the Faith, a Father and Doctor of the Church and foremost above all, a
Saint. St. Augustine would write later that, “She leaped for joy, and
triumphed, and blessed Thee, Who art able to do above that which we ask
or think…”
After his mother’s death, St. Augustine returned to Africa. Three years of
monastic life in Tagaste (during which Adeodatus died) was followed by
his reluctant ordination to the priesthood in 391 by Bishop Valerius. In 395,
St. Augustine was consecrated co-bishop of Hippo by the same bishop. A
year later he was bishop of Hippo in his own right. Despite his episcopal
ordination, St. Augustine continued to live a monastic lifestyle among a
religious and clerical community in his residence, all supported from a
common fund. From this community, ten of St. Augustine’s contemporary
associates would be promoted to the episcopacy.
As bishop, besides the daily duties of administering his diocese, directing
his clergy, and instructing and sanctifying his people, St. Augustine used
his pen to author the largest surviving Patristic corpus of letters and
sermons (approximately 400). His Confessions and The City of God
Against the Pagans will always remain two of the greatest literary treasures
of Christianity. His De Trinitate is the most important of his dogmatic
works. He also authored a Rule for religious life and combated all the
major heresies of his day, in particular Manicheism, Arianism, Donatism
and Pelagianism. He also dealt with exegesis, mathematics, aesthetics,
music, grammar and poetry.
Donatism had existed for nearly a century when St. Augustine was
ordained bishop. At first he tried to win the Donatists over through
discussions and interviews. But the Donatists broke off all discussion and
escalated violence and assassination attempts on Catholic bishops,
including St. Augustine himself. As a consequence, he called upon the aid
of the Emperor Honorius to suppress them. In 411, the Emperor ordered a
conference of Catholic and Donatist bishops at Carthage. The imperial
delegate, Marcellinus gave victory on all points to the Catholics, and for his
trouble was later murdered by the disgruntled Donatists. After the Catholic
victory, conversions increased and repression continued. The last remnants
of Donatism were wiped out with the Saracen invasion in the late seventh
century.
Founded by an Irish monk named Pelagius (+ 418 AD), Pelagianism denied
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