The Pope Leo XIV is a "son of St. Augustine" and, as such, knows him well and quotes him in his speeches. Who was St. Augustine? What influence does he continue to exert today?
St. Augustine is, according to many, the greatest of the Fathers and one of the most profound intelligences of humanity. His great influence on successive thinkers and the fact that studies on him have multiplied exponentially are confirmation of this. The literary production of St. Augustine is immense and very few writings of Augustine have been lost: only ten of the 93 titles (232 books) that he himself cites in the Retractions three years before his death. Augustine's style makes it impossible to forget his former dedication to rhetoric: his language abounds in ideas and parables, sometimes of difficult translation, but which always respond with great sincerity to what he intends to communicate and, nevertheless, he did not disdain to use vulgar language when he considered it more appropriate to the audience.
Augustinian sources
There are four contemporary sources to know his life and with them it would be possible to reconstruct his life almost day by day.
1. The ConfessionsThis autobiographical work, the most popular of all times, written shortly after his election as bishop, between 397 (Ambrose's death) and 400, is of extraordinary value, not only for following his spiritual journey, but also as an ancient testimony of innumerable aspects of human psychology, of man's reactions towards himself, towards others and towards God.
2. The Retractionswritten towards the end of his life (427), constitute a judgment, with corrections, of his previous works and a description of the motives that urged him to write them, and is a fundamental work to know the soul and motives that inspire his writings.
3. The epistolary, very abundant, in which he solves questions posed to him by his contemporaries or puts them himself to others, as for example to St. Jerome.
4. Also of exceptional importance and historical value is the Life of Augustine by Posidius, his disciple and faithful friend, written between 431 and 439.
Augustine's life can be divided into different periods.
From birth to conversion (354-386).
Augustine was born on November 13, 354 in Tagaste (Numidia). He studied in Tagaste, Madaura and Carthage. He knew perfectly the Latin language and culture, but neither Greek nor the Punic language. He was educated as a Christian by his mother, Monica, but was not baptized. At the age of 17 (373) he had a natural son, Adeodatus. The same year he read the Hortensius of Cicero (106-43 B.C.), a now lost work that was an exhortation to philosophy, through which he began his return to faith. Shortly thereafter, he also read Scripture, but was discouraged by the poor style, unsuitable for a teacher of rhetoric. At this time he began to teach grammar and rhetoric, first at Tagaste (374), then at Carthage (375-383) and Rome (384), and finally at Milan (autumn 384-summer 386). During this period he wrote (380) his first work: De pulchro et apto (lost).
He was then a follower of the Manichean doctrine, which offered a radical solution to the problem of evil, dividing reality into two opposing and fighting principles, light and darkness (good and evil), which coexist in man, who must separate them in order to be saved. This separation occurs, according to the Manichaeans, by respecting the three seals: of the mouth (which forbids impure words and food), of the hands (which forbids manual labor, especially the cultivation of fields and the sacrifice of animals) and of the breast (which forbids evil thoughts and marriage, since it prevents light from detaching itself from matter).
Augustine did not come to believe deeply in Manichaeism, although he accepted rationalism, materialism and dualism, but with study he became convinced of the inconsistency of the religion of Manes, especially after a dialogue with the Manichaean bishop Faustus, which made him fall into skepticism, and when he heard the preaching of St. Ambrose he discovered the key to interpret the Old Testament and came to the conviction that the authority on which faith is founded is the Scripture read in the Church.
2. From conversion to episcopacy (386-396).
In October 385 Augustine withdrew to Casiciaco (perhaps present-day Cossago, in Brianza) to prepare himself for baptism. He then renounced his career and marriage. The reading of the Platonists helped him to solve the philosophical problems of materialism and evil, the former starting from the inner world, the latter interpreting evil as deprivation of good: evil does not come from God, neither directly nor indirectly, since it is a lack of being and does not need a cause.
In November he wrote several philosophical treatises. As main points of his philosophy, two in particular could be pointed out. The first is that the interiority of man is, in itself, an objective reflection of reality, so that by studying the human soul one understands much better what lies outside of man. The second is the notion of participation: all the limited goods that we know are such by virtue of the participation of a Supreme Good, unique, which is God. According to Augustine, faith is necessary for intellectual activity, crede ut intelligasbut he thinks he has the intelligence, that's why he also affirms intellige ut credas. In these two expressions we can summarize Augustine's thought regarding the relationship between faith and reason.
In March he returned to Milan, began the catechumenate and was baptized by Ambrose on April 25, the eve of Easter. After his baptism he decided to return to Africa to dedicate himself to the service of God. He left Milan, but in Ostia his mother, Monica, fell ill unexpectedly and died. Augustine then decided to return to Rome, taking an interest in the monastic life and writing. Other philosophical treatises are from this period. He remained in Rome until July or August 388; then he left for Africa and retired to Tagaste, where he put into practice his program of ascetic life. He wrote then mainly against the Manichaeans, such as the De Genesi vs. Manichaeos (388-389). At this time his son Adeodatus died (between 389 and 391).
In 391 he went to Hippo to found a monastery, but unexpectedly the bishop conferred priestly ordination on him. His first homilies date from this period. On August 28-29, 392, the dispute with the Manichaean Fortunatus took place in Hippo. He then wrote to Jerome, asking him for Latin translations of Greek commentaries to the Bible, and composed the Enarrationes in Psalmos (the commentaries to the first 32 psalms in 392, but concluded it in 420) and the Psalmus contra partem Donati.
