A close and wise friend
While still a student, Saint Augustine lost faith and took the wrong path. However, his burning desire to know the truth made him turn his heart to Christ, and later to become Father and Doctor of the Church. The young servant of the Lord was a Berber steeped in Greco-Latin culture, which he was able to wisely integrate into Christian thought. This allowed forging Western culture in its entirety.
Saint Augustine was a man who was characterized by his search for the absolute and the prevalence of truth in his life. In fact, with his unusual wisdom, he left us beautiful spiritual advice, applicable to our current times. The themes it deals with refer mainly to our relationship with the earthly world (for example, the relationship between faith and reason, political and personal awareness, secularism and Christian commitment…), or our intimate relationship with the kingdom of heaven. On the other hand, his transparency in narrating the sinful life of his youth and subsequent conversion in his book Confessions, makes him become a close and faithful friend, whose experience can lead us to grow in faith already. make our paths straight.
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Biography of Saint Augustine
The life of Saint Augustine can be easily delayed thanks to its numerous writings and, in particular, to Confessions.
Augustinus Aurelius was born on November 13, 354 in Tagaste, in the province of Numidia (Roman Africa). He was the son of Patrick, a pagan, who later became a catechumen, and Monica, a fervent Christian. In fact, his mother, who would later be known as Santa Monica, he positively influenced the life of his son, whom he educated in the Christian faith.
In the year 365, when he was young, Saint Augustine went to Madaura to study grammar, later, in the year 370 he went to Carthage and continued his studies in rhetoric. There he lived in concubinage and had a son named Adeodatus, to whom he was very fond. While his studies were going on, the reading of Cicero’s “Hortensius” awakened in his life that love for wisdom and the desire to want to understand the Bible. However, his first approach to the Holy Scriptures was unsuccessful and, deeply disappointed, he began to follow the doctrine of Manichaeism.
Some time later, Saint Augustine became a teacher in Cartago and then left to continue his educational work in Rome and Milan. Curiously, there he met a bishop named Saint Ambrose: while he preached, Saint Augustine listened to him attentively and little by little his words would allow him to reconcile Philosophy and the Bible in Jesus Christ, which, until then, was a complex aspect, and even difficult to understand. resolve for Saint Augustine, to such an extent that it prevented him from advancing on the path of Christianity. However, after these events, the young man continued his path of knowledge by reading some Platonic books and the Epistles of Saint Paul. Shortly after, in the year 386, Augustine underwent a dazzling conversion in the garden of Milan, which motivated him to separate from his partner and move with his mother and son to Milan, so that he could prepare for baptism. Later, the young man decided to make a retreat in Casiciaco, and during that period of intimacy with God he managed to write the Dialogues and Soliloquies .
A year later, during On Easter night of the year 387, Saint Ambrose baptized Augustine in the Milan Cathedral. That same day Alipio and Adeodato his son also received the holy sacrament of baptism. Shortly after, while Saint Augustine spoke of God with his mother, in a hostel in Ostia, both experienced a deep ecstasy that marked him for life. Shortly after, however, his mother fell ill and died suddenly, leaving her son heartbroken. The months passed and Saint Augustine regained strength to return to Rome and then undertake a trip to Africa, with the idea of leading a monastic life in community, to put himself at the service of God. This is how from the year 388, Augustine began to lead a community life in Tagaste and, three years later, andn 391, he was ordained a priest at Hippo, where he founded the garden monastery. There, his life passed between prayer, study and preaching, in the company of other brothers.
In 396 he was appointed Titular Bishop of Hippo: this position he held for 35 years and allowed him to exercise great influence on the conduct of the Catholic Church of Roman Africa. During his life in the service of God, Augustine proved to be an exemplary bishop: he preached several times a week, while helping the poor and orphans. In addition, he was in charge of the formation of the clergy and the organization of the feminine and masculine monasteries. Notably, While doing his duty, the bishop wrote his two most famous works: in 397 he began writing the confessions, and in 413, The City of God.
On the other hand, Augustine also actively participated in the councils in Carthage, and in the year 411, he was part of the Carthage Conference, which took place between the Catholic and Donatist bishops. Furthermore, he was present at the fight against Pelagius, which ended in 416, when the Council of Mileve was held against the Pelagians. Thus, the Bishop of Hippo confronted strong heresies which caused great division among Christians. Also, full of tenacity and wisdom managed to rise as one of the most important representatives of Christianity of his time. In the year 426, after having appointed a successor, Augustine wrote the Revisions. In 429, the Vandals reached Africa and besieged Hippo. These unpleasant circumstances made St. Augustine seriously ill. However, despite his adversity, his friend Possidius of his tells that he had the penitential psalms hanging on the wall of his room, and spent the last days of his life reading them and shedding many tears of sadness. Finally, died August 28, 430 .
