De sancto Augustino
The Name and Early Life of Augustine
The chapter introduces Augustine's name and origins, his early education, his struggle with Manichaean error, and his mother Monica's persistent prayers for his conversion.
Augustine received this name either because of the excellence of his dignity, or because of the fervor of his love, or because of the etymology of the name. Regarding his excellence: just as Augustus surpassed all kings, so he surpasses all teachers, according to what Remigius says; hence other teachers are compared to stars, but Daniel— —as in Daniel 12: 'Those who instruct many in justice shall shine like the stars, etc.' He, however, is compared to the sun, as is clear in the epistle sung about him. For just as the sun shines brightly, so he shone in the temple of God. Secondly, because of the fervor of his love: for just as the month of August burns intensely with the heat of summer, so he burned intensely with the fire of divine love. Hence he says of himself in his Confessions: 'You had pierced my heart with Your love, etc.' Again, in the same place: 'Sometimes You bring me into a very unusual state of mind, deep within, to a sweetness I do not know; if it were to be perfected in me, I don't know what it would be, if it were not eternal life.' Third, because of the etymology of his name? The name 'Augustine' is said to come from 'augeo,' 'astin' (meaning city), and 'ana' (meaning upward). Therefore, 'Augustine' is like someone who increases the heavenly city, as it is sung of him: 'who prevailed to increase the city,' and so on. He writes about this city in his book, 'The City of God.' On the City of God. In the city of God, there is origin, instruction, and blessedness. If you ask where it comes from, God founded it; if you ask where it finds wisdom, it is enlightened by God; if you ask where it finds happiness, it enjoys God—subsisting by being changed, contemplating by being illuminated, and adhering by being gladdened. It sees and loves; it thrives in the eternity of God, rests in the truth of God, and rejoices in the goodness of God. Or, as the Glossary says, Augustine is called magnificent, happy, and illustrious. He is magnificent in life, illustrious in doctrine, and happy in glory. Possidius, the bishop of Calama, compiled his life, as Cassiodorus notes in his book 'On Illustrious Men.' — 3. Augustine, that distinguished doctor, was born in the African province in the city of Carthage to very honorable parents—his father, Patricius, and his mother, Monica—and was well-educated in the liberal arts, to the point that he was considered a master philosopher and a most eloquent rhetorician. He learned and understood the books of Aristotle and all the liberal arts he could get his hands on by himself, as he testifies in his Confessions: 'I read and understood on my own all the books I could find on the so-called liberal arts, even though I was then a most wretched slave to wicked desires.' He adds in the same place: 'Whatever I could read about the art of speaking and debating, about the dimensions of figures, about music, and about numbers, I understood without great difficulty and without anyone to teach me.' You know, my Lord God, that this quickness in understanding and learning is your gift, but I didn't offer it as a sacrifice to you; rather, I knew that knowledge without charity does not build up, but puffs up. He fell into the error of the Manichaeans, who claimed that Christ was a phantom. They affirm these errors and deny the resurrection of the flesh; he fell into this for nine years, and while he was still a young man, he remained in it. He was even led into such nonsense that he would say one should weep for a fig tree if a leaf or a fig were plucked from it. When he was nineteen, he happened to read a book by a certain philosopher which argued that the vanity of the world should be despised and philosophy pursued. The book pleased him greatly, but because the name of Jesus Christ—which he had absorbed from his mother—was not in it, he began to feel troubled; his mother, meanwhile, wept bitterly and did her best to lead him back to the truth of the faith. At one point, as is read in the third book of his Confessions, he saw himself standing on a certain wooden beam, though he was sad, and a young man stood by him and asked the cause of such great sadness. When she said, 'I am mourning the loss of my son,' he replied, 'Be at peace, for where you are, there he is also.' And look, she immediately saw her son standing beside her. When she told this to Augustine, he said, 'You are mistaken, Mother, you are mistaken; it wasn't said to you that way, but rather: where I am, there you are.' But she replied to the contrary, 'No, my son; it was said to me: where he is, there you are, but not: where you are, there he is.' The persistent mother, acting almost importunately, begged a certain bishop—as Augustine testifies in that same book of his Confessions—to deign to intercede for her son. Overcome by such persistence, he replied with a prophetic voice, 'Go in peace, for it is impossible that the son of so many tears should perish.' After he had taught rhetoric at Carthage for many years, he went to Rome secretly, without his mother knowing, and gathered many students there.
Conversion and Baptism
Augustine travels to Milan, encounters Ambrose, experiences a profound interior struggle, and finally undergoes a dramatic conversion and baptism.
When his mother had followed him as far as the gate, hoping to either bring him back or go with him, he slipped away secretly in the night, deceiving her. When she saw this in the morning, she filled God's ears with her cries. Every morning and evening, she went to church and prayed for her son. At that time, the Athenians asked Symmachus, the Roman prefect, to send them a teacher of rhetoric. Ambrose, a man of God, was presiding there at the time, and at his request, Augustine was sent to Milan. His mother, unable to rest, traveled to him with great difficulty, only to find that he was no longer truly a Manichaean, but not yet truly a Catholic. Augustine began to attach himself to the blessed Ambrose and listen to his sermons frequently; however, he was very much on guard during the preaching, lest anything be said for or against the Manichaean heresy itself. On one occasion, Ambrose spoke at length against that error and refuted it with clear arguments and authorities, so that the error was completely driven from Augustine's heart. He describes what happened next in his Confessions, saying: "When I first knew you, you struck back at the weakness of my gaze, shining into me with great intensity; I trembled with love and horror, and I found that I was far away from you, in a land of unlikeness, as if I were hearing your voice from on high." "I am the food of the mature; grow, and you will eat me. You won't change me into yourself, like the food of your flesh, but you will be changed into me." However, as he reports in the same place, while the way of Christ pleased him, he still found it difficult to walk through those narrow straits; so the Lord put it into his mind to go to Simplicianus, in whom the light—that is, divine grace—was shining, so that he might... ...and, as he compared his own struggles with himself, he might bring forward what was the right way of living to walk in the way of God, in which one person walked one way, and another, another. For everything he was doing in the world was displeasing to him, compared to the sweetness of God and the beauty of His house, which he loved. Simplicianus, however, began to encourage him, and he also began to encourage himself, saying: "How many boys and girls serve God within the Lord's church, and you cannot do what this one and that one can? Or is it true that this one and that one can do it in their own strength, and not in their God?" "Why do you stand in yourself and not stand?" "Throw yourself into Him, and He will receive you and save you." In the middle of these conversations, the memory of Victorinus came up. Simplicianus, encouraged by this, shared how Victorinus, while still a pagan, had earned a statue in the Roman forum for his wisdom—the highest honor at the time—and how he often called himself a Christian. When Simplicianus told him, "I won't believe it until I see you in church," he would joke, "Do walls make a man a Christian?" Eventually, when he went to the church and was given the book to read and recite the creed—as was the custom for those who were shy and preferred to do so privately—he climbed up and proclaimed it in a loud voice, to the wonder of Rome and the joy of the church. Suddenly, everyone began to murmur, "Victorinus, Victorinus!"—a sound that rose quickly and just as quickly died away. At that time, a friend of Augustine’s from Africa named Pontianus also arrived and recounted the life and miracles of the great Anthony, who had recently died in Egypt under the Emperor Constantine. Augustine was so deeply stirred by these examples that he turned to his companion Alipius, troubled in both face and mind, and cried out forcefully, "What is happening to us? What are we hearing?" "The uneducated are rising up and taking heaven by storm, while we, with all our learning, are sinking into hell. Are we ashamed to follow because they have gone before us, yet not ashamed to not even follow at all?" He then rushed into a garden and threw himself down under a fig tree, as he recounts in his book of Confessions. Weeping bitterly, he cried out in lamentation: "How long, how long? Tomorrow and tomorrow! Why not now? Why not this very hour?" There was no end to his 'now,' and his 'not yet' kept stretching out into the distance. He complained bitterly about his own slowness, as he later wrote in that same book: 'Woe to me, for you are high in the highest places, and you are deep in the deepest, and you never withdraw, yet we return to you with such difficulty.' Act, Lord, and do; stir us up and call us back. Draw near, seize us, breathe upon us, and make us sweet. I was as afraid of being freed from all these obstacles as one ought to be afraid of being hindered by them. Too late I loved you, Beauty so ancient and so new; too late I loved you. You were within me, and I was outside, and I sought you there; and in those beautiful things you made, I, deformed, was wallowing. You were with me, but I was not with you. You called and cried out, and you broke through my deafness; you flashed and shone, and you chased away my blindness; you breathed fragrance, and I drew in my breath and pant for you; I tasted, and I hunger and thirst for you; you touched me, and I burned for your peace. While he was weeping most bitterly, he heard a voice saying to him: 'Take up and read, take up and read.' He immediately opened the apostolic book and, casting his eyes on the first chapter, read: 'Put on the Lord Jesus Christ,' and immediately all the shadows of doubt fled away from him. Meanwhile, he began to be tormented by such a violent toothache that, as he himself says, he was almost led to believe the opinion of the philosopher Cornelius, who placed the soul's highest good in wisdom, but the body's highest good in feeling no pain. The pain was so intense that he even lost his speech, and so, as he recounts in his Confessions, he wrote on wax tablets, asking everyone to pray for him so that the Lord might ease that pain. He therefore knelt with the others and suddenly felt himself healed. He then wrote to the holy man Ambrose, expressing his desire for guidance on which holy books he should read to become better suited for the Christian faith. Ambrose, however, directed him to the prophet Isaiah, because he seemed a more fitting herald of the Gospel and the calling of the Gentiles. Because Augustine didn't understand the beginning of it, and thought the whole book was like that, he put off reading it until he was more experienced in the holy scriptures. When the Easter season arrived, Augustine, then thirty years old, received holy baptism along with his son Adeodatus—a very bright boy whom Augustine had fathered in his youth while he was still a pagan and a philosopher—as well as with his friend Alipius, through the merits of his mother and the preaching of Ambrose. Then, as the story goes, Ambrose said, 'We praise you, O God,' and Augustine replied, 'We acknowledge you to be the Lord,' and so the two of them composed this hymn together, alternating verses until the end, as Honorius also testifies in his book, The Mirror of the Church. Some ancient books include this title at the beginning: A song compiled by Ambrose and Augustine. He was immediately and wonderfully confirmed in the Catholic faith; he abandoned all the hope he had placed in the world and renounced the schools he had been directing. In his book of Confessions, he reveals the sweetness of divine love that filled him from that time on, saying: 'You had pierced my heart with Your love, and I carried Your words fixed in my vitals. The examples of Your servants, whom You had turned from dark to light and from dead to living, were gathered into the fold of my thoughts; they burned and consumed my heavy lethargy. To me, ascending from the valley of weeping and singing the song of steps, You had given sharp arrows and devastating coals. In those days, I was not satisfied with the wonderful sweetness of considering the depth of Your divine counsel regarding the salvation of the human race. How I wept at Your hymns and canticles, deeply moved by the voices of Your sweetly sounding Church! Those voices flowed into my ears, and Your truth melted into my heart, and tears ran down, and it was well with me in them.'1 For it was then that these songs were established in the Church of Milan. And I cried out with the high cry of my heart: 'O in peace, O in that very thing, O He who said: I will sleep and take my rest and take my sleep.' For You are that very thing, who do not change, and in You is rest, forgetting all labors. I was reading that whole psalm and I was burning—I who had been a bitter barker and blind against the letters honeyed by the honey of heaven and luminous from Your light—and I was wasting away over such scriptures, Christ Jesus, my helper. How sweet it suddenly became for me to lack the sweetness of my trifles, and what I had feared to lose, it was now a joy to let go. For You were casting them out from me, You, the true and supreme sweetness; You were casting them out and entering in their place, sweeter than any pleasure, but not to flesh and blood; clearer than any light, but more interior than any secret; higher than any honor, but not to those who are high in themselves. After this, having taken Nebridius and Evodius and his mother, he was returning to Africa, but when they were at Ostia Tiberina, his pious mother died.
