Aurelius Augustinus (St. Augustine)

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Aurelius Augustinus (St. Augustine)

354-430 c.e.

Teacher, bishop, saint

An Educated Youth. Augustine was born in 354 c.e. to a pagan father, Patricius, and a Christian mother, Monica, in the town of Thagaste in Numidia in Northern Africa. After learning the basics while living in Thagaste with his parents, brother, and sister, Augustine went to Madaura to study with a grammaticus from 366 c.e. until 370 c.e. From the grammaticus, Augustine learned Cicero and Vergil, but he never developed an appreciation for Greek. Sometimes he slipped away from classes to the amphitheater to see games. When his father no longer had the funds to pay for his schooling, Augustine had to return to Thagaste, where he became involved with a gang. In his Confessions he recounts an incident when he and the members of his gang stole pears from a man’s tree. It was also during this time that he began his long-term affair with a woman whose name he never mentions. In 371 c.e. Augustine moved to Carthage to begin his higher education. In 371 or 372 his mistress bore him a son, named Adeodatus (“given by god”), although Augustine had no desire for children. His own distant relationship with his father may have made him hesitant to become a father himself. Patricius also died in 371 c.e. In Carthage, Augustine continued his study of Cicero, particularly of his rhetorical work Hortensius.

Teacher. During this period he also developed an interest in Manicheism and converted to this philosophical religion. In 374 c.e. Augustine returned to Thagaste to teach and remained in Thagaste for three years. From 376 to 383 c.e. Augustine returned to Carthage to teach. In 383 c.e. he took his mistress and his son to Rome, where he lived for a year before taking over the chair of rhetoric at Milan at the request of Quintus Aurelius Symmachus. His mother, Monica, who had followed him to Rome and Milan, arranged a marriage for Augustine and forced him to send his mistress and son away (they returned to Thagaste).

Changing Beliefs. Augustine had become disillusioned with Manicheism when he had spoken with one of the leading minds from the sect (Faustus) and found him less intelligent than he had hoped. In Milan he found Ambrose, the bishop of the Christian church. Although Ambrose did not bring about Augustine’s conversion to Christianity, he did bring Augustine into contact with Simplicianus, the person who had mentored Ambrose; Simplicianus advised Augustine to read the letters of Paul, and told Augustine the stories of others’ conversions. Monica also played a part, not by imposing her will, but by sharing in philosophical conversations that impressed Augustine with her intelligence. In 387 c.e. Augustine escorted Monica to Ostia from where she intended to sail back to Thagaste. She never made it, dying in Ostia with her son Navigius by her side. She bemoaned the fact that she would not be buried in Thagaste beside Patricius. Augustine remained in Italy until 388 c.e., when he returned to the family farm at Thagaste. Shortly afterward, his son Adeodatus died. In 391 c.e. he was ordained as a priest and then bishop (in 395 c.e.) of Hippo. It was at Hippo that he wrote his best known works: the Confessions and The City of God. He remained the bishop of Hippo until his death in 430 c.e.