Ecumenical Commemoration
Bishop & Doctor of the Church
August 28 · d. 430
also known as Augustine of Hippo, St. Augustine, Augustine the African, Augustine
Augustine of Hippo was the most voluminous and influential author of ancient Christianity — his works shaped Western theology, philosophy, and spirituality for over 1,500 years. The Confessions — his spiritual autobiography — is one of the greatest works of literature in Western civilization, pioneering the introspective, psychologically realistic autobiography. The City of God, written after the Visigothic sack of Rome in 410, fundamentally reframed Christian political theology. His theological treatises (On the Trinity, On Predestination) and his thousands of surviving sermons and letters present a mind of extraordinary power and honesty.
Traditionally, Augustine records (Confessions IX.8-13) that his mother Monica had initially wanted to be buried beside her husband in Africa, but at Ostia she said it no longer mattered — 'Nothing is far from God, and there is no fear that he will not know where to find me at the end of the world to raise me up.' Augustine interprets this as evidence of her final spiritual freedom. The Liber Pontificalis tradition of Augustine's final days (reading the Penitential Psalms, meditating on his own sinfulness) developed in medieval tradition. His dramatic conversion experience in the Milan garden, recorded in the Confessions, became the template for later Christian conversion narratives.
Augustine was born on November 13, 354, in Thagaste in Roman North Africa (modern Souk Ahras, Algeria). His father Patricius was a pagan Roman official; his mother Monica was a devout Christian. He received an excellent Roman education in rhetoric and philosophy, showing precocious brilliance. At fifteen he went to Carthage to continue his education and soon fell into what he later called a life of lust — he took a concubine and lived with her for thirteen years, by whom he had a son, Adeodatus.
At eighteen, Augustine read Cicero's Hortensius and was seized by the desire for wisdom. He turned to Scripture but was put off by its Latin style, considering it crude compared to Cicero. He embraced Manichaeism — a dualistic heresy that promised rational explanation of the problem of evil. For nine years he remained a Manichaean hearer (not an elect), though increasingly dissatisfied.
In 383, Augustine moved to Rome, then to Milan. There he came under the influence of Bishop Ambrose, whose allegorical interpretation of Scripture opened the biblical text to him philosophically. Through Ambrose's preaching and through reading the works of the Platonists (in Latin translation), Augustine's understanding of Christianity began to deepen.
In the summer of 386, in a garden in Milan, Augustine experienced a crisis of will. He describes it in the Confessions: hearing a child's voice singing 'Take up and read,' he opened the epistles of Paul at random and read Romans 13:13-14. The text pierced him: 'Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery... Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ.' He felt his conversion complete.
At Easter 387, Augustine was baptized by Ambrose. He returned to North Africa, was ordained a priest in 391, and became Bishop of Hippo in 395 — a position he held for 35 years until his death in 430.
As bishop, Augustine was extraordinarily productive. He preached frequently (his sermons were collected and survive in large numbers), engaged in theological controversies (especially against the Donatist schism and Pelagianism), and wrote continuously. His output was immense: nearly 100 books, 300 letters, and over 300 sermons survive. He was also a pastor: he established policies for the treatment of repentant sinners, moderated between rigor and mercy, and cared for the poor.
Augustine died on August 28, 430, as the Vandals were besieging Hippo. According to tradition, he spent his final days reading the penitential Psalms, profoundly aware of his own sinfulness despite his sanctity.
See the Confessions on New Advent. Augustine's most enduring autobiographical work, written ca. 397–400.
Almighty God, you gave your servant Augustine of Hippo special gifts of grace to understand and teach the truth revealed in Christ Jesus: Grant that by this teaching we may know you, the one true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.