Episcopal Ministry and Ascetic Life
Augustine returns to Africa, is reluctantly ordained as a priest and then bishop, and establishes a life of monastic discipline, poverty, and rigorous intellectual defense of the faith.
After his death, Augustine returned to his own lands, where he spent his time with those who had joined him, devoting himself to God through fasting and prayer, writing books, and teaching the unlearned. His fame spread everywhere, and he was admired for both his books and his actions. He avoided going to any city that lacked a bishop, so he wouldn't be forced into that office. At that time, a wealthy man in Hippo sent word to Augustine that if he would come to him and hear the word from his own lips, he might be able to renounce the world. When Augustine learned of this, he hurried there; but Valerius, the bishop of Hippo, having heard of his reputation, ordained him as a priest in his own church despite his strong resistance. Some people arrogantly misinterpreted his tears and tried to console him by saying that the position of priest, even though he was worthy of something greater, was still a step toward the episcopacy. He immediately established a monastery for clergy and began to live according to the rule established by the holy apostles—a monastery from which nearly ten bishops were later chosen. Because the bishop was Greek and less learned in the Latin language and literature, he gave Augustine the authority to preach in his presence in the church, contrary to the custom of the Eastern Church. Although many bishops criticized this, he didn't care, provided that what he could not do himself was accomplished through Augustine. At that time, he defeated, removed, and refuted Fortunatus the Manichaean priest and other heretics, such as the rebaptizing Donatists and the Manichaeans; but Valerius began to fear that Augustine might be taken from him and sought as a bishop by another city. He would have been taken from himself at some point, had he not taken care to move to a secret place where he could not be found at all. He therefore got permission from the Archbishop of Carthage for the archbishop to step down and promote Augustine as bishop for the church of Hippo. But although Augustine resisted this in every way, he was eventually compelled and forced to yield, and he took on the care of the episcopacy. He later spoke and wrote about the fact that this shouldn't have happened to him—that he should be ordained while his bishop was still living—because of a universal council prohibition he only learned about after his ordination; he didn't want others to experience what he regretted had been done to him. For this reason, he even ensured it was established in the councils of bishops that all the statutes of the fathers should be made known to those being ordained by those who were ordaining them. He is later recorded as having said about this: 'In no other matter do I feel the Lord is as angry with me as in this: that when I wasn't worthy to be placed at the oar, He placed me at the helm, at the very peak of the church's leadership.' His clothing, footwear, and other adornments were neither overly flashy nor excessively wretched, but were of a moderate and appropriate style. He is recorded as having said of himself: 'I confess that I'm embarrassed by expensive clothing, and so when it's given to me, I sell it, so that since the garment cannot be shared, the price might be.' He always kept a frugal and simple table, and he generally had meat among the vegetables and legumes for the sake of the infirm and guests; however, at the table itself, he preferred reading or discussion over feasting, and against the plague of backbiting, he had this written on it: 'Whoever loves to tear apart the life of the absent with their words, let them know this table is unworthy of them.' Once, when some of his closest fellow bishops let their tongues run loose with gossip, he rebuked them so harshly that he told them if they didn't stop, he would either strike their names from his list or leave the table. On one occasion, when he had invited some friends to lunch, one of them—more curious than the rest—slipped into the kitchen and found everything cold; he went back to Augustine and asked what kind of meal the head of the house had prepared for himself. Augustine, who cared nothing for such fancy food, replied, "I don't know about you, but I learned three things from blessed Ambrose: first, never to ask for a wife for anyone; second, not to recommend someone who wants to join the military; and third, not to go to dinner parties when invited." The first reason is so that they don't get into arguments and start insulting each other; the second is so that soldiers don't make false accusations and blame him for their own faults; the third is so that he doesn't lose his sense of moderation. He was a man of such purity and humility that he confessed even the smallest sins—things we would consider nothing at all—in his book of Confessions, and he humbly accused himself of them before God. In that same book, he accuses himself of playing with a ball when he was a boy, instead of going to school as he should have. He also mentions that he refused to read or learn anything unless forced to by his parents or his teacher. He also writes about how, when he was still a boy, he enjoyed reading the poets' fables—like the story of Aeneas—and would weep for Dido, who died for love. He also mentions how he used to steal things from his parents' pantry or table to give to the children playing. He also mentions how he used to play unfairly to win games with other children. He also mentions how, when he was sixteen, he stole pears from a tree near his own vineyard. In that same book of Confessions, he accuses himself of the slight pleasure he sometimes felt while eating, saying: 'You taught me to approach food just as I approach medicine.' But as I move from the discomfort of hunger to the relief of being full, the snare of desire lies in wait for me in that very transition; the transition itself is a pleasure, and there's no other way to pass through it than the one necessity forces me to take. Although health is the reason for eating and drinking, a dangerous pleasure attaches itself like a servant and often tries to get ahead, so that it becomes the reason for what I say I'm doing, or want to do, for the sake of my health. Drunkenness is far from me; may You have mercy, that it may not draw near to me. Yet gluttony sometimes creeps up on Your servant; have mercy, that it may be kept far from me. And who is there, Lord, who isn't sometimes carried a little beyond the bounds of necessity? Whoever he is, he is truly great; may he magnify your name. I am nothing, because I am a sinful man. He also held himself suspect regarding his sense of smell, saying: 'I am not overly concerned with the allure of scents; when they are absent, I don't go looking for them, and when they are present, I don't reject them, always prepared to do without them.' That is how I see myself, though perhaps I am mistaken. For no one ought to feel secure in this life, which is called a total temptation; but may he who was able to become better from being worse, not become worse from being better. Again, he confesses regarding his sense of hearing, saying: 'The pleasures of the ears had entangled and subjugated me more tenaciously, but you resolved and freed me.' When it happens to me that the singing moves me more than the words being sung, I confess that I am sinning painfully, and at those times I would rather not hear the singer. He also accuses himself regarding his sight, just as he does regarding the fact that he sometimes watched a running dog with too much pleasure, that while passing through a field by chance he willingly watched a hunt, and that while at home he watched spiders catching flies in their webs with too much attention. He confesses these things before the Lord, however, as he says there, because sometimes these things distract from good meditations and interrupt prayers. He also accuses himself of craving praise and harboring empty glory, saying: 'Whoever wants to be praised by men while you are condemning him will not be defended by men when you are judging him, nor will he be rescued when you are passing sentence.' A person is praised for some gift you gave them, yet they take more joy in the praise than in the gift itself. We are tested by these temptations daily without ceasing; the human tongue is a daily furnace. Yet I wouldn't want it to increase my joy. I confess that the endorsement of another's mouth for any good of mine doesn't just increase it; it actually diminishes it. I am sometimes saddened by my own praises when those things are praised in me for which I am displeased with myself, or even when lesser or trivial goods are valued more highly than they should be. This holy man used to refute heretics most vigorously, to the point that they would publicly preach among themselves that it was no sin to kill Augustine, whom they called a wolf that had to be destroyed, and they claimed that all the sins of his killers would be forgiven by God. He endured many traps from them, to the point that they would set ambushes for him as he traveled, but by God's providence they were misled by a mistake in the route and couldn't find him. He was always mindful of the poor and gave generously to them from what he could have; for he would sometimes even order the church vessels to be broken down and melted to be distributed to the poor and the captives. He never wanted to buy a house, a field, or a farm. He also refused many inheritances left to him, saying they were owed instead to the children or relatives of the deceased. He wasn't caught up in or attached to the things he possessed in the church, but day and night he thought about the Scriptures and divine matters. He also never had any interest in new construction, swearing off the distraction it would cause his soul, which he always wanted to keep free from every physical burden so that he could be free to devote himself to constant meditation and diligent reading. He did not, however, forbid those things. He only stopped those who wanted to build if he happened to see that it was being done excessively. He also praised... !
Final Days and Miracles
Augustine faces the Vandal siege with prayer and resignation, passes to the Lord, and is later honored through the translation of his relics and numerous posthumous miracles.