The influence of Saint Augustine
Saint Augustine was canonized in 1298 by Pope Boniface VIII . Being considered one of the main Fathers of the Latin ChurchWas proclaimed Doctor of the Church that same year. His party is celebrated on August 28and is considered the patron saint of theologians. In fact, this especially intelligent man with an unusual mind left after his death a rich teaching that has nurtured thousands of Christians throughout the centuries. It should be noted that Saint Augustine is also known by those who know little about Christianity, since his political, cultural and philosophical influence it was quite prominent. In fact, people particularly consider his philosophical thoughts about time and death, however, his spiritual influence is even more noticeable and worthy of admiration.
Spirituality and doctrine of Saint Augustine
The catechesis of Benedict XVI on Saint Augustine allow a clear understanding of the spirituality of the holy Bishop of Hippo. Below we present several essential aspects developed by Saint Augustine, as well as beautiful quotes that allow us to know better his thought:
- The closeness of God to man
Saint Augustine perceives this closeness with great intensity; in the Confessions says: “You made us, Lord, for yourself, and our hearts are restless until they rest in You. »« You, oh God, give me the strength to search, you who have made me find you and who have given me the hope of always finding you again.”
- spiritual interiority
Saint Augustine fervently proclaimed the return to spiritual interiority to meet God; in their sermons says: “If you return to your heart, you return to God from a place close to you. If all these things bother you, it is that you have come out of yourself; you are an exile from within. You feel agitated by things outside of you and you lose yourself.” Saint Augustine invites us to shut up to listen to the light breeze, and to explore our interiority, knowing that God is in us: “Don’t limit yourself to the surface; come down to yourself, penetrate into the interior of your heart. Carefully examine your soul” (Sermons). It is noteworthy that this particular attention paid to the mystery of God, which is hidden behind the “ me ”, was something extraordinary and unprecedented.
This topic was very important for Saint Augustine, a man who abandoned the faith received from his mother, failing to understand it in a reasonable way. However, after his conversion, he received great insight and spiritual wisdom, which motivated him to speak constantly about this essential alliance between faith and reason, saying: “they are the two forces that lead us to knowledge”.
Legacy of Saint Augustine: the Canons Regular of Saint Augustine
When he returned to Africa in 388, Saint Augustine established a community in Tagaste, and on the occasion of this event, he wrote a rule, now known as the Rule of Saint Augustine. This rule served as the basis for the Canons Regular of Saint Augustine, that is, the clerics who since the Middle Ages lead a community life in a monastery, while exercising a priestly and pastoral ministry within the parishes.
Works of Saint Augustine
Saint Augustine is the Father of the Church who left the greatest number of works. In fact, more than 1000 diverse publications are known, among which are philosophical writingss, apologetic, doctrinal, moral, monastic, exegetical, antiheretical. Added to this are numerous cards Y homilies. On the other hand, among these writings stand out several exceptional works of great theological and philosophical scope.
- the confessions is undoubtedly the most famous work of Saint Augustine: it is a writing that was written to praise God, and constitutes a spiritual autobiography extraordinary. For many centuries, andthis work was unique, as it paid special attention to the inner life and psychology.
- the city of god, written between 413 and 426, was the most reproduced work by copyists of the Middle Ages. Indeed, this rather imposing piece of writing was instrumental in the development of Western political thought and Christian theology of history.
- The Trinity in this work, Saint Augustine seeks to understand the unfathomable mystery of the Trinitarian being that is the most real and profound unity of God.
- the holy virginity is an important work of Saint Augustine, in which he defends the perpetual virginity of Mary, saying: “A circumstance makes this same virginity of Mary more pleasant and appreciable: once conceived, Christ could take from his mother the man who could lose her virginity that he wanted her to preserve; but, already before her conception, she preferred to be born of that virginity that she had consecrated to God. “.
Praying with Saint Augustine
Prayer “Don’t cry if you love me” by Saint Augustine
“Don’t cry if you love me,
If you knew the gift of God and what heaven is.
If you could hear the angels singing
and see me in their midst.
If you could see it unfold before your eyes…