St. Augustine of Hippo

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St. Augustine of Hippo

• By Amanda Geary and Dawn Gallo

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St. Augustine of Hippo

• St Augustine was born November 13, 354.
• He died August 28, 430
• He is considered the patron saint of brewers,
  printers, theologians, sore eyes, and a number of
  cities and dioceses.

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Education and Christianity

• St. Augustine was born at Tagaste, which is now
  Souk-Ahras, about 60 miles from Bona (ancient
  Hippo-Reguis)
• His family was not rich, his father Patricius was
  one of the curiales of the city and still was a
  pagan.
• Through the prayers of his holy mother and the
  marvelous preaching of St. Ambrose, Augustine
  finally became convinced that Christianity was
  the one true religion.
• His mother, Monica, was a Berber

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Early Education

• At the age of 11, Augustine was sent to school at
  Madaurus, a small Numidian city about 19 miles
  south of Thagaste noted for its pagan climate.
• At Madaurus he became familiar with Latin
  literature.

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Pre-Christian Days

• Once, when very ill, he asked for baptism, but,
  all danger being soon passed, he deferred
  receiving the sacrament, yielding to a terrible
  ritual of times.
• His association with "men of prayer" left three
  great ideas deeply engraved upon his soul a
  Divine Providence, the future life with terrible
  sanctions, and, above all, Christ the Savior.
• But a great intellectual and moral crisis stifled
  for a time all these Christian sentiments.

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Education

• Patricius, proud of his son's success in the
  schools of Tagaste and Madaura determined to send
  him to Carthage to prepare for a forensic career.
  
• Unfortunately, it required several months to
  collect the necessary means, and Augustine had to
  spend his sixteenth year at Tagaste in an
  idleness which was fatal to his virtue
• The gave himself up to pleasure with all the
  vehemence of an ardent nature.

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Education

• When he reached Carthage, towards the end of the
  year 370, every circumstance tended to draw him
  from his true course
• The many seductions of the great city that was
  still half pagan, the licentiousness of other
  students, the theatres, the intoxication of his
  literary success, and a proud desire always to be
  first, even in evil
• Before long he was obliged to confess to Monica
  that he had formed a sinful liaison with the
  person who bore him a son

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St. Ambrose

• His religious problem would come to end when he
  went to Italy under the influence of St. Ambrose.
• Having visited Bishop Ambrose, the fascination of
  that saint's kindness induced him to become a
  regular attendant at his preaching's.

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Bishop of Hippo

• In 391 he was ordained a priest in Hippo Regius
• He became a famous preacher and was noted for
  combating the Manichaean religion, to which he
  had formerly adhered.
• In 396 he became Bishop of Hippo

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Bishop of Hippo

• Augustine worked tirelessly in trying to convince
  the people of Hippo, who were diverse racial and
  religious group, to convert to the Catholic
  faith.
• He left his monastery, but continued to lead a
  monastic life in the Episcopal residence. He left
  a rule for his monastery that has led him to be
  designated the "patron saint of regular clergy",
  that is, clergy who live by a monastic rule.

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Teaching of Philosophy

• Along with being a prominent figure in the
  religious spectrum, Augustine was also very
  influential in the history of education.
• He introduced the theory of three different types
  of students, and instructed teachers to adapt
  their teaching styles to each student's
  individual learning style.
• He claimed there are two basic styles a teacher
  uses when speaking to the students.
• The mixed style includes complex and sometimes
  showy language to help students see the beautiful
  artistry of the subject they are studying.
• The grand style is not quite as elegant as the
  mixed style, but is exciting and heartfelt, with
  the purpose of igniting the same passion in the
  students' hearts.

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Pelagian Heresy

• St. Augustine was involved was his battle against
  Pelagianism.
• The Pelagians denied original sin and the fall of
  humanity.
• From his writings the controversies on grace
  proceed, and as supposed followers of Augustine,
  John Calvin and the Jansenists developed
  predestinarian theologies.

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Heresies

• St Augustine of Hippo dealt with the heresies of
  the Donatists, Manichaeans.
• Augustine himself was drawn to Manichaeism for
  nine years before his conversion.
• But, as soon as he became a Christian, Augustine
  felt the need for protecting the Church from the
  Manichaean heresy.

• The Donatists claimed to be the only faithful and
  pure Christians.
• The unity of the Church was severely threatened.
• Augustine took pains to address this problem from
  around 396
• He distinguished between the gift of baptism
  itself and the efficacious use of it, by saying
  that the former exists everywhere, whether inside
  or outside of the Catholic Church.

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Confessions

• His Confessions is considered a classic of
  Christian autobiography.
• The work outlines Augustine's sinful youth and
  his conversion to Christianity.
• St. Augustine writes about how much he regrets
  having led a sinful and immoral life. He
  discusses his regrets for following the
  Manichaean religion and believing in astrology

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St Augustines Books

• City of God a mammoth defense of Christianity
  against its pagan critics, and famous especially
  for the uniquely Christian view of history
  elaborated in its pages.
• On the Trinity comes from his polemic writings.
• On the Work of Monks, has been much used by
  monastics.

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Augustines Works

• Augustine was one of the most prolific Latin
  authors, and the list of his works consists of
  more than a hundred separate titles.
• They include apologetic works against the
  heresies of the Arians, Donatists, Manichaeans
  and Pelagians, texts on Christian doctrine,
  notably De doctrina Christiana (On Christian
  Doctrine), exegetical works such as commentaries
  on Book of Genesis, the Psalms and Paul's Letter
  to the Romans, many sermons and letters, and the
  Retractationes (Retractions), a review of his
  earlier works which he wrote near the end of his
  life

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Influence on Church

• Augustine was a bishop, priest, and father who
  remains a central figure, both within
  Christianity and in the history of Western
  thought, and is considered by modern historian
  Thomas Cahill to be the first medieval man and
  the last classical man.
• Bishop John Fisher of Rochester, a chief
  opponent of Luther, articulated an Augustinian
  view of grace and salvation consistent with
  Church doctrine, thus encompassing both
  Augustines soteriology and his teaching on the
  authority of and obedience to the Catholic
  Church.

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Influence on the Church

• Later, within the Roman Catholic Church, the
  writings of Cornelius Jansen, who claimed heavy
  influence from Augustine, would form the basis of
  the movement known as Jansenism.
• Augustine was canonized by popular acclaim, and
  later recognized as a Doctor of the Church in
  1303 by Pope Boniface VIII
• His feast day is August 28, the day on which he
  died.

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St. Augustines Death

• Shortly before Augustine's death, Roman Africa
  was overrun by the Vandals, a warlike tribe with
  Arian sympathies.
• They had entered Africa at the instigation of
  Count Boniface, but soon turned to lawlessness,
  plundering private citizens and churches and
  killing many of the inhabitants.
• The Vandals arrived in the spring of 430 to
  besiege Hippo and during that time, Augustine
  endured his final illness.

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Work Cited

• http//www.newadvent.org/cathen/02084a.htm
• http//ccat.sas.upenn.edu/jod/augustine.html
• http//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5b
  /Tiffany_Window_of_St_Augustine_-_Lightner_Museum.
  jpg