Feast day: 28 August
Saint Augustine of Hippo
Sanctus Augustinus Hipponensis
A brilliant, restless North African who lived far from God, was converted at thirty-two, and became the most influential theologian of the Latin Church.
- Born
- 13 November 354, Thagaste, Roman North Africa (Souk Ahras, Algeria)
- Died
- 28 August 430, Hippo Regius, during the Vandal siege
- Canonization
- Venerated as a saint by ancient popular acclaim, before the modern canonization process existed; named one of the four great Latin Doctors of the Church by Pope Boniface VIII in 1298.
- Religious order
- Founder of a monastic rule later followed by the Augustinians
- Country
- Roman North Africa (Algeria)
Biography
A divided youth
Augustine was born at Thagaste to a pagan father, Patricius, and a Christian mother, Saint Monica. Gifted in rhetoric, he studied at Carthage, took a concubine with whom he had a son, Adeodatus, and followed the Manichean sect for about nine years while his mother prayed and wept for him.
Conversion in Milan
Teaching rhetoric in Milan, he came under the influence of Saint Ambrose. In a garden in 386 he heard a child's voice chanting 'Tolle, lege' — take up and read — opened Saint Paul at Romans 13:13–14, and resolved to change his life. Ambrose baptized him at the Easter Vigil of 387. Monica died at Ostia soon after, her prayers answered.
Bishop and writer
He returned to Africa, formed a monastic community, was ordained priest in 391 and became bishop of Hippo in 395. For thirty-five years he preached, judged disputes, cared for the poor and wrote against Manicheism, Donatism and Pelagianism. He died as Vandals besieged the city in 430; his relics are venerated at Pavia, Italy.
Timeline
- 354 — Born at Thagaste
- 373 — Joins the Manicheans
- 386 — Conversion in the garden at Milan
- 387 — Baptized by Saint Ambrose
- 391 — Ordained priest at Hippo
- 395 — Becomes bishop of Hippo
- 397–400 — Writes the Confessions
- 413–426 — Writes The City of God
- 430 — Dies during the siege of Hippo
Dates marked ~ are traditional or debated among historians.
Symbols
Flaming heart — Burning love of God, from the Confessions.
Book and pen — His vast written work.
Child with a shell at the shore — A medieval legend about the impossibility of exhausting the mystery of the Trinity.
Virtues & spiritual lessons
Repentance, restless search for truth, pastoral charity and intellectual courage. He teaches that no past is too dark for grace, and that the human heart is made for God.
Importance in the Church
Augustine shaped Western thought on grace, original sin, the Trinity, time, history and the sacraments. The Confessions is regarded as the first true autobiography in Western literature.
Quotes
“You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in you.”
Confessions I, 1
“Late have I loved you, Beauty so ancient and so new, late have I loved you.”
Confessions X, 27
Writings
Confessions (c. 397–400) — Prayerful autobiography of his conversion, addressed to God.
The City of God (413–426) — Written after the sack of Rome in 410; a Christian philosophy of history.
On the Trinity (De Trinitate) — Fifteen books on the central mystery of the faith.
Prayers
Prayer of Saint Augustine to the Holy Spirit
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. Amen.
Latin: Spira in me, Spiritus Sancte, ut sancta cogitem...
Traditional prayer attributed to Saint Augustine, drawn from his teaching on the Spirit.
Places
Thagaste (Souk Ahras, Algeria) — Birthplace.
Hippo Regius (Annaba, Algeria) — His episcopal city; the ruins of his basilica survive.
San Pietro in Ciel d'Oro, Pavia — Where his relics have rested since the 8th century.
Scripture
Romans 13:13–14 — The passage he read at the moment of his conversion.
Psalm 4 — A psalm he prayed intensely after his baptism, recounted in the Confessions.
Related saints
Entries are drawn from the Roman Martyrology, the General Roman Calendar, canonization records of the Holy See, and the saints' own writings. Where a date, quotation or attribution is uncertain, it is marked as such. (63 saints)