He thought highly of those who had a longing to die, and he often recounted the examples of three bishops on this subject. For when Ambrose was at the point of death and was asked to pray for an extension of his life, he replied, "I have not lived in such a way that I am ashamed to live among you, nor do I fear to die, for we have a good Lord." Augustine marveled at this response and praised it highly. He also added the story of another bishop who, when told that he was very necessary to the Church and that the Lord should therefore spare him a while longer, said, "If I never die, it is well; if I die at some point, why not now?" He also mentioned that Cyprian reported of yet another bishop who, while suffering from a grave illness, still prayed that his health might be restored. A young man appeared in a vision, groaning with indignation, and said, "You're afraid to suffer, and you don't want to depart—what am I to do with you?" He never allowed any women to live with him, not even his own sister or his brother's daughters, even though they served God alongside him. He explained that while there could be no suspicion of evil regarding his sister and nieces, such people could not live without other necessary attendants, and others would also be coming to visit them; as a result, weaker people might be moved by human temptations, or at the very least, their reputations could be ruined by the malicious suspicions of others. He never wanted to speak alone with a woman unless some private matter required it. He was generous to his relatives, not so they would have riches, but so they would have little or no need. He rarely wanted to intercede for anyone, either by letter or by word, recalling a philosopher who, out of a desire for fame, did not do much for his friends; he often said that the power one seeks often becomes a burden. When he did intercede, he tempered his style so that it wouldn't be burdensome, but would instead deserve to be heard through the courtesy of his writing. He preferred to hear cases among strangers rather than friends, saying that among strangers he could freely recognize what was unjust. If he were to act for a friend, he would have to give a verdict based on justice, and in doing so, he would lose one of his friends—specifically, the one against whom he ruled. He was invited by many churches, where he preached the word of the Lord and converted many from error. Sometimes he would digress from his planned sermon, and he would say that God had ordained this for the salvation of someone. This was evident in the case of a Manichaean merchant who was converted during one of Augustine's sermons, where he had digressed to preach against that very error. Back when the Goths captured Rome, idolaters and unbelievers relentlessly mocked Christians. Because of this, Augustine wrote his book, The City of God, in which he showed that the just must be oppressed in this life while the wicked flourish, discussing the two cities—Jerusalem and Babylon—and their kings, for Christ is the King of Jerusalem, and the devil is the king of Babylon. These two cities, as he says there, are built by two loves: the love of self, growing to the point of contempt for God, built the city of the devil, while the love of God, growing to the point of contempt for self, built the city of God. This was in his time, specifically in the year of our Lord 440. The Vandals occupied the entire province of Africa, laying waste to everything and sparing neither sex, rank, nor age. After this, they arrived at the city of Hippo and besieged it with a mighty force. Under this tribulation, Augustine lived a life in his old age more bitter and mournful than any other, and his tears were his bread day and night, as he saw some killed, others driven into exile, churches widowed of their priests, and cities destroyed along with their inhabitants. Yet, amidst so many evils, he consoled himself with the sentiment of a certain wise man who said: 'He won't be a great man who thinks it a great thing that wood or stones fall and mortals die.' Having called the brothers together, he said to them: 'I have asked the Lord that He either deliver us from these dangers, or grant us the patience to endure them, or take me from this life, so that I'm not compelled to see so many calamities.' And look, he obtained the third thing he asked for, and in the third month of the siege, he fell ill with a fever and took to his bed. Realizing that his end was near, he had the seven penitential psalms written out for him; he kept them posted on the wall across from his bed, and as he lay there, he would read them, weeping copiously and constantly. To ensure he could be free to focus on God without any interruption, he gave orders ten days before his death that no one was to come in to see him, except when his doctor arrived or when his meals were brought to him. A sick man came to him, however, and urgently begged him to lay hands on him and heal him of his illness. Augustine replied to him, "What is this you're saying, my son?" "Do you think that if I had the power to do such a thing, I wouldn't have already done it for myself?" But the man persisted, claiming he had been told in a vision to come to him and be healed. Seeing his faith, however, Augustine prayed for him, and he was healed. He healed many possessed people and performed many other miracles. In Book XXII. From The City of God. He recounts two of God's miracles as if they happened to someone else, saying: 'I know a certain virgin from Hippo who was immediately healed of a demon after anointing herself with oil over which a priest had shed tears while praying for her.' In that same book he also says: 'I know a bishop who once prayed for a young man he had never seen, and the boy was instantly freed from the demon.' There's no doubt he's speaking of himself, but out of humility, he didn't want to name himself. Also in the same book, from The City of God. He says that when a certain sick man needed surgery and there was great fear for his life because of the procedure, the sick man begged God with many tears; Augustine prayed with him and for him, and he received complete healing without any surgery. Finally, as the dissolution of his body approached, he taught this memorial: that no one, no matter how excellent their merit, should pass from this life without confession and the Eucharist. Coming to his final hour, with all his limbs intact and his sight and hearing sound, at the age of seventy-seven—having been a bishop for forty years—he passed to the Lord while the brothers stood by and prayed. He made no will because, as a pauper of Christ, he had nothing to leave. He flourished around the year 400. And so, Augustine was a brilliant light of wisdom, a bulwark of truth and faith. He surpassed all the doctors of the Church in both intellect and knowledge, flourishing incomparably in both the example of his virtues and the abundance of his teachings. . For this reason, the blessed Remigius, in commemorating Jerome and certain other doctors, concludes that Augustine surpassed them all in his intellect and knowledge; for although Jerome admits to having read six thousand volumes of Origen, Augustine wrote so much that no one could possibly write his books, even day and night, nor could one even manage to read them all. Volusianus, however, to whom Augustine wrote a letter, says of him: 'Whatever Augustine happens to be ignorant of is missing from the law of God.' Jerome also, writing to Augustine in a letter, says: 'I could not respond to your two most learned books, which shine with every splendor of eloquence; certainly, whatever could be said, grasped by the intellect, and drawn from the fountains of the Scriptures is present and eloquent in you. But I beg your reverence, allow me for a moment to praise your intellect.' Jerome also writes about him in his book on the twelve doctors: "Bishop Augustine, flying like an eagle across the mountain peaks, doesn't look at what lies at the roots of the mountains, but proclaims in clear language the vast spaces of the heavens, the positions of the lands, and the cycle of the waters." Finally, the reverence and love Jerome held for him is clear in the letters he sent him, in one of which he says: "To the holy and most blessed Pope, Jerome." I've always honored your blessedness with the respect that's due, and I've loved the Lord and Savior who dwells within you; but now, if it's possible, we'll add something to the heap and fill it to the brim, so that we don't allow even one hour to pass without mentioning your name. The same person says in another letter to him: "Far be it from me to dare to touch anything from the books of your blessedness; for it's enough to prove my own and not to criticize another's." Gregory also says in a letter to Innocent, the prefect of Africa, regarding his books: "We rejoice in your zeal that you wished for the exposition of holy Job to be sent to you; but if you desire to be nourished with delicious food, read the works of your countryman, the blessed Augustine, and you won't seek our bran in comparison to that fine flour." The same person also says in his register: "It's read that the blessed Augustine didn't consent to live with his sister, saying: 'Those who are with my sister are not my sisters.' Learned men, therefore, should be a great instruction to us in caution." In the Ambrosian preface it's also read: "We adore your magnificence in the mortification of Augustine, your virtue working in all things, so that the man ignited by your spirit wouldn't be conquered by any promises of deceptive allurements, because you had imbued him with such every kind of piety that he himself was to you an altar, a sacrifice, a priest, and a temple." The blessed Prosper, therefore, says of him in the third book of his 'On the Contemplative Life': "Saint Augustine, bishop, was sharp in intellect, sweet in eloquence, skilled in secular literature, industrious in ecclesiastical labors, famous in daily disputations, composed in all his actions, acute in solving questions, circumspect in refuting heretics, catholic in the exposition of our faith, and wise in explaining the canonical scriptures." Bernard also writes of him: "Augustine is the most powerful hammer of heretics."
The Perfection of Detachment
The chapter concludes with a series of miraculous accounts and a final reflection on Augustine's total detachment from worldly wealth, honors, and bodily pleasures.
Later, however, when a barbarian tribe occupied the land and began desecrating the holy places, the faithful moved Augustine's body to Sardinia. Two hundred and eighty years after his death, around 718, Liutprand, the devout king of the Lombards, heard that Sardinia had been ravaged by the Saracens. He sent solemn envoys there to bring the saint's remains to Pavia; they paid a high price to secure Saint Augustine's body and transported it as far as Genoa. When the devout king heard this, he traveled to meet them at that city with great joy and received the body with reverence. The next morning, when they tried to move the body, it wouldn't budge until the king vowed that if it allowed itself to be moved, he would build a church in its honor on that very spot. Once he made the vow, it was immediately moved without difficulty; the king kept his promise and built a church there in honor of Saint Augustine. The same miracle occurred the following day in a village in the diocese of Tortona called Casselle, and he built a church there in honor of Saint Augustine in the same way. Furthermore, he granted that village itself, with all its appurtenances, to those serving the church of Augustine to possess in perpetuity. Because the king had seen that it pleased the saint for a church to be built in his name wherever he stayed, and fearing that he might choose a place for himself in a location other than where he desired, he built a church in his honor in every place where he rested with the body at night; and so, with great joy, he was brought to Pavia and placed honorably in the church of Saint Peter, which is called the 'Golden Heaven'. A miller who had a special devotion to Saint Augustine was suffering from a leg condition known as salty phlegm, and he devoutly called upon Saint Augustine for help. Saint Augustine appeared to him in a vision, touched his leg, and restored it to complete health; when the man woke up, he found himself healed and gave thanks to God and to Saint Augustine. When a certain boy was suffering from a kidney stone and the doctors advised that he needed surgery, his mother, fearing for his life, devoutly called upon Saint Augustine to help her son; immediately after she prayed, the boy passed the stone in his urine and was fully restored to health. At the monastery of Elemosina, a monk was caught up in spirit on the eve of Saint Augustine's feast day and saw a brilliant cloud descend from heaven. Augustine sat above the cloud, dressed in his pontifical vestments; his eyes, like two rays of the sun, illuminated the entire church, and an overwhelming fragrance drifted from him. Saint Bernard, too, while attending Matins one time, fell into a light sleep while readings from a treatise by Augustine were being recited; he saw a very beautiful young man standing there, from whose mouth such a torrent of overflowing water poured forth that it seemed to fill the entire church. He didn't doubt that it was Augustine, who had watered the whole church with the fountain of his teaching. Someone had a great devotion to Saint Augustine. This person gave a large sum of money to the monk guarding Saint Augustine’s body so he would give him one of the saint's fingers; but the monk, after taking the money, gave him a dead man's finger wrapped in silk, pretending it was Augustine's. The man received it with reverence, venerating it most devoutly, and would often press it to his mouth, his eyes, and his chest. God, seeing his faith, miraculously and mercifully gave him an actual finger of Saint Augustine once that other one was cast away. When he returned home and many miracles began to happen there, the fame of it spread all the way to Pavia. But when the aforementioned monk claimed the finger belonged to a dead man, they