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 Saint Augustine, 16th Centenary of Birth Scott 187-188 (1954) August 28 marks the Feast of Saint Augustine, who died on this day in 430 AD. St. Augustine, Bishop of Hippo (354-430) is one of the four early Doctors of the Church whose writings, according to historian David Farmer, are of "massive influence on Christian thought...Augustine’s intellectual brilliance, wide education, ardent temperament, and mystical insight formed a personality of extraordinary quality. His understanding of Christian Revelation as shown in his voluminous writings, which have probably proved more influential in the history of any writer since St. Paul."  Earliest portrait of Saint Augustine Sixth century fresco, Lateran, Rome From Wikimedia Commons, in the Public Domain Augustine was born to a pagan father (Patricius) and a Christian mother (St. Monica) at Tagaste in Algeria. He studied rhetoric and planned to become a lawyer, then studied philosophy (especially Plato). For nine years he studied Manichaeism, which led to a near-renunciation of Christianity. Manichaeism is a 3rd-century religion from Persia, a dualistic religion featuring a struggle between a spiritual world of light and a material world of darkness. Something of a Gnostic-like cult, its secrets were to be obtained by study by a religious elite. Its founder, Mani, considered himself as part of a long line of prophets from Adam to Buddha, to Jesus. It spread quickly from east to west in the Roman Empire. Its adherents thought it would take over Christianity, but it was opposed by both Christians and traditional Roman religion. By the 5th century it disappeared in the west and in the 6th century in the eastern portions of the Empire. Augustine eventually rejected it because of the concept that knowledge alone to an elite was the key to salvation.  "Conversion of Saint Augustine" by Fra Angelico From Wikimedia Commons, in the Public Domain Around the years 383-384, Augustine moved to Milan, where he fell under the influence of the city’s bishop, St Ambrose (ca. 340-397). Through the prayers of St. Monica and the influence of Ambrose, he was converted and baptized in 386-387. This part of his life is covered in his book, Confessions of St. Augustine, once standard reading for college students studying the history of Western Civilization. Augustine returned to Africa where he was ordained priest in 391, then coadjutor Bishop of Hippo. After 396 he ruled as Hippo’s sole bishop (Hippo Regius is the name of the modern city of Annabia, Algeria). Augustine wrote the first Christian philosophy of history, The City of God (De Civitate Dei). It was written to refute claims that Christianity’s ascendance over traditional pagan gods is why Rome was sacked in 410. Augustine explained the function of both church and state, and two cities, the City of Heaven (ultimately the city of the elect) and the City of the World (ultimately, the city of the damned). The city of Heaven is divinely instituted, leading believers to eternal goodness, while the City of the World forms a political community dealing with politics, civil, and other matters (leading not to mankind’s ultimate Christian destiny). The collapse of Rome was due to moral decay while Christianity saved Rome. For Augustine, human history is linear, the cities of heaven and the world are comingled on earth and predestined to the end of time, which ends in the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. Augustine and his religious community lived a life in common. He and it were active in administration of the Church and in the care of the poor as well as preaching and writing. At the time of his death, Vandals were besieging the gates of Hippo. Augustine’s relics were translated to Pavia by a Lombard king. St. Augustine’s tomb is at the Basilica San Pietro in Ciel d’Oro (Basilica of St. Peter Clothed in Gold), in Pavia, Italy, 25 miles north of Milan. A St. Monica Chapel is located nearby. The ‘Rule of St. Augustine’ served monastic communities such as the Augustinian Canons and the Dominicans. Saint Augustine has been specifically honored with two stamp sets issued by Vatican City. The first (shown at the top of this article), was released in 1954 to celebrate the 1600th anniversary of his birth. The second (shown below), issued in 1987, remembered the 1600th anniversary of his conversion and baptism: 
 St Augustine: 16th Centenary of Conversion 300 L: St. Augustine reading St. Paul's Epistles 400 L: Baptism of St. Augustine 500 L: Ecstasy of St. Augustine 2200 L: Detail from Raphael's Disputa del Sacramento Scott 779-782 (1987) Another stamp depicting Saint Augustine was part of a five-stamp set issued in 2013 for the 6th centenary of the Cathedral at Nardo: 
St Augustine: 6th Centenary of the Cathedral of Nardo Scott 1544 (2013) REFERENCES: |