On January 17, 395 Theodosius died and Arcadius (East) and Honorius (West) were named emperors. This same year or the following one (395-396) he received the episcopal consecration, being for some time coadjutor of Valerius and from 397 bishop of Hippo. He left, then, the monastery of the laity, but founded one of clerics in the bishop's house.
3. From the episcopate to the Pelagian controversy (396-410).
His episcopal activity was intense: he preached uninterruptedly, took part in episcopal hearings to judge causes, took care of the poor, sick and orphans, the formation of the clergy, the organization of the monasteries, made many long trips to attend African councils, intervened without pause in the polemics against Manichaeans, Donatists, Pelagians, Arians and pagans.
Donatism, from the name of one of its first representatives, Donatus, the first schismatic movement, became a declared heresy: those who considered themselves to have maintained a correct behavior during the persecution of Diocletian rejected as pastors those they had seen wavering in the persecution and created their own hierarchy that doubled the number of bishops. Both appealed to the imperial authority, which repeatedly decided in favor of the Catholic hierarchy. But the Donatist bishops did not respect any of the imperial decisions, until Constantine had to opt for violent repression. Donatism had no influence outside Africa, but it was still alive a hundred years later, in the time of Augustine, and it seems that it did not disappear until the extinction of Christianity, which began with the Vandals and ended with the Muslims.
Augustine had to organize the debate with Proculianus, Donatist bishop of Hippo, and other Donatists (395-396). His teaching on the Church is particularly luminous. The church of the Donatists cannot be the true church, for unity, holiness, apostolicity and catholicity are not found in it. Outside the Church there is no salvation. Although there are sinners in her bosom, the Church is holy. With regard to baptism and the sacraments in general, Augustine teaches that their validity does not depend on the holiness of the one who administers them, for their efficacy comes from Christ, not from the minister. Belonging to this first phase of his episcopate is the De doctrina christiana (finished in 426), a writing that we could call an introduction to Sacred Scripture, where he deals with the pagan knowledge necessary to be able to study the Bible, how it should be interpreted and its use in preaching, and at the same time he proposes a scheme of Christian education that also uses pagan culture.
Other works against the Manichaeans and the Confessions (397-400). In 399 begins the De Trinitate. Augustine's exposition of the Trinity is clearer and more profound than those of the previous Fathers. Faithful to his principle of seeking in the interior of man the light to understand the external, he explains that the human soul possesses a likeness of the Trinity in its three faculties: memory, intelligence and will. Therefore, the Son proceeds from the Father by way of intelligence, as Tertullian had already said, and the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son by way of will or love. On December 7-12, 404, he had a public debate with Felix the Manichaean.
4. The Pelagian polemic (410-430).
On August 24, 410 Alaric sacked Rome and Pelagius went to Hippo. Augustine was the soul of the council of 411 between Catholics and Donatists and the main architect of the solution of the Pelagian controversy. At the end of this year he received news of the spread of Pelagian doctrines in Carthage and the condemnation of Celestius in a process in which Augustine had not participated.
The controversy over grace was held only among bishops and specialists, without the participation of the people in one sense or another. In a schematic way it could be said that Pelagius maintained that man can do good and avoid evil with his own strength, and that the sin of Adam is not transmitted as such to his descendants: for them it is only a bad example. In Africa, Pelagius met with the opposition of St. Augustine who, on the occasion of the controversy, developed the doctrine that later earned him the title of Doctor of grace. This doctrine consists essentially in affirming that man was created in a state of original righteousness, of innocence, which Adam lost for himself and his descendants with the original sin: all men contracted the guilt, because all sinned in Adam and became massa damnata. This sin is transmitted by generation and causes a separation from God to which Baptism provides a remedy: man needs divine help to perform supernaturally meritorious good works.
A particularly well-known work by Agustín is The City of GodIt is in part an apologia, in which the classic theme that Christians are the cause of all evils, in this case the ruin of the Roman Empire, is countered with abundant data and arguments. In addition, it offers an overview of history, the first known, with a dramatic touch that is not without meaning; the common thread is the struggle between the city of God and the earthly city, between faith and unbelief, between good and evil, whether they are still on earth or have already left it. Those who belong to one or the other city are mixed, both in the Church and in civil society, and they will only be separated, and then definitively, on the day of the final judgment.
In the last period of Augustine's life, there is a predominance of anti-Pelagian works. From 413-415 we have the De natura et gratia. In 416 Augustine participates in the Council of Milevi (September-October), which condemns Pelagius and Celestius, a disciple of the latter. On January 27, 417 Innocent I condemns Pelagius and Celestius. On March 18 Pope Zosimo is elected, who re-examines the case of Pelagius, announcing that the Roman synod has acquitted Pelagius and Celestius. After an exchange of letters between Africa and Rome concerning the Pelagians, in 418 Celestius and Pelagius were excommunicated and expelled from Rome. In the summer the encyclical (Tractoria) of Zosimo who solemnly condemns Pelagianism.
Augustine will continue to clarify different polemical aspects. In 426-427 he writes De gratia et libero arbitrio and in 428-429 the Retractationes. Augustine died on August 28, 430, the third month of the siege of Hippo by the Vandals. Probably buried in the cathedral, his remains were transferred first to Sardinia and then to Pavia, where they are today. His works will know an ever greater diffusion and popularity, with an effective and profound influence on the philosophical and theological conceptions, on the law and on the political and social life. Augustine is one of the great architects of Europe, through his influence on medieval and later culture.
To learn more:
Invitation to Patrology. How the Fathers of the Church have read the Bible.