opened the tomb and found that one of the fingers was indeed missing. Consequently, once the abbot learned the truth, he removed the monk from his office and punished him severely. In Burgundy, at a monastery called Fontanetum, there was a monk named Hugo who was deeply devoted to Saint Augustine; he fed his soul on Augustine's writings with a wonderful longing, and he had even asked him in frequent prayer not to let him depart from this life except on the day of his most sacred feast. He was, therefore, fifteen. On the day before the saint's feast, he began to burn with such severe fevers that on the vigil of the feast he was laid upon the ground as if he were dying; and behold, many noble and shining men, dressed in white, entered the church of that monastery in procession, followed by a certain reverend figure adorned in pontifical vestments. A certain monk who was in the church saw this and was struck with amazement, and he asked who they were or where they were going. One of them told him that it was Saint Augustine with his canons, who were on their way to his devoted follower who was dying, so that they might carry his soul to the kingdom of glory. After this, the reverend procession entered the infirmary; when they had stayed there for a while, that blessed soul was released from the flesh, and this sweet friend made her secure from the snares of the enemy and led her into the joys of heaven. It is also read that while Augustine was living in the flesh and reading over certain things, he saw a demon passing before him carrying a book on its shoulders. He immediately adjured it to reveal to him what was written there. The demon claimed that the sins of men were written there, which it had collected from everywhere and stored in that book. Augustine immediately commanded it to show him at once if anything of his own sins was written there, so that he might read it. Once the place was shown, however, Augustine found nothing written there, except that on one occasion he had forgotten to say Compline; so he commanded the devil to wait for his return, went into the church, devoutly recited Compline and finished his usual prayers, and then returned and told the devil to show him the place again so he could read it. As the demon flipped through the pages and finally found the spot empty, it said in anger, "You've tricked me shamefully; I regret showing you my book, because you've wiped away your sin through the power of your prayers." With those words, it vanished in confusion. When a certain woman was suffering an injustice at the hands of some malicious people, she went to blessed Augustine to ask for his advice on the matter. When she found him studying and greeted him respectfully, he didn't even look at her or answer. Thinking that perhaps he didn't want to look a woman in the face because of his extreme holiness, she approached him again and carefully explained her situation. But he didn't turn toward her or give her any response, and so she left in great sadness. The next day, while Augustine was celebrating Mass and the woman was present, she was caught up in spirit after the elevation of the Body and saw herself placed before the throne of the most holy Trinity, where she saw Augustine with his head bowed, debating the glory of the Trinity with the deepest focus and sublimity. A voice came to her, saying: 'When you went to Augustine, he was debating the glory of the Trinity with such focus that he didn't notice you were there at all; but go back to him with confidence, because you will find him kind and will receive sound advice.' When she did this, Augustine listened to her kindly and gave her sound advice. It's said that when a certain holy man was caught up in spirit and saw the saints in glory, he didn't see blessed Augustine, so he asked one of the saints where Augustine was. He replied, "Augustine resides in the heights, where he is debating the glory of the most excellent Trinity." R. When some people from Pavia were held in prison by the Marquis Malaspina, he cut off their water supply entirely to extort a large sum of money from them. As a result, many were already breathing their last, and some were drinking their own urine; but one young man among them, who had a great devotion to Saint Augustine, called upon him for help. Then, around the middle of the night, Saint Augustine appeared to the young man, took him by the right hand as if to lead him, and brought him to the Graveloni river. There, he refreshed the young man's tongue with a vine leaf soaked in water, so that he no longer cared for the drink of nectar, even though he had been desperate to drink urine.23 A church provost, who had a great devotion to Saint Augustine, had suffered from a severe illness for three years, to the point that he couldn't get out of bed; but when the feast of Saint Augustine arrived and the bells were already ringing for vespers on the eve of the feast, he gave himself over entirely to praying to the saint with great devotion. Then Saint Augustine appeared to him in white robes, called him by name three times, and said, "Look, I am here, having been asked by you so many times; get up quickly and celebrate the evening office for me." He got up healthy, to the amazement of everyone, entered the church, and devoutly performed the office. A2. When a certain pastor developed a severe ulcer between his shoulder blades, the illness grew so intense that he was eventually stripped of all his strength. While he was praying to Saint Augustine, Augustine appeared to him in a vision, placed his hand over the painful spot, and healed him completely. As time went on, this same man lost his eyesight. While he was earnestly calling upon Saint Augustine, the saint appeared to him one day around noon, wiped his eyes with his own hands, and restored his original sight. Around the year of our Lord 941. A group of more than forty men, all suffering from serious illnesses, were traveling from Germany and Gaul to Rome to visit the thresholds of the apostles. Some were hunched over, moving along on benches on the ground; others supported themselves with staffs; some, blind, dragged themselves behind the others; and others had shriveled hands and feet. Crossing the mountains, they arrived at a place called Carbonaria. When they had almost reached a place called Cana, three miles from Pavia, Saint Augustine appeared to them in his pontifical vestments, coming out of a church built in honor of the saints Cosmas and Damian; he greeted them and asked where they were headed. When they told him where they were going, he added, "Go to Pavia and inquire at the monastery of Saint Peter, known as the Golden Heaven, and there you will find the mercy you desire." When they asked his name, he said, "I am Augustine, formerly bishop of the city of Hippo." He immediately vanished from their sight, and they continued on to Pavia; when they arrived at the monastery mentioned and learned that the body of Saint Augustine rested there, they all began to raise their voices and cry out in unison, "Saint Augustine, help us." Roused by their cries, the townspeople and monks flocked to see such a great spectacle, and suddenly, from the strain on their nerves, a great deal of blood began to flow, so that the entire ground from the entrance of the monastery to the tomb of Saint Augustine seemed to be splattered with blood. When they reached the tomb of Saint Augustine, however, they were all restored to complete health, as if there had never been any injury to their bodies at all. From that time on, the fame of Saint Augustine began to grow, and a multitude of the sick started arriving at his tomb; they would all carry away the benefits of health and leave behind tokens of their recovery. It happened that the number of these tokens became so great that the entire oratory of Saint Augustine and the portico were filled with them, to the point that they caused no small obstruction to people coming and going. For this reason, the monks, compelled by necessity, had them removed from there. It's worth noting that since worldly people crave three things—wealth, pleasure, and honors—this holy man reached such a level of perfection that he despised wealth, rejected honors, and abhorred pleasure. He testifies to his own disdain for wealth in his book of Soliloquies, where Reason asks him, "Do you desire no wealth?" Augustine answers: "This is not something I've only just begun to do. For although I am thirty years old, it has been nearly fourteen years since I stopped desiring such things, and I have thought of nothing in these matters beyond the necessary food. A single book of Cicero's easily persuaded me that wealth is in no way to be sought." That he rejected honors, he testifies in the same book, where Reason questions him, saying: "What about honors?" Augustine answers, "I admit that I stopped desiring them just now, almost within these very days." He also despised pleasure and wealth, both regarding sexual intimacy and regarding taste. Regarding the first, Reason asks him in the same book, "What about a wife?" "Doesn't a beautiful, modest, well-mannered, and wealthy woman delight you, especially if you're certain you'll suffer no trouble from her?" Augustine answers, "However much you might want to paint her and heap her with every good quality, I have decided that there is nothing I must flee from as much as sexual intimacy." To which Reason replies, "I'm not asking what you've decided, but whether you're being enticed by this." Augustine answers: I seek absolutely nothing of this kind; I desire nothing. I even recall such things with a sense of burden, horror, and revulsion. Regarding the second point, Reason asks him: What about food? Augustine answers: Don't ask me about food and drink, or about baths and other bodily pleasures; I seek from them only as much as can contribute to the hope of health.
Read the original Latin
Augustinus hoc nomen sortitus est vel propter excellentiam dignitatis vel propter fervorem dilectionis vel propter etymologiam nominis. Propter excellentiam , quoniam, sicut Augustus praecellebat omnes reges, sic et iste excellit omnes doctores, secundum quod dicit Remigius, Unde alii doctores comparantur stellis, Daniel. Xll: qui ad justitiam erudiant multos quasi stellae ete. Hic autem comparatur soli, sicut patet in epistola, quae de eo cantatur. Quoniam sieut sol refulgens sic ipse refulsit in templo Dei. Secundo propter fervorem dilectionis, quoniam sicut mensis Augustus valde fervet aestu caloris, sic et ipse valde incaluit igne divini amoris. Unde ipse in libro confessionum de se dicit: sagittaveras tu cor meum caritate tua etc. Iterum ibidem: aliquando intromittis me in affectum multum inusitatum introrsus, nescio ad quam dulcedinem; quae si perficiatur in me, nescio, quod erit, )si vita aeterna non erit.
Tertio propter etymologiam nominis? Dicitur enim Augustinus ab augeo et astin, quod est civitas, et ana, quod est sursum. Inde Augustinus quasi augens supernam civitatem, unde de co cantatur: qui praevaluit amplificare civitatem ete. De qua civitate ipse dicit in libro Xl. de civ. Dei: inest civitati Dei et origo et informatio et beatitudo, quoniam, si quaeratur, unde sit, Deus eam condidit, si, unde sapiens, a Deo illuminatur, si, unde felix, Deo fruitur, subsistens modificatar, contemplans illustratur, inhaerens jucundatur: videt et amat, in aeternitate Dei viget, in veritate Dei lacet, in bonitate Dei gaudet, vel, ut dicitur in Glossario, Augustinus dicitur magnificus, felix, praeclarus. Fnit enim magnificus in vita, praeclarus in doctrina, felix in gloria, Ejus vitam compilavit Possidonius Calamensis episcopus, ut dicit Cassiodorus in libro de viris illustribus. — 3.
Augustinus doctor egregius in provincia Africana civitate Carthaginiensi ortus ex honestis valde parentibus, scilicet patre Patricio, matre ) Moniacha genitus, in liberalibus artibus sufficienter edoctus fuit, adeo ut summus philosophus et rhetor luculentissimus haberetur. Nam libros Aristotelis et omnes libros liberalium artium, quoscunque legere potuit, per se didicit et intellexit, sicut in libro confessionum testatur dicens: omnes libros, quos liberales vocant, tunc nequissimus malarum cupiditatum servus per me ipsum legi et intellexi, quoscunque legere potui. Item in eodem: quicquid est de arle loquendi et disserendi, quicquid de dimensionibus figurarum el de musicis et de numeris, sine magna difficultate nullo hominum tradente intellexi. Scis, tu domine Deus meus, quia celeritas intelligendi et discendi acumen donum tuum est, sed non inde sacrificabam tibi, verum quia scientia sine caritate non aedificat, sed inflat. In errorem Mauichaeorum, qui Christum phantasticum fuisse v b
M affirmant et carnis resurrectionem negant, incidit et in eo per annos IX, dum adhuc adolescens esset, permansit, Ad has etiam nugas adductus est, ut arborem fici plorare diceret, cum ah ea folium vel ficus tolleretur. Cum igitur esset annorum XIX et quondam librum cujusdamphilosophi, in quo vanitas mundi contemnenda et philosophia appetenda dicebatur, perlegeret, ex hoc quidem liber plurimum placuit, sed quia nomen Jesu Christi, quod a matre imbiberat, ibi non erat, dolere coepit, mater vero ejus plurimum flebat et ipsum adveritatem fidei reducere satagebat. Quadam igitur vice, ut legiturin libro IHI confessionum, vidit se stare in quadam linea liguea licet tristem et quidam ei juvenis adstitit et causam tantae tristitiae requisivit. Quae cum diceret: perditionem mei filii deploro, ille respondit: esto secura, qnia ubi tu, ibi ille. Et ecce continuo filium suum juxta se stare vidit, Hoo cum Augustino retnlisset, ille ait: falleris, mater, falleris nec sic tibi dictum est, sed ubi ego, ibi tu. Econtra illa dicebat: non, fili; mihi dictum est: ubi ille, ibi tu, sed non: ubi tu, ibi ille. Rogabat igitur sedula mater quasi importuna quendam episcopum, sicut in eodem libro confessionum Augustinus testatur, ut pro filio suo intercedere dignaretur, Qui tanta quodammodo importunitate devictus prophetica voce respondit: vade secura, quia impossibile est, ut filius tantarum lacrymarum pereat. Cum autem apud Carthaginem multis annis rhetoricam docuisset, occulte matre nesciente Romam venit et ibidem maltos discipulos congregavit.
