Editing Augustine of Hippo (section)

== Life ==
=== Background ===
Augustine of Hippo, also known as ''Saint Augustine'' or ''Saint Austin'',<ref>{{Cite book |title=The American Heritage College Dictionary |publisher=[[Houghton Mifflin Harcourt|Houghton Mifflin Company]] |location=Boston|year=1997 |isbn=978-0-395-66917-4 |page=91}}</ref> is known by various [[cognomen]]s throughout the many denominations of the Christian world, including ''Blessed Augustine'' and the ''Doctor of Grace''{{sfn|Portalié|1907a}} ({{Langx|la|Doctor gratiae}}).

[[Hippo Regius]], where Augustine was the [[bishop]], was in modern-day [[Annaba]], [[Algeria]].{{sfn|Chadwick|2001|p=26}}{{sfn|Oakes|2008|p=183}}

=== Childhood and education ===
[[File:7 Nicolo di Pietro. 1413-15. The Saint Augustine Taken to School by Saint Monica. Pinacoteca, Vatican..jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|''Saint Augustine Taken to School by Saint Monica'', by [[Niccolò di Pietro]], 1413–15]]
{{Christianity sidebar}}
Augustine was born in 354 in the [[municipium]] of [[Thagaste]] (now [[Souk Ahras]], [[Algeria]]) in the [[Numidia (Roman province)|Roman province of Numidia]].<ref name="Encyclopedia Britannica">{{Cite web | title=Saint Augustine – Biography, Philosophy, & Major Works | website=Encyclopedia Britannica | url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Saint-Augustine | access-date=28 January 2018}}</ref>{{sfn|Magill|2003|p=172}}<ref>{{Cite book|author=Saint Augustine (Bishop of Hippo)|title=On Christian Teaching|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g5pv1MGv0TUC&pg=PR26|year=1999|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-283928-2|page=26}}</ref>{{sfn|Jones|2017|p=39}}{{sfn|Jayapalan|2001|p=51}} His mother, [[Saint Monica|Monica]] or Monnica,{{efn|"[T]he names Monnica and Nonnica are found on tombstones in the Libyan language{{snd}}as such Monnica is the only Berber name commonly used in English."{{harvnb|Brett|Fentress|1996|p=293}}}} was a devout Christian; his father Patricius was a [[Paganism|pagan]] who converted to Christianity on his deathbed.<ref>Vesey, Mark, trans. (2007) "Confessions Saint Augustine", introduction, {{ISBN|978-1-59308-259-8}}.</ref> He had a brother named Navigius and a sister whose name is lost but is conventionally remembered as [[Perpetua of Hippo|Perpetua]].{{sfn|Bonner|1986|p=}}

Scholars generally agree that Augustine and his family were [[Berbers]], an ethnic group indigenous to North Africa,{{sfn|Hollingworth|2013|pp=50–51}}{{sfn|Leith|1990|p=24}}<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HAAXAQAAIAAJ|title=Catholic World, Volumes 175–176|publisher=Paulist Fathers|year=1952|page=376|quote=The whole of North Africa was a glory of Christendom with St. Augustine, himself a Berber, its chief ornament.}}</ref> but were heavily Romanized, speaking only Latin at home as a matter of pride and dignity.{{sfn|Hollingworth|2013|pp=50–51}} In his writings, Augustine mentions in passing his identity as a [[Roman Africa|Roman African]]. For example, he refers to [[Apuleius]] as "the most notorious of us Africans,"{{sfn|Hollingworth|2013|pp=50–51}}<ref>Ep., CXXXIII, 19. [http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1102138.htm English version], [http://www.augustinus.it/latino/lettere/lettera_139_testo.htm Latin version]</ref> to Ponticianus as "a country man of ours, insofar as being African,"{{sfn|Hollingworth|2013|pp=50–51}}<ref>Confess., VIII, 6, 14. [http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/110108.htm English version], [http://www.augustinus.it/latino/confessioni/index2.htm Latin version]</ref> and to [[Faustus of Mileve]] as "an African [[Gentleman]]".{{sfn|Hollingworth|2013|pp=50–51}}<ref>Contra Faustum, I, 1. [http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/140601.htm English version], [http://www.augustinus.it/latino/contro_fausto/index2.htm Latin version]</ref>

