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POPE REFLECTS ON St. Augustine
“Due to his exceptional importance, St. Augustine has been
enormously influential, so much so that it could be said, on one
hand, that all the roads of Christian Latin literature lead to Hippo
(today’s Annaba, on the Algerian coast), the place where he
was a bishop, and on the other hand, that from this town of Roman
Africa, where Augustine was bishop from 395 to 430, branch out many
other roads of future Christianity and of Western culture itself.”
Pope Benedict XVI delivered this address on January 9, 2007 during
the general audience in Paul VI Hall, Vatican City. This reflection
is the the first in a series on St. Augustine, bishop of Hippo.
Below is a copy of the Pope’s address as translated by Laura
Leoncini:
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Dear brothers and sisters,
After the Christmas holidays I would like to turn to the meditations
on the Fathers of the Church and speak today of the greatest Father
of the Latin Church, St. Augustine: a man of passion and faith,
of high intelligence and untiring pastoral zeal. This great saint
and doctor of the Church is often well-known, at least by name,
even by those who ignore Christianity, or who are little acquainted
with it, because he made a deep impression on the cultural life
of the Western world, and the world in general.
Due to his exceptional importance, St. Augustine has been enormously
influential, so much so that it could be said, on one hand, that
all the roads of Christian Latin literature lead to Hippo (today’s
Annaba, on the Algerian coast), the place where he was a bishop,
and on the other hand, that from this town of Roman Africa, where
Augustine was bishop from 395 to 430, branch out many other roads
of future Christianity and of Western culture itself.
Rarely has a civilization encountered a figure so great, capable
of embracing its values and of proclaiming its intrinsic richness,
formulating ideas and methods that serve to nurture successive generations,
as Paul VI also emphasized: "One can say all of antiquity’s
philosophy converge in his work, and from it derive currents of
thought pervading the doctrinal tradition of the next centuries"
(AAS, 62, 1970, p. 426).
Moreover, Augustine is the Father of the Church who has left the
greatest number of writings. His biographer Possidius says: It seemed
impossible that a man could write so much during his life. We will
talk about his various works in a future session. Today we will
focus on his life, a life that we can reconstruct from his writings,
and in particular from the "Confessions," his extraordinary
spiritual autobiography written in praise of God, and which is his
most popular work.
Precisely because of the attention paid to interiority and psychology,
Augustine's "Confessions" is a unique model in Western
and non-Western literature, even including nonreligious literature,
right through to modern times. The focus on spiritual life, on the
mystery of self, on the mystery of God that hides in the self, is
an extraordinary thing without precedent and remains, so to speak,
a spiritual "vertex."
But, returning to his life, Augustine was born in Tagaste -- in
the Roman province of Africa -- on Nov. 13, 354, to Patrick, a pagan
who then became a catechumen, and Monica, a zealous Christian. This
passionate woman, venerated as a saint, was a big influence on her
son and educated him in the Christian belief. Augustine also received
salt, as a mark of welcome in the catechumenate. He was always charmed
by the figure of Jesus Christ; he says he had always loved Jesus,
but he had grown more and more apart from the faith and practice
of the Church, as happens with a lot of young people today.
Augustine also had a brother, Navigius, and a sister, whose name
we do not know, and who, when widowed, became the head of a female
monastery.
Augustine had a sharp intelligence and received a good education,
though he was not always a model student. He studied grammar, first
in his hometown and then in Madaurus, and beginning in 370 he took
rhetoric in Carthage, capital of Roman Africa. He came to master
Latin, but did not do as well in Greek or Punic, the language of
his fellow countrymen.
It was in Carthage that he read "Hortensius" for the first
time, a work by Cicero -- subsequently lost -- and which started
him on the road to conversion. The text awakened in him a love of
wisdom, as confirmed in his writings as a bishop in the "Confessions":
"The book changed my feelings," so much so that "suddenly,
every vain hope became empty to me, and I longed for the immortality
of wisdom with an incredible ardor in my heart" (III, 4, 7).
But, since he was convinced that without Jesus truth cannot really
be found, and because in that fascinating book his name was missing,
he immediately set to reading Scripture, the Bible. But he was disappointed.
Not only was the Latin translation of the sacred Scripture insufficient,
but also the content itself did not seem satisfactory.
In the narrations of wars and other human events, he could not find
the heights of philosophy, the splendor of its search for the truth.
Nevertheless, he did not want to live without God, and so he sought
a religion that matched his desire for truth and his desire to be
close to Jesus.
He fell into the net of the Manichaeans, who presented themselves
as Christians and promised a totally rational religion. They confirmed
that the world is divided into two principles: that of good and
evil. This explained the complexity of human history. St. Augustine
also liked the dualistic morality, because it entailed a very high
morality for the chosen ones: and for those, like him, who adhered
to it, it was possible to live a life more suited to the times,
especially for a young man. He therefore became a Manichaean, convinced
that he had found the synthesis between rationality, the search
for the truth and the love of Jesus Christ.
And his private life benefited as well: Being a Manichaean opened
career possibilities. To adhere to this religion, which included
many influential personalities, allowed him to pursue a relationship
he started with a woman, and to continue his career.
With this woman he had a son, Adeodatus, who was very dear to him,
extremely intelligent, and who later on will be present in Augustine's
preparation for baptism in Lake Como, forming part of the "Dialogues"
that St. Augustine has passed on to us. Unfortunately, the boy died
prematurely.