Cum autem mater usque ad portam eum secuta fuisset, ut aut eum retraheret aut secum iret, ipse eam decipiens nocte latenter recessit. Quod illa mane considerans aures Dei clamoribus implebat. Quolibet autem die, mane et vespere, ad ecclesiam ibat et pro filio orabat. His temporibus Athenienses a Symmacho praefecto Romanorum petierunt, sibi doctorem in rhetorica destinari. Praesulabatur tunc ibi vir Dei Ambrosius et ad preces Mediolanum illue mittitur Augustinus. Mater autem ejus quiescere non valens cum multa dificultate ad eum venit et ipsum jam nec vere Manichaeum nec vere catholicum reperit. Coepit autem Augustinus beato Ambrosio adhaerere et ejus praedicationes frequenter audire, Erat autem valde in praedicatione suspensus, ne quid contra ipsam Manichaeorum haeresin vel pro ipsa diceretur. Quadam enim vice contra illum errorem Ambrosius diutius disputavit et ipsum apertis rationibus et auctoritatibus confutavit, ita ut error ille a corde Augustini penitus pelleretar.
Quid autem post hoc sibi contigerit, ipse in libro confessionum narrat dicens: cam te primum cognovi, reverberasti infirmitatem adspectus mei, radians in me vehementer, et contremui amore et horrore et inveni me longe esse a te, in regione dissimilitudinis, tanquam audirem vocem tuam de excelso. Cibus sum grandium, cresce et manducabis me, nec tu me mutabis in te, sicut cibum carnis tuae, sed tu mutaberis in me, Cum autem, sicut ibidem refert, via Christi sibi placeret, sed per istas angustias adhuc ire pigeret, immisit dominus in mentem ejus, ut ad Simplicianum, in quo lucebat lux, divina scilicet gratia, pergeret, ut sibi !) aestus suos secum conferenti proferret, quis essetaptus modus vivendi ad ambulandum in via Dei, in qua alius sic, alius sic ibat. Displicebat enim ei, quidquid agebat in saeculo, prae dulcedine Dei et decore domus ejus, quam dilexit. Simplicianus autem coepit eum hortari,ipse quoque se ipsum hortari et dicere: quot pueri et puellae intra ecclesiam domini Deo serviunt, et tu non poteris, quod iste et iste, an vero iste et iste in se ipsis possunt et non in Deo suo? Quid in te stas et non stas? Projice te in eum et excipiet te etsalvabit te. Inter horum colloquia memoriaVictorini in medium venit.
Unde exhilaratus Simplicianus narrat, qualiter ibidem adhuc gentilis ob sui sapientiam Romae, quod maximum tunc erat, statuam in foro meruisset et qualiter se saepius christianum dicebat. Cui quum Simplicianus diceret: non credo, nisi te in ecclesia videro, ille jocando dicebat: numquid parietes faciunt hominem christianum? Tandem dum ad ecclesiam venisset et ei tamquam verecundo occulte liber, ubi erat symbolum fidei, ad legendum et pronuntiandum, ut tunc moris erat, datus fuisset, ille in altum adscendit et alta voce pronuntiavit mirante Roma, gaudente ecclesia, omnes autem subilo perstrepuerunt: Victorinus, Victorinus, cito sonuerunt et cito siluerunt. Tunc etiam ab Africa quidam amicus Augustini nomine Pontianus supervenit et vitam et miracnla illius magni Antonii, qui nuper in Aegypto sub Constantino imperatore defunctus fuerat, recitavit. Horum exemplis Augustinus vehementer exarsit ita, quod socium suum Alipium tam vultu quam mente turbatus invasit et fortiter exclamavit: quid patimur, quid audimus? Surgunt indocti et coelum rapiunt et nos cum doctrinis nostris in infernum demergimur, an quia praecesserunt, pudet sequi et non pudet nec saltem sequi? Et aceurrens in quendam hortum sub quadam ficu se projecit, ut in eodem libro confessionum commemorat, et amarissime flens lamentabiles voces dabat: quamdiu, quamdiu cras et cras, sine modo, sine paululum. Modo non habebat modum et sine paululum prodibat in longinquum.
De hac sni tarditate plurimum conquerebatur, sicut postmodum in eodem libro scripsit: heu mihi, quoniam excelsus es in excelsis et quoniam profundus in profundis et nusquam recedis el vix redimus ad te. Age, domine, et fac et excita et revoca nos. Accede et rape et fragra et dulcesce. Impedimentis omnibus sic timebam expediri, quemadmodum impediri timendum est. Sero te amavi, pulchritudo tam antiqua et tam nova, sero te amavi, intus eras et ego foras et ibi te quaerebam et in ista formosa, quae fecisli, deformis irrnebam. Mecum eras et tecum non eram, vocasti et clamasti et rupisti surditatem meam, coruscasti, splenduisti et fugasti caecitatem meam, fragrasti et duxisti spiritum ct anhelo tibi gustavi et esurio et silio te, tetigisti me et exarsi in pacem taam. Cum autem amarissime fleret, audivit vocem dicentem sibi: tolle lege, tolle lege. Aperuitque statim codicem apostolicum et conjectis oculis ad primum capitulum legit: induimini dominum Jesum Christum et statim omnes ab eo dubietatis tenebrae diffugerunt.
Interim autem tam vehementissimo dentium dolore torqueri coepit, ut fere, sicnt ipse ait, ad credendam opinionem Cornelii philosophi duceretur, qui summum bonum animae in sapientia, summum vero bonum corporis in nullum sentiendo dolorem posuerat. Tam vehemens autem ille dolor fuit, quod etiam loquelam amisit, quocirca, nt in libro confessionum refert, in tabulis cereis scripsit, ut omnes pro eo orarent, ut dolorem illum dominus mitigaret. Ipse igitur cum aliis genua flexit et subito sanum se sensit. Insinuavit ergo per litteras sancto viro Ambrosio sunm votum, ut moneret, quid sibi de libris sanctis legendum esset, quo aptior fieret fidei christianae. At ipse jussit Ysaiam prophetam eo, quod evangelii et vocationis gentium praenuntiator aptior videatur. Cujus principium cum Augustinus non intelligeret, totum aliud tale esse arbitrans distulit, ut illud relegeret, cum in scriptis sanctis magis exercitatus esset. Adveniente vero paschali tempore Augustinus, cum esset annorum XXX, cum filio suo Adeodato puero valde ingenioso, quem Augustinus in sua adolescentia, dum adhuc gentilis et philosophus essel, genuerat, necnon et cum Alipio amico suo meritis matris et praedicatione Ambrosii sacrum baptisma suscepit. Tunc, sicut fertur, Ambrosius: te Deum laudamus, inquit, et Augustinus: te dominum confitemur, respondit et sic tnnc ipsi duo hunc hymnum alternatim composuerunt et usque in finem decantaverunt, sicut etiam testatur Honorius in libro suo, qui dicitur speculum ecclesiae.
In aliquibus autem libris antiquis titulus talis praeponitur: canticum ab Ambrosio et Augustino compilatum. Protinus autem in fide catholica mirabiliter confirmatur, spem omnem, quam habebat in saeculo, dereliquit et scholis, quas regebat, abrenuntiavit. Quanta autem dulcedine divini amoris extunc frueretur, ipse in hoc libro confessionum aperit dicens: sagitlaveras tu cor meum caritate tua et gestabam verba tua transfixa in visceribus et exempla servorum tuorum, quos de nigris lucidos et de mortuis vivos feceras, congesta in sinum cogitationis meae urebant et assumebant gravem torporem et adscendenti a convalle plorationis et cantanti cantienm graduum dederas sagittas acutas et carbones vastatores nec satiabar in illis diebus dulcedine mirabili considerare altitudinem consilii divini super salutem generis humani, Quantum flevi in hymnis et canticis tuis suave sonantis ecclesiae vocibus commotus acriter, voces illae influebant auribus meis et eliquabatur veritas tua in cor meum et currebant lacrymae et bene mihi erat cum iis. Tunc enim in ecclesia Mediolanensi haec cantica instituta sunt. Et clamabam clamore alto cordis mei: o in pace, o in id ipsum, o qui dixit: dormiam et requiescam et somnum capiam. Tu es enim in id ipsum, qui non mutaris, et in te requies obliviscens laborum omnium; legebam totum psalmum illum et ardebam, qui fueram latrator amarus et caecus adversus litteras de melle coeli mellitas et de lumine tuo luminosas et super scripturas hujusmodi tabescebam, Christe Jesu adjutor meus, quam suave mihi subito est factum carere suavitatibus nugarum mearum, et quas amittere metus fuerat, jam dimittere gaudium erat. Ejiciebas enim eas a me, vera tu et summa suavitas, ejiciebas et intrabas pro iis omni voluptate dulcior, sed non carni et sanguini, omni luce clarior, sed omni secreto interior, omni honore sublimior, sed non sublimibus in se. Post hoc assumtis Nebrodio et Euodio et matre ad Africam remeabat, sed cum essent apud Hostiam Tyberinam, pia mater ejus defuncta est.
Post cnjus mortem reversus est Augustinus ad agros proprios, ubi cum his, qui sibi adhaerebant, jejuniis ct orationibus Deo vacabat, libros scribebat et indoctos docebat. Fama autem ejus nbique difundebatur et in omnibus libris suis et actibus admirabilis habebatar. Refugiebat autem ad aliqnam civitatem accedere, quae episcopo careret, ne ipsum in praedicto officio impediri contingeret. Eodem tempore apud Hypponem erat quidam vir magnarum opum, qui Augustino misit, quod, si ad eum accederet ct verbum ex ore suo audiret, saeculo renuntiare posset. Quod Augustinus ubi comperit, illuc concitus ivit, audiens autem Valerius Hypponensis episcopus famam ejus, ipsum plurimum renitentem in ecclesia sua presbiterum ordinavit, nonnullis quidem lacrymas suas superbe interpretantibus et tamquam eum consolantibus et dicentibus, quia et locus presbiterii, licet ipse majori dignus esset, appropinquaret tamen episcopatui. Qui statim monasterium clericorum instituit et coepit vivere secundum regulam à sanctis apostolis constitutam, de cujus monasterio fere X episcopi sunt electi, Et quia praedictus episcopus erat graecus et minus in latina lingua et litteris doctus, Augustino" potestatem tribuit, ut contra morem orientalis ecclesiae coram se in ecclesia praedicaret. Unde cum multi episcopi derogarent, ille de hoc non curabat, dummodo per eum fieret, quod per se fieri non valebat. Eo tempore Fortunatum presbiterum Manichaeum et alios haereticos praecipuerebaptisatores Donatistas et Manichaeos convicit, abstulit et confutavit, Coepit autem Valerius formidare, me sibi Augustinus tolleretur et ab alia civitate in episcopum peteretur.