Augustine's family name, Aurelius, suggests his father's ancestors were [[liberti|freedmen]] of the ''[[Aurelia (gens)|gens Aurelia]]'' given full Roman citizenship by the [[Edict of Caracalla]] in 212. Augustine's family had been Roman, from a legal standpoint, for at least a century when he was born.{{sfn|Lancel|2002|p=5}} It is assumed that his mother, Monica, was of Berber origin, on the basis of her name,{{sfn|Power|1999|pp=353–354}}{{sfn|Brett|Fentress|1996|pp=71, 293}} but as his family were ''[[Decurion (administrative)|honestiores]]'', an upper class of citizens known as honorable men, Augustine's first language was likely Latin.{{sfn|Power|1999|pp=353–354}}

At the age of 11, Augustine was sent to school at Madaurus (now [[M'Daourouch]]), a small Numidian city about {{convert|19|mi|km|abbr=off|order=flip}} south of Thagaste. There he became familiar with [[Latin literature]], as well as pagan beliefs and practices.{{sfn|Knowles|Penkett|2004|p=|loc=Ch. 2}} His first insight into the nature of sin occurred when he and a number of friends stole pears from a neighbourhood garden. He tells this story in his autobiography, ''Confessions''. He realises that the pears were "tempting neither for its colour nor its flavour" – he was neither hungry nor poor, and he had enough of fruit which were "much better". Over the next few chapters, Augustine agonises over this past sin of his, recognising that one does not desire evil for evil's sake. Rather, "through an inordinate preference for these goods of a lower kind, the better and higher are neglected".<ref>Augustine of Hippo, ''Confessions'', 2:5</ref> In other words, man is drawn to sin when grossly choosing the lesser good over a greater good. Eventually, Augustine concludes that it was the good of the "companionship" between him and his accomplices that allowed him to delight in this theft.<ref>Augustine of Hippo, ''Confessions'', 2:8</ref>

At the age of 17, through the generosity of his fellow citizen Romanianus,<ref name=EA>''Encyclopedia Americana'', v. 2, p. 685. Danbury, Connecticut: Grolier, 1997. {{ISBN|0-7172-0129-5}}.</ref> Augustine went to [[Carthage]] to continue his education in [[rhetoric]], though it was above the financial means of his family.<ref name="ReferenceA">Augustine of Hippo, ''Confessions'', 2:3.5</ref> Despite the good warnings of his mother, as a youth Augustine lived a [[Hedonism|hedonistic]] lifestyle for a time, associating with young men who boasted of their sexual exploits. The need to gain their acceptance encouraged inexperienced boys like Augustine to seek or make up stories about sexual experiences.<ref name="FLNZ1">Augustine of Hippo, ''Confessions'', 2:3.7</ref> 

It was while he was a student in Carthage that he read [[Cicero]]'s [[dialogue]] ''[[Hortensius (Cicero)|Hortensius]]'' (now lost), which he described as leaving a lasting impression, enkindling in his heart the love of wisdom and a great thirst for truth. It started his interest in philosophy.<ref>Augustine of Hippo, ''Confessions'', 3:4</ref> Although raised Christian, Augustine became a [[Manichaeism|Manichaean]], much to his mother's chagrin.{{sfn|Pope|1911}}

At about the age of 17, Augustine began a relationship with a young woman in Carthage. Though his mother wanted him to marry a person of his class, the woman remained his lover. He was warned by his mother to avoid fornication (sex outside marriage), but Augustine persisted in the relationship{{sfn|Ranke-Heinemann|1990|p=}} for over fifteen years,<ref name="utne.com">Boyce, James (May 2015) [http://www.utne.com/mind-and-body/st-augustine-and-original-sin-ze0z1505zken.aspx "Don't Blame the Devil: St Augustine and Original Sin"]. ''[[Utne Reader]]''.</ref> and the woman gave birth to his son Adeodatus (372–388), which means "Gift from God",<ref>Augustine of Hippo, ''Confessions'', 4:2</ref> who was viewed as extremely intelligent by his contemporaries. In 385, Augustine ended his relationship with his lover in order to prepare to marry a teenage heiress. By the time he was able to marry her, however, he had already converted to Christianity and decided to become a Christian priest and the marriage did not happen.<ref name="utne.com" />{{sfn|Brown|2000|p=63}}

Augustine was, from the beginning, a brilliant student, with an eager intellectual curiosity, but he never mastered Greek{{sfn|O'Donnell|2005|p=}} – his first Greek teacher was a brutal man who constantly beat his students, and Augustine rebelled and refused to study. By the time he realized he needed to know Greek, it was too late; and although he acquired a smattering of the language, he was never eloquent with it. He did, however, become a master of Latin.

