Augustine of Hippo

Lore & Background

Augustine was born in 354 in Thagaste (now Souk Ahras, Algeria) to a Christian mother, Monica, and a pagan father, Patricius, who converted on his deathbed. His family were Berbers but heavily Romanized, speaking Latin at home. At age 11 he was sent to school at Madaurus, where he learned Latin literature and pagan beliefs. As a youth in Carthage, he lived a hedonistic lifestyle and began a fifteen-year relationship with a woman, who bore his son Adeodatus. He was drawn first to Manichaean faith, then to Neoplatonism, before converting to Christianity and being baptized in 386 by Saint Ambrose.

Reader's Guide

Augustine's significance lies in his vast influence on Western Christianity and philosophy. He is known as Doctor Gratiae ('Doctor of Grace') for his teachings on the necessity of unmerited, prevenient grace for salvation and the nature of original sin. He made important contributions in ecclesiology, arguing for the validity of sacraments regardless of the celebrant's merit against the Donatists. In The City of God, he imagined the Church as a spiritual City distinct from the material Earthly City, against the fall of the Western Roman Empire. He also contributed to just war theory. His thoughts profoundly influenced the Medieval worldview, and he was the most cited author in Thomas Aquinas's Summa Theologiae. Many Protestants, especially Calvinists and Lutherans, consider him a theological father of the Reformation due to his teachings on salvation and grace, though this interpretation is disputed by the Catholic Church. In Eastern Orthodoxy, he is highly venerated, but some teachings, including the filioque, are disputed.

Did You Know?

• Augustine's mother Monica was a devout Christian; his father Patricius converted to Christianity on his deathbed.
• As a youth, Augustine stole pears from a neighbor's garden, an event he recounts in his Confessions as an early insight into sin.
• He never mastered Greek, rebelling against a brutal teacher, but became a master of Latin.
• His son Adeodatus, born from a long-term relationship, was viewed as extremely intelligent by contemporaries.

Notable Quotes (Wikiquote)

"Augustine, Augustine, quid quaeris? Putasne brevi immettere vasculo mare totum?" — Augustine of Hippo "Augustinus, Augustinus, what are you trying to do? Do you believe to be able to pour the whole sea in a little jar?" — Augustine of Hippo "Noli foras ire, in teipsum redi, in interiore homine habitat veritas. Et si tuam naturam mutabilem inveneris, trascende et teipsum." — Augustine of Hippo "Do not go outside yourself, return to yourself: truth dwells in the interiority of man and, if you find that your nature is changeable, transcend yourself too." — Augustine of Hippo