Early Christian Biographies

Life Of St. Augustine

THE LIFE OF ST. AUGUSTINE Preface IINDER THE INSPIRATION of God, the Creator and Ruler of all things, and mindful of my purpose whereby through the grace of the Saviour I resolved to serve faithfully the omnipDtent and divine Trinity, I have striven both formerly in my life as a layman and now in my office of bishop, with whatever talent and eloquence I possess, to help toward the edification of the true and holy Catholic Church of Christ the Lord. For this reason I am by no means disposed to be silent concerning the life and character of the illustrious Bishop Augustine, either as I observed personally in him or as was related by him who was predestined and especially esteemed in his own day. For we have read and observed that this was often done in the past by most devout men of our holy mother, the Catholic Church. Under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, yet using their own language and style, they likewise spoke and wrote accounts for the instruction of those men who wished to be informed. In this way they brought to the notice of the zealous the character and greatness of men who, by the grace of the Lord which is given to all men in this world, merited to live and to persevere until the end of their course. 73 74 POSSIDIUS Therefore, by the grace of God I, too, the least of all His stewards, with faith unfeigned as becomes all the righteous and faithful who serve and please the Lord of Lords, have undertaken to unfold the origin, career, and worthy end of the aforementioned venerable man as I have learned front him through many years of close association. But I beseech the Divine Majesty that I may continue and complete this task which I have assumed in such a way that I may not offend the truth of the Father of lights and may seem in no way to deceive the love of good sons of the Church. I shall not attempt to include all the details which the same most blessed Augustine pointed out concerning himself in the books of his Confessions; for example, what manner of man he was and what kind of life he led before and after the reception of grace. According to the Apostle, Augustine wished to do this so that no one would believe or think him otherwise than he really was or greater than rumor made him. With this in mind, the holy man certainly did not fail in his practice of humility, since he did not seek his own praise but that of his Lord for his own deliverance and blessings, both those which he had already received and those which he desired to receive through the prayers of his brethren. Therefore, as we read on the authority of an angel: 'It is good to hide the secret of a king: but honorable to reveal and confess the works of God.' Augustine was born, then, in the province of Africa, in the city of Tagaste, of honorable parents. He was nourished and fostered by their care and diligence with special training in secular literature, that is, he was instructed UFE OF ST. AUGUSTINE 75 in all the disciplines which are called liberal. At first, indeed, he taught grammar in his own city, and afterwards rhetoric in Carthage, the capital of Africa. In later years, he was instructor in the city of Rome and at Milan where the court of the emperor, Valentinian the younger, had then been established. At that time, the episcopacy in this city was being administered by Ambrose, a bishop most pleasing to God and most illustrious among the best of men. As Augustine stood among the people in church, he listened with eager suspense to the frequent discussions of this preacher of the word of God. While still a youth in Carthage, he had been led astray by the error of the Manichaeans, and because of this he attended the sermons with greater anxiety than others, lest something might be said for or against the heresy. Now it happened through the mercy of God the Deliverer, who touched the heart of His bishop, that the questions of the Law relative to that error were solved, and thus Augustine was gradually instructed, so that little by little through divine compassion the heresy was expelled from his...