=== Move to Carthage, Rome, and Milan ===
[[File:Augustine Lateran.jpg|thumb|The earliest known portrait of Augustine in a 6th-century fresco, Lateran, Rome]]

Augustine taught grammar at Thagaste during 373 and 374. The following year he moved to Carthage to conduct a school of rhetoric and remained there for the next nine years.<ref name=EA /> Disturbed by unruly students in Carthage, he moved to establish a school in Rome, where he believed the best and brightest rhetoricians practised, in 383. However, Augustine was disappointed with the apathetic reception. It was the custom for students to pay their fees to the professor on the last day of the term, and many students attended faithfully all term, and then did not pay.

Manichaean friends introduced him to the prefect of the City of Rome, [[Quintus Aurelius Symmachus|Symmachus]], who had been asked by the imperial court at [[Milan]]{{sfn|Portalié|1907a}} to provide a rhetoric professor. Augustine won the job and headed north to take his position in Milan in late 384. Thirty years old, he had won the most visible academic position in the Latin world at a time when such posts gave ready access to political careers.

Although Augustine spent ten years as a Manichaean, he was never an initiate or "elect", but an "auditor", the lowest level in this religion's hierarchy.{{sfn|Portalié|1907a}}{{sfn|Chadwick|2001|p=14}} While still at Carthage a disappointing meeting with the Manichaean bishop, [[Faustus of Mileve]], a key exponent of Manichaean theology, started Augustine's scepticism of Manichaeanism.{{sfn|Portalié|1907a}} In Rome, he reportedly turned away from Manichaeanism, embracing the [[Philosophical scepticism|scepticism]] of the [[New Academy]] movement. Because of his education, Augustine had great rhetorical prowess and was very knowledgeable of the philosophies behind many faiths.{{sfn|Kishlansky|Geary|O'Brien|2005|pp=142–143}} At Milan, his mother's religiosity, Augustine's own studies in [[Neoplatonism]], and his friend [[Simplician]]us all urged him towards Christianity.<ref name="EA" /> This was shortly after the Roman emperor [[Theodosius I]] declared Christianity to be the only legitimate religion for the Roman Empire on 27 February 380 by the [[Edict of Thessalonica]]{{sfn|Doniger|1999|pp=689–690}} and then issued a decree of death for all Manichaean monks in 382. Initially, Augustine was not strongly influenced by Christianity and its ideologies, but after coming in contact with [[Ambrose]] of Milan, Augustine reevaluated himself and was forever changed.

[[File:Saint Augustine and Saint Monica.jpg|thumb|upright|left|''Saint Augustine and his mother, Saint Monica'' (1846) by [[Ary Scheffer]]]]
Augustine arrived in Milan and visited Ambrose, having heard of his reputation as an orator. Like Augustine, Ambrose was a master of rhetoric, but older and more experienced.{{sfn|BeDuhn|2010|p=163}} Soon, their relationship grew, as Augustine wrote, "And I began to love him, of course, not at the first as a teacher of the truth, for I had entirely despaired of finding that in thy Church{{snd}}but as a friendly man."<ref name="Augustine: Account of His Own Conversion" /> Augustine was very much influenced by Ambrose, even more than by his own mother and others he admired. In his ''Confessions'', Augustine states, "That man of God received me as a father would, and welcomed my coming as a good bishop should."<ref name="Augustine: Account of His Own Conversion">{{Cite web| last1=Outler| first1=Albert| title='Medieval Sourcebook' Internet History Sourcebooks Project| url=http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/aug-conv.asp| website=Fordham University, Medieval Sourcebook| publisher=[[Fordham University]] |access-date=30 October 2014}}</ref> Ambrose adopted Augustine as a spiritual son after the death of Augustine's father.{{sfn|Wilson|2018|p=90}}