Nam sibi aliquando ablatus fuisset, nisi eum ad locum secretum transire curasset, ita ut inveniri minime potuisset. Impetravit igitur ab archiepiscopo Carthaginiensi, ut ipse cederet et Augustinum Hypponensi ecclesiae in episcopum promoveret. Sed cum hoc Augustinus omnimode recusaret, compulsus tamen et coactus succubuit et episcopatus curam suscepit. Quod in se fieri non debuisse, ut suo vivente episcopo ordinaretur, postea et dixit et scripsit propter concilii universalem prohibitionem, quam postmodum ordinatus didicit, nec quod sibi factum esse doluit,aliis fieri voluit, Unde etiam salegit, ut in conciliis episcoporum constitueretur, ut omnia statuta patrum ordinandis deberent ab ordinatoribus intimari. Ipse autem de se dixisse postmodum legitur: in nulla re mihi dominum sentio sic iratum, sicut in hoc, quod, quum non essem dignus, poni ad remum, posuit me ad amplustre in apice regiminis ecclesiae. —Vestimenta ejus et calceamenta et ornamenta alia nec nitida nimium nec abjecta plurimum, sed ex moderato et competenti habitu erant. lpse enim de se dixisse legitur: fateor, de pretiosa veste erubesco et ideo, cum datur mihi, vendo eam, ut, quia vestis non potest esse communis, pretium sit commune. Mensa frugali et parca semper usus est et inter olera et legumina propler infirmos et hospites plerumque carnes habebat, in ipsa antem mensa magis lectionem vel disputationem , quam epulationem diligebat et contra pestem detractionis in ea sic scriptum habebat: Quisquis amat dictis absentum rodere vitam, Hanc mensam indignam noverit esse sibi.
Nam et aliquando, cum quidam sibi familiarissimi coepiscopi ad detractionem linguam laxassent, adeo dure eos redarguit, ut diceret, quod, nisi desisterent, aut versus ipsos deleret aut mensa recederet. Quadam vice cum quosdam suos familiare ad prandium invitasset, unus illorum curiosior caeteris coquinam ingressus est, eumque omnia frigida reperisset, reversus ad Augustinum interrogavit, quid ciborum ipse pransurus paterfamilias praeparasset? Cni Augustinus nequaquam talium epnlarum curiosus respondit: et ego vobiscum nescio, Tria a beato Ambrosio se didicisse ait: primum est, quod uxorem cuiquam nunquam peteret, secundum, quod militare volentem ad hoc non commendaret, tertium, quod ad convivia invitatus non iret. Causa prima est, ne illi inter se non conveniant et sibi maledicant; causa secunda est, ne militantes calumniam exerceant et in eum alii culpam refundant; causa tertia est, ne forte temperantiae modum perdat. Tantae autem puritatis et humilitatis fuit, ut ipsa eliam minima peccata, quae apud nos nulla vel minima reputantur, in libro confessionum de his confiteatur et de his coram Deo humiliter se accuset. Nam ibidem accusat se de eo, quod, cum puer esset, ludebat ad pilam, dum ad scholam ire deberet. Item de eo, quod nolebat legere vel addiscere, nisi a parentibus vel magistro urgeretur. ltem de eo, quod fabulas poetarum, sicut fabulam Aeneae, cum adhuc esset puer, libenter legebat et Didonem mortuam propter amorem plorabat.
Item de hoc, quod de cellario parentum vel mensa aliquid farabatur, ut pueris ludentibus daret. Item de eo, quod in ludo puerorum fraudulentas victorias exercebat. ltem de eo, quod pirum de qnadam arbore vicina vineae suae, cum adhuc esset annorum XVI, furatus fuit. In eodem quoque libro de confessionibus accusat se de ipsa modica delectatione, quam aliquando in comedendo sentiebat, dicens: sic me docuisti, ut quemadmodum medicamenta, sic alimenta sumturus accedam. Sed dum ad quietem satietatis ex indigentiae molestia transeo, in ipso transitu insidiatur mihi laqueus concupiscentiae; ipse enim transitus voluptas est et non est alins, quo transeatur, quam quo transire cogit necessitas, et cum salus sit causa edendi et bibendi, adjungit se tamquam pedissequa periculosa jucunditas et plerumque praeire conatur, ut ejus causa fiat, quod salutis causa me facere vel dico vel volo. Ebrietas longe est a me, misereberis, ne appropinquet mihi. Crapula autem nonnunquam subrepit servo tuo, misereberis, ut longe fiat a me. Et quis est, domine, qui non aliquando rapiatur aliquantulum extra metas necessitatis?
Quisquis ille est, magnus profecto est; magnificet nomen tuum. Ego non sum, quia homo peccator sum. Habebat etiam se suspectum de olfactu dicens: de illecebra odorum non satago mimis, cum absunt, nec requiro, cum adsunt,non respuo, paratus iis etiam semper carere: ita mihi videor et forsitan fallor. Nemo enim securus esse debet in ista vita, quae tota tentatio nominatur, Verum qui fieri potuit ex deteriori melior, non fiat ex meliori deterior. Iterum de auditu confitetur dicens: voluptates aurium tenacius me implicaverant et subjugaverant, sed resolvisti et liberasti me. Cum mihi accidit, ut me amplius cantus, quam res, quae canitur, moveat, poenaliter me peccare confiteor et tunc mallem non audire cantantem. Accusat eliam se de visu, sicut de eo, quod aliquando nimis libenter vidit canem currentem, et de eo, )quod per agrum casu transiens venationem libenter prospexit, et de eo, quod domi existens araneas muscas suis retibus capientes nimis attente conspexit. Ideo autem de his coram domino confitetur, ut ibidem dicit, quia aliquando haec a bonis meditationibus avertunt et orationes interrumpunt.
Accusat etiam se de appetitu laudis et motu inanis gloriae dicens: qui laudari ab hominibus vult vituperante te, non defendetur ab hominibus judicante te, nec eripielur damnante te. Laudatur homo propter aliquod donum, quod dedisti ei, et tamen plus gaudet se laudari, quam donum. Tentamur his tentationibus quotidie sine cessalione, quotidiana fornax est humana lingua. Verumtamennollem, ut vel augeret mihi gaudium. cujuslibet boni mei suffragatio orisalieni, Sed auget, fateor, non solum, sed vitaperalio minuit. Gontristor antem aliquando laudibus meis, cum ea laudantur in me, in quibus mihi ipse displiceo, vel etiam bona minora vel levia pluris existimantur, quam existimanda sunt, Haereticos vir iste sanctus validissime confutabat, ita ut ipsi inter se publice praedicarent, peccatum non esse, interficere Augustinum, quem tamquam lupum occidendum dicebant, et occisoribus omnia sua peccata a Deo dimittenda asserebant. Multas ab iis insidias pertulit, ita ut sibi aliquo pergenti in via insidias ponerent, sed Dei providentia itineris errore seducuntur, ntinvenire eum non possent. Compauperum semper memor erat, iisque ex his, quae habere poterat, liberaliter exhibebat, nam et de vasis dominicis propter pauperes et captivos aliquando jubebat frangi et conflari et indigentibus dispensari.
Domum vel agrum sive villam nunquam emere voluit. Multas etiam hereditates sibi dimissas respuit eo, quod mortuorum filiis vel propinquis potius ipsa deberi dicebat. In his quoque, quae in ecclesia possidebat, intentus amore vel implicatus non erat, sed die ac nocte de scripturis et de rebus divinis cogitabat. Fabricarum quoque novarum nunquam studium habuit, dejurans in iis implicationem sui animi, quem semper liberum habere volebat ab omni molestia corporali, ut libere vacare posset continuae meditationi et assiduae lectioni. Non tamen illa . aedificare volentes prohibebat, nisi forte immoderate fieri conspexisset. Laudabat quoque ? !)
plurimum illos, quibus moriendi desiderium inerat, et super hoc trium episcoporum exempla saepius recitabat, Ambrosius enim, cum in extremis esset et rogaretur, ut prolongationem vitae sibi precibus obtineret, respondit : non sic vixi, ut me pudeat inter vos vivere, nec mori timeo, quoniam bonum habemus dominum, Quod responsum Augustinus mirabiliter extollebat. Addebat quoque de alio episcopo, cni cum diceretur, eum ecclesiae multum necessarium fore et ideo adhuc eum dominus liberaret, ait: si nunquam, bene,si aliquando,quare non modo, De alio quoque episcopo ajebat Cyprianum referre, quod, cum infirmitate gravi laboraret, adhuc sibi sanitatem restitui exorabat. Qui juvenis speciosus apparens cum indignatione infremuit et ait: pati timetis, exire nonvultis, quid faciam vobis?
Feminarum nullam unquam neo etiam germanam sororem aut fratris sui filias, quae Deo pariter serviebant, secum habitare permisit. Dicebat enim, quod, etsi de sorore et nepotibus nulla mali posset oriri suspicio, tamen quia tales personae sine alils sibi necessariis esse non possent et ad eas etiam alii adventarent, ex illis possent infirmiores aut humanis tentationibus commoveri aut certe malis hominum suspicionibus infamari. Nunquam cum muliere solas loqni volebat, nisi secretum aliquod interesset. Consanguineis sic bene fecit, non nt divitias haberent, sed ut aut non aut minus egerent. Raro pro aliquo aut litteris aut verbis intercedere volebat, recolens quendam philosophum contemplatione famae amicis non multa praestitisse, et saepe dicebat: plerumque potestas, quaepetitur, premit, Cum autem id faciebat, sic stylum temperabat, ut onerosus non esset, sed mereretur urbanitate dictaminis exaudiri. Volebat potius inter ignotos, quam inter amicos causas audire, dicens, quia inter illos poterat libere iniquum cognoscere, et unum ex his amicum esset facturus, pro quo scilicet justitia mediante sententiam daret, ex amicis vero esset nnum perditurus, scilicet contra quem proferret sententiam. A multis ecclesiis invitabatur et ibi verbum domini praedicabat et multos ab errore convertebat. Aliquando a proposito digressionem facere consueverat in praedicatione et tune dicebat, Deum hoc ad profectum salutis alicujus ordinasse, sicut in quodamManichaeorum negotiatore patuit, qui in praedicatione quadam Augustini, ubi ipse digressionem faciens contra hunc errorem praedicaverat, conversus fuit.
