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Augustine of Hippo

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Augustine of Hippo
Saint Augustin by Philippe de Champaigne, c. 1645
Bishop of Hippo Regius
Church Father, Doctor of the Church
Blessed
BornAurelius Augustinus
13 November 354
Thagaste, Numidia Cirtensis, Roman Empire
Died28 August 430 (aged 75)
Hippo Regius, Numidia Cirtensis, Western Roman Empire
Resting placePavia, Italy
Venerated inAll Christian denominations which venerate saints
CanonizedPre-Congregation
Major shrineSan Pietro in Ciel d'Oro, Pavia, Italy
Feast
AttributesCrozier, mitre, young child, book, small church, flaming or pierced heart[1]
Patronage

Philosophy career
Notable work
Era
RegionWestern philosophy
School
Notable studentsPaul Orosius[19]
Prosper of Aquitaine
Main interests
Notable ideas
Ordination history
History
Priestly ordination
Date391
PlaceHippo Regius, Africa, Roman Empire
Episcopal consecration
Consecrated byMegalius
Date395
Source(s): [20][21]

Augustine of Hippo (/ɔːˈɡʌstɪn/; Latin: Aurelius Augustinus Hipponensis; 13 November 354 – 28 August 430[22]), also known as Saint Augustine, was a Christian philosopher and theologian.

Early life

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Augustine was born in the year 354. His mother is believed to have been of Berber origin.

After growing up, he began to learn and write a lot about Christianity, and became a bishop in Hippo Regius, which was in modern-day Annaba, Algeria. He was highly influenced by archbishop Ambrose. Later in life, Augustine moved to Italy, and over the next years his religious ideology grew stronger, and he became a teacher.

Shortly before Augustine died, a group called the Vandals invaded Roman Africa. The Vandals were a Germanic tribe who believed in a version of Christianity called Arianism. In the spring of 430, they surrounded the city of Hippo, where Augustine was living. At this time, Augustine became very sick.

According to Possidius, who wrote about Augustine’s life, one of Augustine’s few miracles happened during the siege. He healed a sick man. Augustine is also said to have excommunicated himself as he was dying. This means he cut himself off from the church in a public way to show he was sorry for his sins and to share in the suffering of others who sinned.

Augustine spent his last days praying and feeling sorry for his sins. He asked to have the penitential Psalms of David hung on his walls so he could read them. These prayers made him cry a lot, according to Possidius. Augustine was also in charge of the church’s library in Hippo, and he told people to take good care of the books there.

Augustine died on 28 August 430. Soon after, the Vandals stopped attacking Hippo for a while, but later they came back and burned the city. They destroyed almost everything except Augustine’s cathedral and the church library, which they left safe.

Augustine became very famous after his death. People thought of him as a saint, and in 1298, Pope Boniface VIII officially made him a Doctor of the Church, a special title for important teachers. Augustine’s feast day (a day to remember him) is on 28 August, the day he died.

He is known as the patron saint of brewers, printers, theologians (people who study God), and several cities and church areas. People also pray to him when they have sore eyes.

In the Church of England, Augustine is remembered with a smaller festival on 28 August.

Books:

Letters:

  • On the Catechising of the Uninstructed
  • On Faith and the Creed
  • Concerning Faith of Things Not Seen
  • On the Profit of Believing and Judgement.
  • On the Creed: A Sermon to Catechumens
  • On Continence
  • On the Good of Marriage
  • On Holy Virginity
  • On the Good of Widowhood
  • On Lying
  • To Consentius: Against Lying
  • On the Work of Monks
  • On Patience
  • On Care to be Had For the Dead
  • On the Morals of the Catholic Church
  • On the Morals of the Manichaeans
  • On Two Souls, Against the Manichaeans
  • Acts or Disputation Against Fortunatus the Manichaean
  • Against the Epistle of Manichaeus Called Fundamental
  • Reply to Faustus the Manichaean
  • Concerning the Nature of Good, Against the Manichaeans
  • On Baptism, Against the Donatists
  • Answer to Letters of Petilian, Bishop of Cirta
  • The Correction of the Donatists
  • Merits and Remission of Sin, and Infant Baptism
  • On the Spirit and the Letter
  • On Nature and Grace
  • On Man's Perfection in Righteousness
  • On the Proceedings of Pelagius
  • On the Grace of Christ, and on Original Sin
  • On Marriage and Concupiscence
  • On the Soul and its Origin
  • Against Two Letters of the Pelagians
  • On Grace and Free Will
  • On Rebuke and Grace
  • The Predestination of the Saints/Gift of Perseverance
  • Our Lord's Sermon on the Mount
  • The Harmony of the Gospels
  • Sermons on Selected Lessons of the New Testament
  • Tractates on the Gospel of John
  • Homilies on the First Epistle of John
  • Soliloquies
  • The Enarrations, or Expositions, on the Psalms
  • On the Immortality of the Soul
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References

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  1. Hall, James (1996). Hall's Dictionary of Subjects and Symbols in Art (2nd ed.). John Murray. p. 35. ISBN 0-7195-4147-6.; Daniel, Howard (1971). Encyclopedia of Themes and Subjects in Painting. Thames and Hudson. p. 35. ISBN 0-500-18114-4.
  2. Siecienski 2010.
  3. Bonaiuti, Ernesto, and Giorgio La Piana. "The Genesis of St. Augustine's Idea of Original Sin." The Harvard Theological Review, vol. 10, no. 2, 1917, pp. 159–175. JSTOR 1507550. Accessed 20 June 2022.
  4. Augustine. "What Is Called Evil in the Universe Is But the Absence of Good". Enchridion. Retrieved 17 November 2012.
  5. Greenblatt 2017.
  6. Ryan 1908.
  7. St. Augustine, The Harmony of the Gospels, Book 1 chapter 2 paragraph 4. from hypothesis.com[usurped]
  8. Esmeralda n.d.
  9. Austin 2006.
  10. Online, Catholic. "Jesus Christ Prayers – Prayers". Catholic Online.
  11. "Deity". Online Etymology Dictionary. Retrieved 6 June 2017.
  12. Huffington 2013.
  13. Wilhelm 1910.
  14. Jenson 2006.
  15. Literal Interpretation of Genesis 1:19–20, Chapt. 19
  16. The Literal Interpretation of Genesis 2:9
  17. Demacopoulos & Papanikolaou 2008, p. 271.
  18. "Church Fathers: On Merit and the Forgiveness of Sins, and the Baptism of Infants, Book I (Augustine)". www.newadvent.org.
  19. Nguyen & Prior 2014, p. 66.
  20. Portalié 1907a.
  21. "Augustine of Hippo, Bishop and Theologian". justus.anglican.org. Society of Archbishop Justus. Archived from the original on 24 August 2017. Retrieved 22 January 2018.
  22. Wells 2000, p. 54.
aka The Story of Philosophy, Dorling Kindersley Publishing, 2001, ISBN 0-7894-7994-X
(subtitled on cover: The Essential Guide to the History of Western Philosophy)
g Saint Augustine, pages 30, 144; City of God 51, 52, 53 and The Confessions 50, 51, 52
- additional in the Dictionary of the History of Ideas for Saint Augustine and Neo-Platonism Archived 2007-08-07 at the Wayback Machine

Bibliography

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Other websites

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