindness to the poor, that when he
had no other resource, he broke up the sacred vessels, for their
relief. He avoided all intercourse and conversation with women, even
with his sister and his niece, for he used to say that though such near
relatives could not give rise to any suspicion, yet might the women who
came to visit them. Never, except when seriously ill, did he omit
preaching the word of God. He pursued heretics unremittingly both in
public disputations and in his writings, never allowing them to take
foothold anywhere; and by these means he almost entirely freed Africa
from the Manichees, Donatists and other heretics.
His numerous works are full of piety, deep wisdom and
eloquence, and throw the greatest light on Christian doctrine, so that
he is the great master and guide of all those who later on reduced
theological teaching to method. While the Vandals were devastating
Africa, and Hippo had been besieged by them for three months, Augustine
was seized with a fever. When he perceived that his death was at hand,
he had the penitential psalms of David placed before him, and used to
read them with an abundance of tears. He was accustomed to say that no
one, even though not conscious to himself of any sin, ought to be
presumptuous enough to die without repentance. He was in full
possession of his faculties and intent on prayer to the end. After
exhorting his brethren who were around him, to charity, piety and the
practice of every virtue, he passed to heaven, having lived seventy-six
years, and thirty-six as bishop. His body was first of all taken to
Sardinia, afterwards Luitprand, king of the Lombards, translated it to
Pavia, where it was honourably entombed.
What a death was thine, O Augustine, receiving on thy humble couch
nought but news of disasters and ruin! Thy Africa was perishing at the
hands of the barbarians, in punishment of those nameless crimes of the
ancient world, in which she had so large a share. Together with
Genserio, Arius triumphed over that land, whioh nevertheless, thanks to
thee, was to produce, for yet a hundred years, admirable martyrs for
the Consubstantiality of the Word. When Belisarius restored her to the
Roman world, God seemed to be offering her, for the martyrs' sake, an
opportunity of returning to her former prosperity; but the
inexperienced Byzantines, preoccupied with their theological quarrels
and political intrigues, knew not how to raise her up, nor to protect
her against an invasion more terrible than the first; and the torrent
of Mussulman infidelity soon swept all before it.
At length, after twelve centuries, the cross reappeared in those
places, where the very names of so many flourishing churches had
perished. May the nation on which thy oountry is now dependent, show
that it is proud of this honour, and understand its consequent
obligations!
During all that long night which overhung thy native land, thy
influence did not cease. Through out the entire world, thy immortal
works were^enlightening the minds of men and arousing their love. In
the basilicas served by thy sons and imitators, the splendour of divine
worship, the pomp of the ceremonies, the perfection of the sacred
melodies, kept up in the hearts of the people the same supernatural
enthusiasm which took possession of thine own, when for the first time
in our west, St. Ambrose instituted the alternate chanting of the
psalms and saored hymns. Throughout all ages the perfect life, in its
many different ways of exercising the double precept of charity, draws
from the waters of thy fountains. Continue to illumine the Church with
thine incomparable light. Bless the numerous religious families which
claim thine illustrious patronage. Assist us all, by obtaining for us
the spirit of love and of penance, of confidence and of humility, whioh
befits the redeemed soul. Give us to know the weakness of our nature
and its unworthiness since the fall, and at the same time the boundless
goodness of our God, the superabundance of His Redemption, the
all-powerf ulness of His grace. May we all, like thee, not only
recognize the truth, but be able loyally and practically to say to God:
"Thou hast made us for Thyself, and our heart is ill at ease till it
rest in Thee."
According to the most ancient monuments of the Roman Church, another
saint has always been honoured on this same day, viz: Hermes, a Roman
magistrate, who bore witness to Christ under Trajan. The crypt
constructed, less than half a century after the death of the apostles,
to receive this martyr's relios, is remarkable for its majestic and
ample proportions not usually found in the subterranean cemeteries. It
was his sister Theodora, who received from Balbina, daughter of the
tribune Quirinus, the venerable chains of St. Peter.
Prayer
O God, who didst strengthen blessed Hermes, thy martyr, with
the virtue of constancy in suffering: grant us in imitation of him to
despise worldly prosperity for the love of thee, and not to fear any of
its adversity. Through our Lord, &c.
Footnotes:
1 "Augustine" is pronounced by Catholics
with the emphasis on the second syllable, not the first: "ah-GUS-tin",
not "AH-guh-steen."