Eo tempore, dum Gothi Romam cepissent, ydololatrae et infideles christianis plarimum insultabant, propter quod Augustinus librum de civitate Dei composuit, in quo justos in hac vita debere premi, impios autem florere ostendit, ubi de duplici civitate, scilicet Jerusalem et Babylone et earum regibus agit, quía rex Jerasalem Christas, rex Babylonis dyabolus. Quas duas civitates, ut ibidem dicit, duo amores sibi fabricant, quia civitatem dyaboli construxit amor sui crescens usque ad contemtum Dei, civitatem Dei amor Dei crescens usque ad contemtum sui. In diebus antem ejus, anno scilicet domini CCCCXL. Wandali totam Africae provinciam occupaverunt vastantes omnia nec parcentes sexui, ordini vel aetati. Post hoc autem ad Hypponensium civitatem pervenerunt et ipsam manu valida obsederunt. Sub hac tribulatione Augustinus prae caeteris snae senectutis amarissimam et lugnbrem duxit vitam fnernntque sibi lacrymae ejus panes die ac nocte, cum alios videret occisos, alios effugatos, ecclesias sacerdotibus viduatas, civitates cum accolis dissipatas. Inter tot tamen mala cujusdam sapientis sententia se consolabatur dicentis: non erit magnus magnum putans, quod cadunt ligna vel lapides et moriuntur mortales. Convocatis autem fratribus dixit iis: ecce rogavi dominum, ut aut nos ab his periculis eruat aut patientiam tribuat aut me de hac vita suscipiat, ne tot calamitates videre compellar.
Et ecce tertium, quod petivit, obtinuit, et tertio obsidionis mense febribus laborans lecto decubuit. Intelligens autem dissolutionem sui corporis imminere, VII psalmos poenitentiales sibi scribi fecit, ipsosque in loco contra parietem positos lecto decubans legebat et ubertim ac jugiter lacrymas fundebat, et ut Deo vacaret liberins et ejus intentio a nullo impediri posset, ante X dies sui exitus nullum ad se ingredi praecepit, nisi vel cum medicus ingrederetur vel cum sibi refectio portaretur, Quidam autem aeger ad eum venit et nt sibi manum imponeret et ab infirmitate curaret, ipsum instanter rogavit. Cui Augustinus respondit: quid est hoc, fili, quod loqueris? Putas, quod, si tale quid facere possem, mihi hoc ipsum non conferrem? Ille autem instabat asserens sibi in visione praeceptum esse, ut ad eum accederet et sanitatem reciperet. Videns autem fidem ejus pro ipso oravit et sanitatem recepit. Energumenos mnltos curavit et plara alia miracula fecit. In libro XXII.
de civ. Dei duo miracula de se tamquam de quodam alio refert dicens: Hypponensem quandam virginem scio, quae cum se oleo perunxisset,cui pro illa orans presbyter lacrymas suas instillaverat, mox a daemone fuisse sanatam. In eodem etiam libro sic ait: scio eliam episcopum semel pro adolescente, quem non vidit, orasse illumque illico daemonio caruisse. Nullum antem dubium videtur, quin de se ipso loquatur, sed humilitatis causa se ipsum noluit nominare. In eodem quoque libro de civ. Dei sic ait, quod, cum quidam infirmus incidi deberet et de ejus morle ob incisionem plurimum timeretur, et infirmus multis lacrymis Deum exorarcet, cum eo et pro eo Augustinus oravit et sine incisione aliqua integram sanitatem recepit. Deniquedissolutione corporis appropinquante hoc memoriale docuit, nullum videlicet hominem quantumcunque excellentis meriti sine confessione et eucharistia debere transire. Ad extremam autem horam veniens membris omnibus sni corporis incolumis integro adspectu atque auditu anno aetatis suae LXXVII, episcopatus vero XL coram positis fratribus et orantibus migravit ad dominum.
Testamentum nullum fecit, quia, unde faceret, pauper Christi non habuit. Floruit cirea annos domini CCCC. Itaque Augustinus sapientiae lumen perfulgidum, propugnaculum veritatis et fidei. munimentum omnes ecclesiae doctores tam ingenio quam scientia vicit incomparabiliter, florens tam exemplis virtutam quam affluentia doctrinarum. . Unde et beatus Remigius Hieronymum et quosdam alios doctores commemorans sic concludit: hos omnes Augustinus ingenio et scientia sua vicit, nam licet Hieronymus VI millia volumina Origenis se legisse fateatur, iste tamen tanta scripsit, ut non solum diebus ac noctibus scribere libros ejus quis non possit, sed nec legere quidem occurrat. Volusianus autem, cui Augustinus epistolam scripsit, sic de eo dicit: legi Dei deest, quidquid Augustino contigerit ignorare. Hieronymus quoque in quadam epistola scribens Augustino ait: duobus libellis tuis eruditissimis et omni eloquentiae splendore fulgentibus respondere non potui, certe quidquid dici potuit et assumi ingenio et de scripturarum hauriri fontibus, te positum alque disertum est, sed quaeso reverentiam tuam, parumper patiaris me tuum laudare ingenium.
Hieronymus etiam in libro de XII doctoribus sic de eo scribit: Augustinus episcopus volans per montium cacumina quasi aquila et ea, quae sunt in montium radicibus, non considerans multa coelorum spatia terrarumque situs et aquarum circulum claro sermone pronuntiat. Denique in quanta eum reverentia et dilectione Hieronymus habuit, patet in epistolis, quas eidem misit, in quarum una sic dicit: Domino sancto ac beatissimo papae Hieronymus. Omni quidem tempore beatitudinem tuam eo, quo decet, honore veneratus sum et habitantem in te dilexi dominum salvatorem, sed nunc, si fieri potest, cumulo aliquid addimus et plena complemus, ut absque nominis tui mentione ne unam horam quidem praeterire patiamur. Idem in alia epistola ad eundem: absit antem, ut quidquam de libris beatitudinis tuae attingere audeam, sufficit enim mea probare ct aliena non carpere. Gregorius quoque in epistola ad Innocentium Africae praefectum de ejus libris sic ait: quod expositionem sancti Job vobis transmitti voluistis, vestro studio congaudemus, sed si delicioso cupitis pabulo saginari, beati Augustini compatriotae vestri opuscula legite et ad comparationem illias similaginis nostrum furfurem non quacretis. Idem quoque in registro sic ait: legitur, quod beatus Augustinus nec cum sorore habitare consensit dicens: qnae cum sorore mea sunt, sorores meae non sunt, Docti ergo viri 'cantela magna nobis debet esse instructio, In praefatione quoque Ambrosiana sic legitur: magnificentiam tuam in mortificatione Augustini adoramus, tua in omnibus operante virtute, ut nullis promissis blandimentorum fallacium vir tuo ignitus spiritu vinceretur, quia eum ita omni genere pietatis imbueras, ut ipse tibi ara et sacrificium et sacerdos esset et templum. Beatus igitur Prosper in tertio libro de vita contemplativa sic de eo dicit: sanctus Augustinus episcopus acer ingenio, suavis eloquio, saecnlaris literaturae peritus, in ecclesiasticis laboribus operosus, in quotidianis disputationibus clarus, in omni sua actione compositus, in quaestionibus solvendis acutus, in convincendis haereticis circumspectus, in expositione fidei nostrae catholicus, in explanandis scripturis canonicis cantus. Bernardus quoque sic de eo scribit: Augustinus hic est validissimus malleus haereticorum.
Post hoc autem, cum barbara gens terram illam occupasset et sancta loca profanaret, fideles corpus Augustini ceperunt et ipsum in Sardiniam transtulerunt. Transactis autem ab ejus obitu annis CCLXXX circa annos domini DCCXVIII Liprandus devotus Longobardorum rex audiens Sardiniam à Saracenis depopulatam sollemnes illuc nuntios misit, nt doctoris sancti reliquias Papiam deferrent, qui magno pretio dato corpus sancti Augustini tulerunt et ipsum usque Jannam deportaverunt. Quod devotus rex audiens usque ad praedietam civitatem cum magno gaudio eidem obviavit ct reverenter excepit, Cum autem mane vellent corpus deducere, nullo modo de loco moveri potuit, donec rex votum emisit, quod, si se inde duci permitteret, ibidem in suo nomine ecclesiam fabricaret, Cum autem votum fecisset, statim sine dificultate inde deductum est, rex autem, quod voverat, implevit et ibidem in honorem sancti Augustini ecclesiam construxit. Idem miraculumdie sequenti in quadam villa episcopatus Terdonensis, quae dicitur Cassellae, contigit et eodem modo ibidem in honore sancti Augustini ecclesiam fabricavit. Insuper villam ipsam cum omnibus suis appendentiis concessit servientibus ecclesiae Augustini perpetuo possidendam. Quia vero rex viderat sancto complacere, ut in suo nomine ecclesia fieret, ubicunque mansisset, et timens, ne in alio loco, quam ubi desiderabat, locum sibi eligeret, in omni loco, ubi de nocte eum corpore lospitabatur, in honorem ipsius ecclesiam construebat, sieque cum magno gaudio Papiam deducitur et in ecclesia sancti Petri, quae coelum aureum dicitur, honorifice collocatur,
Molendinarius quidam in heatum Augustinum specialem devotionem habens cum quandam infirmitatem , quae dicitur phlegma salsum, in tibia pateretur, beatum Augustinum devote in sui adjutorium invocabat. Cui per visum sanctus Augustinus apparuit et tibiam manu palpans integrae restituit sanitati, Qui excitatus se liberatum invenit et Deo et beato Augustino gratias reddidit.
Quidam puer cum vitio lapidis premeretur et de consilio medicorum incidi deberet, mater pueri mortis sibi timens periculum beatum Augustinum devote in sui filii subsidium invocavit statimque fusa oratione puer lapidem cum urina emisit et plenam sanitatem recépit.
In monasterio, quod Elemosina dicitur, monachus quidam in vigilia sancti Augustini raptus in spiritu vidit nubem splendidam coelitus delapsam et super nubem Augustinum sedentem pontificalibus insignitum, cujus oculi quasi duo solis radii totam illam ecclesiam illuminabant et odor inde nimius exhalabat. Sanctus quoque Bernardus dum quadam vice in matutinis exsistens aliquantulum obdormivisset et de quodam tractatu Angustini lectiones legerentur, vidit quendam pulcherrimum juvenem ibi stantem, de cujus ore tantus inundantium aquarum impetas exibat, quod totam illam ecclesiam videretur replere. Qni Augustinum esse non dubitavit, qui fonte doctrinae totam ecclesiam irrigavit.
