St. Augustine of Hippo
(354 – 430 AD)
Historical Note
Of all the Fathers of the Church, the greatest of all is St. Augustine of
Hippo. Jurgens makes the poignant comment, “If we were faced with the
unlikely proposition of having to destroy completely either the works of
Augustine or the works of all the other Fathers and Writers, I have little
doubt that all the others would have to be sacrificed. Augustine will
remain” (Vol. 3, p. 1). No other Father wrote so well as St. Augustine, and
no other has been written about so much.
Born in the insignificant town of Tagaste in Numidia on November 13, 354
AD, Aurelius Augustinus was born of a pagan father and Christian mother.
His father, Patricius, converted to Christianity in the fourteenth year of his
marriage. His mother was the ever-famous model of motherhood and
virtue, St. Monica.
Always extraordinarily gifted and talented, St. Augustine left for Carthage
at the age of 17 to further his studies. However, it was in Carthage that he
fell into a dissolute lifestyle and entered an irregular 16-year relationship
with a concubine. From this relationship was born his son, Adeodatus.
Although St. Augustine was a catechumen in his early years his baptism
had been postponed due to illness. In 374, he joined the sect of the
Manichees where he remained for the next nine years. During these
wayward years, St. Monica continued to pray for her son’s conversion. On
one occasion while speaking to a bishop about how she feared for her son’s
salvation the bishop replied, “It is impossible that the son of these tears
should perish.”
Always searching for the truth, St. Augustine abandoned Manicheism when
confronted with the ignorance of its supposed champion, Faustus of
Milevis. In 383, St. Augustine obtained a teaching position in rhetoric in
Milan through the offices of the prefect Symmachus. It was while there that
he came into contact with St. Ambrose and his preaching. It was St.
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