Augustine of Hippo
Christian theologian, philosopher, and saint (354–430)
b. 13 Nov 354 · d. 28 Aug 430
Augustine of Hippo was a Christian theologian and philosopher from Thagaste, Numidia Cirtensis and the Bishop of Hippo Regius. He is generally regarded as one of the most influential philosophers in the history of the Western world, and he is viewed as one of the most important Church Fathers of the Latin Church in the Patristic Period.
Related people
- Patricius child of · traditional
- Saint Monica child of · traditional
- Megalius of Calama consecrated by · traditional
- Ambrose influenced by · traditional
- Adeodatus parent of · traditional
- Heraclius of Hippo teacher of · traditional
- Prosper of Aquitaine teacher of · traditional
- Boethius influenced · traditional
- Johannes Scotus Eriugena influenced · traditional
- Licinian of Cartagena influenced · traditional
- Navigius of Hippo sibling of · traditional
- Perpetua of Hippo sibling of · traditional
Works
- The Rule of St Augustine c. 397
- Te Deum c. 400
- On the Trinity 400–428
- De doctrina Christiana 397–426
- On Free Choice of the Will 388–395
- Our Lord's Sermon on the Mount c. 394
- Harmony of the Gospels
- Enchiridion of Augustine
- De magistro 388
- Soliloquies of Augustine
- De beata vita 386
- Against the Academics
- Gravi de pugna
- De bono coniugali
- De immortalitate animae 387
- De catechizandis rudibus
- De musica
- De vera religione 390
- De ordine
- Retractationes
- On Lying
- De fide et symbolo
- Contra Epistolam Manichaei quam vocant Fundamenti
- De gratia et libero arbitrio
- Contra Faustum Manichaeum
- Tractates on the Gospel of John
- De diversis quaestionibus ad Simplicianum
- Literal Commentary on Genesis
- Contra epistulam Parmeniani
- De spiritu et littera
- De agone christiano
- Contra mendacium
- De correptione et gratia
- De dialectica
- Adversus Iudaeos
- Sermones ad populum
- Enarrations on the Psalms
- De grammatica
- Augustine's doctrine of Jewish witness
- Psalmus contra partem Donati
Works in parts
- The City of God 1 parts
Events
Commemorated
Places
- Thagaste residence
- Carthage residence
- Rome residence
- Milan residence
- Hippo Regius ministry
- San Pietro in Ciel d'Oro burial
How we know
Recorded as a historical figure.
- Confessions 3 claims — The garden at Milan; Ambrose baptises Augustine at Milan; Monica at the window at Ostia
- Letters 2 claims — Jerome translates the scriptures at Bethlehem; Sack of Rome by Alaric
- The Canon of the New Testament 2 claims — Synod of Hippo; Council of Carthage (397)
- The First Seven Ecumenical Councils (325–787) 1 claim — Council of Carthage (418)
Documents
- Confessions author
- The City of God author
Written about
Sayings
- I, miserable young man, supremely miserable even in the very outset of my youth, had entreated chastity of Thee, and said, "Grant me chastity and continency… Checked word-for-word against the book it cites — His own account of the prayer he prayed as a student, and of why he prayed it that way: he was afraid of being answered too soon and cured of a disease he would rather have…
- You are of opinion that no one should be compelled to follow righteousness; and yet you read that the householder said to his servants, "Whomsoever ye shall… Checked word-for-word against the book it cites — Writing to a Donatist bishop in about 408, Augustine sets out the argument from the parable of the wedding feast for using the imperial laws against schism. It is the sentence a…
- Lord, make me chaste, but not yet. Not in any book this project holds — The form in which the prayer of Confessions VIII.7 circulates, and not the sentence Augustine wrote. His own words are "Grant me chastity and continency, but not yet", and they…
- Love the sinner, but hate the sin. Not in any book this project holds — Attributed to Augustine everywhere and written by him nowhere in this form. The nearest thing he wrote is a rule for the discipline of a convent - "with due love for the persons…
Show all 13
- What I have now said in regard to abstaining from wanton looks should be carefully observed, with due love for the persons and hatred of the sin, in… Checked word-for-word against the book it cites — The rule he lays down for how the community is to correct itself, and the origin of the sentence about loving the sinner and hating the sin - which he never wrote in that form…
- It was foul, and I loved it. I loved to perish. I loved my own error—not that for which I erred, but the error itself. Checked word-for-word against the book it cites — The conclusion he draws from stealing pears he did not want and threw to the pigs: what he had enjoyed was not the fruit and not even the gain, but the wrongdoing, and that is…
- Thou wert more inward to me than my most inward part; and higher than my highest. Checked word-for-word against the book it cites — Written of the years he spent looking for God outside himself among the Manichees: the thing he was hunting through the world was nearer to him than he was to himself.
- Peace should be the object of your desire; war should be waged only as a necessity, and waged only that God may by it deliver men from the necessity and… Checked word-for-word against the book it cites — Written in about 418 to Boniface, the Roman commander in Africa, who had asked whether a soldier could be a Christian. It is the passage the later doctrine of the just war is…
- Thou movest us to delight in praising Thee; for Thou hast formed us for Thyself, and our hearts are restless till they find rest in Thee. Checked word-for-word against the book it cites — The opening paragraph of the Confessions, and the sentence the whole book is written to explain: the restlessness is not a fault to be cured but the pull that made him write.
- As severity is ready to punish the faults which it may discover, so charity is reluctant to discover the faults which it must punish. Checked word-for-word against the book it cites — The first sentence of the letter to the convent his sister had led, explaining why he had stayed away while they quarrelled: he did not want to see what he would then have had to…
- I heard the voice as of a boy or girl, I know not which, coming from a neighbouring house, chanting, and oft repeating, "Take up and read; take up and read." Checked word-for-word against the book it cites — The garden at Milan in 386. He takes the child’s chant as a command, opens Paul at random, reads Romans xiii. 13, and stops being a catechumen.
- Too late did I love Thee, O Fairness, so ancient, and yet so new! Too late did I love Thee! For behold, Thou wert within, and I without, and there did I seek… Checked word-for-word against the book it cites — The most quoted passage in the Confessions after the first paragraph, and a lament rather than a boast: the beauty he had been chasing through created things had been inside him…
- What, then, is time? If no one ask of me, I know; if I wish to explain to him who asks, I know not. Checked word-for-word against the book it cites — The opening of the discussion of time that occupies the eleventh book, and the most cited sentence in ancient philosophy on the subject: everyone knows what time is until they…
What he held
- Grace is necessary for every good act The grace of God is necessary not only for knowing what is right but for doing it.
- Original sin Adam’s sin passed to all his descendants, so that infants are baptized for the remission of sin and not only in imitation of him.
- The sacrament is not the minister’s The validity of a sacrament does not depend on the worthiness of the one who administers it.
In the disputes
- The Donatist schism Whether a church whose bishops had handed over the scriptures under persecution was still the church, and whether the sacraments of an unworthy minister are anything at all.
- The Pelagian controversy How much a man can do unaided.