Quidam sanctum Augustinum valde. diligens monacho custodi corporis sancti Augustini pecuniam magnam dedit, ut sibi sancti Augustini digitum unum daret, sed ille accepta pecunia digitum cujusdam mortui sericis involutum sibi tribuit, simulans esse digitum Angustini. Quem ille reverenter accipiens semper devotissime )adorabat et ori oculisque apponens crebro pectori adstringebat. Cujus fidem Deus intuens digito illo projecto unum digitum sancti Augustini tam mirabiliter quam misericorditer sibi dedit. Qui cumrepatriasset et multa ibi miracula fierent, fama usque Papiam delata est. Sed cum praedictus monachus assereret, quod cujusdam mortui digitus ille esset, sepulchrum aperuerunt et unum deesse de ejus digitis invenerunt. Unde abbas re cognita monachum ab officio deposuit et dire afflixit,
Apud Burgundiam in monasterio, quod dicitur Fontanetum, crat quidam monachus, Hugo nomine, sancto Augustino valde devotus, qui in ejus scriptis miro desiderio pascebatur, quem etiam crebra supplicatione rogaverat, ut ipsum ex hac luce migrare non sineret, nisi in die suae sacratissimae sollemnitatis. Ipse igitur XV. die ante festum ejusdem sic coepit duris febribus aestuare, ut in vigilia ipsius saper humum tamquam moriens poneretur, Et ecce plures decori ac fulgentes viri amicti albis ecclesiam dicti monasterii processionaliter intraverunt, quos sequebatur quidam reverendus pontificalibus insignitus. Quidam autem monachus in ecclesia consistens hoc videns obstupuit et, quinam essent vel quo pergerent, inquisivit. Cui unus eorum dixit, quod sanctus Augustinus esset cum suis canonicis, qui ad devotum suum morientem pergeret, ut ejus animam ad regnum gloriae deportaret. Post hoc illa reverenda processio ad infirmarium ingreditur; ubi cum aliquamdiu mansisset, sanefa illa anima à carne soluta est, quam dulcis amicus et ab hostium insidiis securam reddidit et ad coeli gaudia introduxit.
Legitur quoque, quod, dum Augustinus in carne viveret et quaedam relegeret, ante se transire vidit daemonem librum humeris bajulantem. Qui ab eo protinus adjuratur, ut, quae ibi scripta lateant, sibi pandat. Qui peccata hominum ibidem esse asserit scripta, quae undecumque collegit et in eo reposuit. Moxque ei praecepit, ut, si aliquid suorum peccatorum ibi scriptum relineret, sibi legendum continuo manifestet. Ostenso autem loco nihil Augustinus ibi scriptum reperit, nisi quod quadam vice completorium ex oblivione dimisit, praecipiensque dyabolo, ut suum praestolaretur adventum, ecclesiam est ingressus et completorium devote dixit et solitas orationes complens peregit reversusque dixit ei, ut praedictum locum sibi ostenderet iterum relegendum. Qni dum crebro revolveret et tandem locum vacuum reperisset, iratus dixit: turpiter me decepisti, poenitet me, quod librum meum tibi ostendi, quia peccatum tuum orationum tuarum virtute delevisti. Et his dictis confusus evanuit.
Cum quaedam mulier a quibusdam malitiosis injuriam pateretur, illa ad beatum Augustinum accessit, ut super hoc ejus consilium imploraret. Qnae cum: ipsum studentem invenisset et eum reverenter salutasset, ille nec ad eam respexit nec quidquam sibi respondit. Cogitans illa, ne forte ob nimiam sanctitatem in faciem mulieris nollet intendere, pro26 x pius accessit et negotium dillgenter exposuit. Sed ille nec se ad eam convertit nec responsum aliquod sibi dedit ideoque illa cum tristitia magna recessit. Altera autem die, cum Augustinus missam celebraret et dicta mulier interesset, post elevationem corporis rapta in spiritu vidit se positam ante tribunal sanctissimae trinitatis, ubi vidit Augustinum facie inclinata de trinitatis gloria attentissime et sublimissime disputantem, factaque est vox ad eam dicens: cum ad Augustinum ivisti, ille sic de trinitatis gloria attentissime disputabat et ideo, quod ibi fueris, penitus non advertit, sed ad eum secure redeas, quia et eum clementem invenies et consilium salubre reperies. Quod cum fecisset, Augustinus benigne eam audivit et consilium salubre donavit,
Fertur quoque, quod, dum quidam vir sanctus in spiritu raptus sanctos in gloria conspexisset et beatum Augustinum minime vidisset, quendam de sanctis, ubinam Augustinus esset, percunctatus est. Qui respondit: Augustinus residet in excelsis, ubi disputat de gloria excellentissimae trinitatis.
RỌ. Cum quidam Papienses a marchione Malaspinae in carcere detinerentur, ab iis omnis potus penitus est interdictus, ut posset ab iis magna pecunia extorqueri. Unde plerique jam spiritum exhalabant, quidam vero urinam bibebant, at quidam juvenis inter eos, qui in beatum Augustinum magnam devotionem habebat, ipsum in sui adjutorium invocavit. Tunc circa noctis medium sanctus Augustinus praedicto adolescenti apparuit et quasi manum ejus dextram apprehendens usque ad flumen Graveloni ipsum deduxit ibique cum folio vitis in aqua madefacto sie ejus linguam refrigeravit, nt, qui urinam bibere eupierat, de potu nectaris non curaret.
Praepositus cujusdam ecclesiae in beatum Augustinum magnam devotionem habens, cum per tres annos gravem infirmitatem incurrisset, ila ut de lecto surgere non valeret, adveniente sollemnitate sancti Augustini, cum jam in vigilia ad vesperas pulsaretur, ad rogandum sanctum Augustinum tota devotione se contulit. (ui in albis Augustinus apparens eidem ter citato proprio nomine dixit: ecce assum totiens a te rogatus, surge cito et celebra mihi oficinm vespertinum. Qui sanus surgens cunctis stupentibus ecclesiam intravit ct officium devote peregit.
A2. Cum cuidam pastori saevum ulcus inter scapulas ortam esset, adeo morbus invaluit, ut jam totis esset viribus destitutus. Qui dum ad sanctum Augustinum preces emitteret, eidem Angustinus in visu apparuit et super locum infirmum manum apponens perfecte eum sanavit. Idem quoque vir procedente tempore oculorum lumine est privatus. Qui cum sanctum Augustinum sedulo invocaret, quodam die circa meridiem eidem apparuit et oculos manibus suis tergens pristinam sibi sanitatem restituit.
Circa annum domini DCCCCXIL. viri quidam graviter infirmi numero plus quam XL de Germania et Gallia Romam ibant ad limina apostolorum visitanda. Quorum quidam scamnis in terra curvi se vehentes, alii cum baculis se sustentantes, alii privati oculis post alios se trahentes, alii contractas manus et pedes habentes pergebant. Qui montes transeuntes ad locum, qui dicitur Carbonaria, pervenerunt. Cum autem paene ad locum, qui Cana dicitur, advenissent, qui tribus millibus a Papia distat, sanctus Augustinus pontificalibus indutus, de quadam ecclesia in honore sanctorum Cosmae et Damiani constructa exiens, eisdem apparuiteosque salutans, quo tenderent, requisivit. Qui cum ei, quo tenderent, respondissent, adjecit: ite Papiam et de coenobio sancti Petri, quod dicitur Coelum Aureum, interrogate et ibi misericordiam habebitis, quam optatis. Qui cum eum de nomine suo interrogassent, ait: ego sum Augustinus quondam Hypponensis civitatis episcopus. Statimque ab oculis eorum evanuit, illi autem Papiam pergentes, cum ad dictum monasterium pervenissentet ibi corpus sancti Augustini requiescere didicissent, coeperunt omnes voces levare ac unanimiter conclamare: sanete Augustine, adjuva nos.
Ad quorum clamores cives et monachi excitati ad tam grande spectaculum confluebant, et ecce ex nervorum distentione sanguis multus coepit effluere, ita ut ab introitu coenobii usque ad tumbam sancti Augustini tota terra sanguine videretur respersa. Cum autem ad sepulchrum sancti Augustini venissent, omnes sanitati sunt integrae restituti, ac si nulla in eorum corporibus laesio exstitisset. Coepit extunc fama sancti Augustini crebrescere et multitudo languentium ad ejus tumulum adventare, qui omnes sanitatis beneficia reportantes snae salutis pignora relinquebant, factumque est, ut tanta praedictorum pignorum fuerit multitudo, ut inde totum oratorium sancti Augustini et porticus plena essent, ita ut eundi et redeundi impedimentum non modicum generarent. Quapropter monachi necessitate compulsi ea inde removeri fecerunt,
Notandum, quod, cum tria sint, quae a mundanis hominibus appetuntur, scilicet divitiae, deliciae et honores, vir iste sanctus tantae perfectionis exstitit, quod ipse divitias contemsit, honores respuit, voluptates abhorruit, Quod enim divitias contemneret, ipse testatur in libro soliloquiorum, ubi ratio eum interrogat dicens: divitias nullas cupis? Et respondet Augustinus: hoc quidem neo nunc primum; nam cun XXX annos agam, XIV fere anni sunt, ex quo ista cupere destiti nec aliud in his praeter necessarium victum cogitavi, prorsus unus Ciceronis liber mihi facile persuasit, nullo modo esse appetendas divitias, Quod autem honores respuerit, in godem libro testatur, ubi ratio eum interrogat dicens: quid honores? Et respondet Augustinus: fateor, eos modo ac paene his diebus cupere destiti. Voluptates quoque et divitias contemsit et quantum ad concubitum et quantum ad gustum. Quantum ad primum interrogat eum ratio dicens in eodem libro: quid uxor? Nonne te delectat pulchra , pudica, morigerata, dives, praesertim si certus sis, nihil ex ea te molestiae esse passurum? Et respondet Augustinus: quaniumlibet velis eam depingere atque cumulare bonis omnibus, nil mihi tam fugiendum quam concubitum esse decrevi. Cui ratio: non ego quaero, quid decreveris, sed utrum ad hoc alliceris?
Et respondet Augustinus: prorsus nihil in hujusmodi quaero, nihil desidero, etiam cum onere, horrore et aspernatione talia recordor. Quantum ad secundum interrogat eum ratio dicens: quid de cibis? Et respondet Augustinus: sive de cibo et potu sive de balneis caeteraque corporis voluptate nihil interroges; tantum ab ea peto, quantum in valetudinis spem conferri potest.
Notes
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