After teaching grammar in his hometown at the age of 20, he soon
returned to Carthage, where he became a brilliant and celebrated
master of rhetoric. With time, however, Augustine distanced himself
from the Manichaean faith. It disappointed him intellectually as
it was not capable of resolving his doubts. He moved to Rome, and
then to Milan, where he obtained a prestigious place in the imperial
court, thanks to the recommendations of the prefect of Rome, the
pagan Symmachus, who was hostile to the bishop of Milan, St. Ambrose.
At first with the purpose of enriching his rhetorical repertoire,
Augustine began attending the impressive lectures of Bishop Ambrose,
who had been a representative of the emperor in Northern Italy;
he was charmed by his words, not only because of their eloquence,
but because they touched his heart. The main problem of the Old
Testament -- the lack of oratory and philosophical elevation --
resolved itself in the lectures of St. Ambrose thanks to the typological
interpretation of the Old Testament: Augustine understood that the
Old Testament is a journey toward Jesus Christ. So he found the
key to understanding the beauty, the philosophic depth of the Old
Testament, and he understood the unity of the mystery of Christ
in history, as well as the synthesis between philosophy, rationality
and faith in the Logos, in Christ, the eternal Word that became
flesh.
Quickly, Augustine realized the allegorical reading of Scripture
and the Neoplatonic philosophy practiced by the bishop of Milan
helped him resolve the intellectual difficulties he encountered
at a younger age, when he first approached the biblical texts, which
he believed to be insuperable.
Augustine continued to read the writings of the philosophers along
with Scripture, and especially the letters of St. Paul. His conversion
to Christianity, Aug. 15, 386, is therefore placed at the apex of
a long and tormented inner journey of which we will speak in another
catechesis; The African moved to the country north of Milan near
Lake Como -- with his mother Monica, his son Adeodatus, and a small
group of friends -- to get ready for baptism. At 32, Augustine was
christened by Ambrose on April 24, 387, during Easter vigil in the
Milan Cathedral.
After his baptism Augustine decided to return to Africa with his
friends, with the idea of putting into practice a communal monastic
life, in the service of God. But in Ostia, while waiting to leave,
his mother suddenly fell sick and a little later died, leaving her
son's heart in torment.
Back in his homeland he settled in Hippo to found a monastery. In
this town on the African coast he was ordained presbyter in 391,
despite his refusal, and began a monastic life with some companions,
dividing his time between praying, studying and preaching. He wanted
to serve truth alone, he didn’t feel called to the pastoral
life; then he understood that God’s call was to be a shepherd
among others, and to offer the others the gift of truth.
Four years later, in 395, he was consecrated bishop in Hippo. Deepening
the study of Scripture and the texts of the Christian tradition,
Augustine was an exemplary bishop in his untiring pastoral commitment:
He preached to the faithful several times a week, he helped the
poor and the orphans, he followed the education of the clergy and
the organization of female and male monasteries.
In short, he affirmed himself as one of the most important representatives
of Christianity of the time: Very active in the administration of
his diocese -- with considerable civic results too -- in more than
35 years of episcopate, the bishop of Hippo had an immense influence
in the leadership of the Catholic Church in Roman Africa and, in
general, in the Christianity of his time, facing Manichaeism, Donatism
and Pelagianism, which were endangering the Christian faith and
the one and only God full of grace.
Augustine entrusted himself to God every day, right up until the
very end of his life. He was struck by fever, while Hippo was being
besieged by invaders. The bishop -- as his friend Possidius tells
us in the "Vita Augustini" -- asked to transcribe in large
characters the penitential psalms, "and he had the sheets pinned
to the wall, so that during his illness he could read them while
in bed, and he cried endlessly warm tears" (31,2); this is
how Augustine spent his last days. He died on Aug. 28, 430, at the
age of 75. We will dedicate the next sessions to his works, his
message and his interior experience.
[Translation by Laura Leoncini]
[After praying the Angelus, the Holy Father greeted pilgrims in
six languages. In English, he said:]
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
In our weekly catechesis, we now turn to the towering figure of
Saint Augustine of Hippo. The great intellectual heritage of antiquity
found expression in Augustine’s many writings, which then
became a rich source of inspiration and teaching for centuries to
come. Augustine’s spiritual autobiography -- "The Confessions"
-- tells the story of his Christian upbringing, his secular education,
his decision to devote his life to the pursuit of truth, and his
eventual abandonment of the faith. Attracted at first by Manichean
dualism, he gradually recovered the faith of his childhood, thanks
to the prayers of his mother, Saint Monica, and the brilliant teaching
of Saint Ambrose, then Bishop of Milan. "The Confessions"
recount the tormented interior journey which led to his moral and
intellectual conversion, culminating in his baptism by Ambrose.
Returning to Africa to lead a monastic life, Augustine became a
priest and then the Bishop of Hippo. In his thirty years as Bishop,
he proved himself an exemplary pastor, an assiduous preacher and
an influential champion of the Catholic faith. In coming weeks,
we will turn our attention to the writings and the thought of this
great Doctor of the Church.
I am pleased to welcome the English-speaking pilgrims present at
today’s Audience, especially the student groups from Australia
and the United States. I greet the group of deacons from the Archdiocese
of Dubuque, and I thank the choir for their praise of God in song.
Upon all of you I invoke God’s abundant blessings of joy and
peace.
© Copyright 2007 -- Libreria Editrice Vaticana
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