Saintly sketch

St. Augustine

by T.G. Morrow

St. Augustine (354 - 430 A.D.) is perhaps one of the most colorful saints in the Catholic Church. By the first 30 years of his life it seemed he would be one of the world's great sinners, but through the prayers of his mother and his own love for the truth, he became one of its great saints.

St. Augustine was born in 354 at Tagaste in north Africa (today, Souk-Ahras, Algeria) to Patricius and Monica, well off, but not rich. His father was a pagan, with a violent temper, but through the efforts of his holy wife, St. Monica, became a Catholic just before his death.

Monica taught Augustine religion when he was young but (as many foolish people of the time did) he delayed Baptism for fear of sinning afterwards. He was a lazy student, disobedient to his parents and teachers, studying only to avoid being whipped, which he feared. He was far from being slow; he just liked to play.

At sixteen, he moved to Carthage where he eagerly studied rhetoric (the art of persuasive speech) and with great success, which added to his already considerable pride. He soon took a mistress with whom he lived for the next 14 years. They had an illegitimate son, Adeodatus, in 372.

Augustine was attracted to philosophy and Scripture but, without grace, he did not proceed very far in understanding the latter. He fell into the religion of the Manichees, which held that there were two principles: God, the cause of all good, and matter, the cause of all evil. This heresy, called dualism, is contrary to the Church's teaching that both matter and spirit are caused by God, and thus are good, with the spirit being primary. Of his search for the truth, he later wrote, "I sought with pride what only humility could make me find... and I fell to the ground."

For the nine year's following 374 he ran his own schools of rhetoric, until in 383, he left Africa (and his Manichean religion), for Rome. When he discovered by experience that Roman students cheated their rhetoric teachers of their fees by changing their teachers frequently, he decided Rome was no place to teach rhetoric. He moved on quickly to Milan where he met the bishop, St. Ambrose, and became influenced by him. When his mother, who had been devoutly praying and working for his conversion to the faith, discovered his secret departure from Africa, she followed him to Milan.

With the help of Ambrose and Monica, Augustine gradually began to see the error of his ways and appeared on the verge of conversion. He agreed to send home his mistress-with great sorrow-and marry a Christian girl. Monica hoped that a Christian marriage might lead him to faith and baptism. A marriage was arranged, but since the girl was too young to give legal consent, a two year delay was necessary. Augustine could not wait: he took another mistress.

Nonetheless, he gradually became convinced of the truth of the Catholic faith though he was unable to break out of his "cruel slavery" to lust. His prayer echoed that of his youth, "Lord, give me chastity... but not yet." After putting off his final surrender to God for "a long time," one day he was praying in the garden and he heard a child singing "Take and read!... Take and read!" he opened to St. Paul's Letter to the Romans (13:12, 13) and read, "Let us throw off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light; let us conduct ourselves properly as in the day, not in rioting and drunkenness; not in sexual excess and lust; not in quarreling and jealousy. Rather put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the desires of the flesh." He was moved to a deep conversion. He told his friend Alipius he had resolved to follow the Lord, and the two, both converted, went to tell Monica the good news. The year was 386. He was thirty-one.

Augustine decided he must give up everything: his new mistress, his planned marriage, all his sensual delights which he had clung to for so long. His classes were nearly over for the year and his health had been suffering for some time from lack of sleep due to bronchitis and asthma. His voice was almost gone and he had difficulty breathing. Thus, it became clear to Augustine that for both spiritual and medical reasons he needed to get away to the country during his vacation.

When he was offered a villa on the outskirts of Milan in return for managing the workers, he accepted immediately. He, his mother, and his companions went and spent their time praying, studying, and doing penance in preparation for his baptism. They sought one thing above all in their nightly discussions: the truth-about God, and about man in relation to God. Augustine wrote in his Confessions, "Late have I loved You, O Beauty so ancient, and so new. You were within me, but I was outside, and it was there that I searched for you. In my unloveliness I rushed headlong upon these lovely things which you have made. You were with me but I was not with you. Created things kept me far from You, those things which could not exist but in You. You called, you shouted, and you broke through my deafness. You flashed, you shone and you dispelled my blindness. You breathed you fragrance on me; I drew in breath and now I pant for you. I have tasted you, now I hunger and thirst for more. You touched me, and I burn for your peace."

After seven months of preparation, he was baptized by St. Ambrose at the Easter vigil in 387. Augustine finally experienced the rest, of which he later wrote, "Lord, You have made us for Yourself. Our hearts are restless until they rest in You."

Monica died in November 387, her task accomplished, and Augustine and friends returned to Africa in September 388 to his house in Tagaste. There they lived for almost three years, fasting, praying, doing good works, meditating on God's law and teaching. Everything was shared. In 391 he was called to the priesthood as an assistant to Valerius, bishop of Hippo. In a house adjoining the church he again established a place of monastic prayer, accompanied by St. Alipius, St. Evodius, St. Possidius, and others. In 395 he was made bishop. When Valerius died shortly thereafter, Augustine succeeded him as bishop of Hippo. Once more he established community life in his bishop's residence, a life of simplicity under a rule he established for all to live by. He employed the church income to help the poor, establishing the custom of each parish providing clothes for all their poor once a year.

A gentle and friendly man, Augustine was nonetheless strong in his defense of the faith against the errors of his time, including Manicheism, Donatism (which held that the sacraments administered by priests in sin were invalid), and Pelagianism (which held that one did not need grace to be saved). In condemning the latter, he was most kind to its author, while repeatedly denying the error.

He preached every day in his cathedral, sometimes several times a day. He spoke in familiar, even popular language. He was known to tell an earthy joke from time to time. Although he rarely wrote out his homilies in advance, notaries were always present to write them down. People who attended Mass would express their approval or disapproval quite freely at what was being preached.

He was a small man, thin, stooped and already graying in his mid-forties. He had a long beard. His asthma often caused him difficulty breathing and kept him from sleeping many nights.

Upon being asked what was the greatest virtue, he replied, "The three greatest virtues are first, humility, second, humility, and third, humility." His own claim to this virtue was shown in a letter to St. Jerome: "I urge you again and again to correct me confidently when you see I need it; for though the office of bishop is greater than that of a priest, yet in many ways Augustine is inferior to Jerome."

Augustine wrote a tremendous amount about the faith in his years as bishop. His best known works are the Confessions in which he tells his story of conversion, and The City of God, a philosophical analysis of the history of the world, showing it to be guided by God to His ends.

In 426, he had his successor elected, hoping to find time to write. He found little time, however, since soon thereafter the Vandals invaded Africa. During the siege of Hippo, on August 28, 430, Augustine died peacefully. His feast is celebrated on this day each year. He is one of the 32 doctor's of the Church and is probably the most quoted of all the saints.

Father T. G. Morrow is the Pastor of St. Thomas The Apostle Parish in Washington, D.C.