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Augustine of Hippo, also known as Saint Augustine or Saint Austin, [38] is known by various cognomens throughout the many denominations of the Christian world, including Blessed Augustine and the Doctor of Grace [20] ( Latin: Doctor gratiae ). Hippo Regius, where Augustine was the bishop, was in modern-day Annaba, Algeria.
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St. Augustine was the bishop of Hippo (now Annaba, Algeria) from 396 to 430. A renowned theologian and prolific writer, he was also a skilled preacher and rhetorician. He is one of the Latin Fathers of the Church and, in Roman Catholicism, is formally recognized as a doctor of the church.
How did St. Augustine impact the world?
St. Augustine is perhaps the most significant Christian thinker after St. Paul. He adapted Classical thought to Christian teaching and created a powerful theological system of lasting influence. He also shaped the practice of biblical exegesis and helped lay the foundation for much of medieval and modern Christian thought.
What is St. Augustine best known for?
More than five million words of St. Augustine’s writings survive, ranging from sermons to theological treatises. Of these, two have had particularly lasting influence: The City of God and Confessions. The former is a philosophical defense of Christianity that outlines a new way to understand human society, and the latter is largely a spiritual self-examination.
St. Augustine (born November 13, 354, Tagaste, Numidia [now Souk Ahras, Algeria]—died August 28, 430, Hippo Regius [now Annaba, Algeria]; feast day August 28) bishop of Hippo from 396 to 430, one of the Latin Fathers of the Church and perhaps the most significant Christian thinker after St. Paul. Augustine’s adaptation of classical thought to Christian teaching created a theological system of great power and lasting influence. His numerous written works, the most important of which are Confessions (c. 400) and The City of God (c. 413–426), shaped the practice of biblical exegesis and helped lay the foundation for much of medieval and modern Christian thought. In Roman Catholicism he is formally recognized as a doctor of the church.
Augustine was born in Tagaste, a modest Roman community in a river valley 40 miles (64 km) from the Mediterranean coast in Africa, near the point where the veneer of Roman civilization thinned out in the highlands of Numidia. Augustine’s parents were of the respectable class of Roman society, free to live on the work of others, but their means were sometimes straitened. They managed, sometimes on borrowed money, to acquire a first-class education for Augustine, and, although he had at least one brother and one sister, he seems to have been the only child sent off to be educated. He studied first in Tagaste, then in the nearby university town of Madauros, and finally at Carthage, the great city of Roman Africa. After a brief stint teaching in Tagaste, he returned to Carthage to teach rhetoric, the premier science for the Roman gentleman, and he was evidently very good at it.
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While still at Carthage, he wrote a short philosophical book aimed at displaying his own merits and advancing his career; unfortunately, it is lost. At the age of 28, restless and ambitious, Augustine left Africa in 383 to make his career in Rome. He taught there briefly before landing a plum appointment as imperial professor of rhetoric at Milan. The customary residence of the emperor at the time, Milan was the de facto capital of the Western Roman Empire and the place where careers were best made. Augustine tells us that he, and the many family members with him, expected no less than a provincial governorship as the eventual—and lucrative—reward for his merits.
Augustine’s career, however, ran aground in Milan. After only two years there, he resigned his teaching post and, after some soul-searching and apparent idleness, made his way back to his native town of Tagaste. There he passed the time as a cultured squire, looking after his family property, raising the son, Adeodatus, left him by his long-term lover (her name is unknown) taken from the lower classes, and continuing his literary pastimes. The death of that son while still an adolescent left Augustine with no obligation to hand on the family property, and so he disposed of it and found himself, at age 36, literally pressed into service against his will as a junior clergyman in the coastal city of Hippo, north of Tagaste.
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Facts. Feastday: August 28. Patron: of brewers. Death: 430. Author and Publisher - Catholic Online. Printable PDF of St. Augustine of Hippo. Shop St. Augustine of Hippo. St. Augustine of Hippo is the patron of brewers because of his conversion from a former life of loose living, which included parties, entertainment, and worldly ambitions.
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Mar 25, 2022 · Augustine of Hippo & Bettenson, Henry. City of God . Penguin Classics, 2004. Brown, Peter. Augustine of Hippo. University of California Press, 2013. St Augustine. Confessions. Word on Fire Classics, 2017. World History Encyclopedia is an Amazon Associate and earns a commission on qualifying book purchases.
- Rebecca Denova
- What is Saint Augustine known for?Augustine of Hippo is extolled as the greatest of the Christian Church Fathers. He developed what would become known as systematic theology, or an...
- Why is Augustine called Hippo?Hippo was a town in Roman North Africa. Augustine was elected bishop there, built his own monastery, and became renowned for his sermons and teaching.
- What is Saint Augustine's theory?Augustine of Hippo developed the concept of the Original Sin, believed that humans were held responsible for evil and would be judged by God who al...
Sep 25, 2019 · Saint Augustine. First published Wed Sep 25, 2019. Augustine was perhaps the greatest Christian philosopher of Antiquity and certainly the one who exerted the deepest and most lasting influence. He is a saint of the Catholic Church, and his authority in theological matters was universally accepted in the Latin Middle Ages and remained, in the ...
Mar 24, 2000 · Saint Augustine. First published Fri Mar 24, 2000; substantive revision Fri Nov 12, 2010. Aurelius Augustinus [more commonly “St. Augustine of Hippo,” often simply “Augustine”] (354–430 C.E.): rhetor, Christian Neoplatonist, North African Bishop, Doctor of the Roman Catholic Church. One of the decisive developments in the western ...
Below is the article summary. For the full article, see St. Augustine . Saint Augustine, (born Nov. 13, 354, Tagaste, Numidia—died Aug. 28, 430, Hippo Regius; feast day August 28), Christian theologian and one of the Latin Fathers of the Church. Born in Roman North Africa, he adopted Manichaeism, taught rhetoric in Carthage, and fathered a son.