Augustine's mother had followed him to Milan and arranged a respectable marriage for him. Although Augustine acquiesced, he had to dismiss his concubine and grieved for having forsaken his lover. He wrote, "My mistress being torn from my side as an impediment to my marriage, my heart, which clave to her, was racked, and wounded, and bleeding." Augustine confessed he had not been a lover of wedlock so much as a slave of lust, so he procured another concubine since he had to wait two years until his fiancée came of age. However, his emotional wound was not healed.<ref>Augustine of Hippo, ''Confessions'', 6:15</ref> It was during this period that he uttered his famously insincere prayer, "Grant me [[chastity]] and [[sexual abstinence|continence]], but not yet."<ref name="FLNZ2">Augustine of Hippo, ''Confessions'', 8:7.17</ref>

There is evidence Augustine may have considered this former relationship to be equivalent to marriage.{{sfn|Burrus|2011|pp=1–20}} In his ''Confessions'', he admitted the experience eventually produced a decreased sensitivity to pain. Augustine eventually broke off his engagement to his eleven-year-old fiancée but never renewed his relationship with either of his concubines. [[Alypius of Thagaste]] steered Augustine away from marriage, saying they could not live a life together in the love of wisdom if he married. Augustine looked back years later on the life at [[Cassago Brianza|Cassiciacum]], a villa outside of Milan where he gathered with his followers, and described it as ''Christianae vitae otium'' – the leisure of Christian life.{{sfn|Ferguson|1999|p=208}}

=== Conversion to Christianity and priesthood ===
[[File:Fra angelico - conversion de saint augustin.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|''The Conversion of St. Augustine'' by [[Fra Angelico]]]]

In late August of 386,{{efn|{{harvnb|Brown|2000|p=64}} places Augustine's garden conversion at the end of August, 386.}} at the age of 31, having heard of Ponticianus's and his friends' first reading of the life of [[Anthony the Great|Anthony of the Desert]], Augustine converted to Christianity. As Augustine later told it, his conversion was prompted by hearing a child's voice say "take up and read" ({{langx|la|tolle, lege}}). Resorting to the ''[[sortes biblicae]]'', he opened a book of St. Paul's writings (''Confessiones'' 8.12.29) at random and read Romans 13:13–14: "Not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying, but put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh to fulfil the lusts thereof."<ref>{{Cite book| author = Augustine of Hippo | title = Confessions |year= 2008| publisher= Oxford University Press| place = New York | pages =152–153 | others = Chadwick, Henry transl}}</ref>

He later wrote an account of his conversion in his ''[[Confessions (Augustine)|Confessions]]'' ({{langx|la|Confessiones}}), which has since become a classic of Christian theology and a key text in the history of [[autobiography]]. This work is an outpouring of thanksgiving and penitence. Although it is written as an account of his life, the ''Confessions'' also talks about the nature of time, causality, free will, and other important philosophical topics.<ref name="justus.anglican.org">[http://justus.anglican.org/resources/bio/50.html Augustine of Hippo, Bishop and Theologian]. Justus.anglican.org. Retrieved on 17 June 2015.</ref> The following is taken from that work:

{{blockquote|<poem>Belatedly I loved thee, O Beauty so ancient and so new, belatedly I loved thee. For see, thou wast within and I was without, and I sought thee out there. Unlovely, I rushed heedlessly among the lovely things thou hast made. Thou wast with me, but I was not with thee. These things kept me far from thee; even though they were not at all unless they were in thee. Thou didst call and cry aloud, and didst force open my deafness. Thou didst gleam and shine, and didst chase away my blindness. Thou didst breathe fragrant odours and I drew in my breath; and now I pant for thee. I tasted, and now I hunger and thirst. Thou didst touch me, and I burned for thy peace.<ref>Augustine, Confessions 10.27.38, tr. Albert C. Outler. https://faculty.georgetown.edu/jod/augustine/conf.pdf</ref></poem>}}
[[File:Ascanio Luciano – Capriccio with the vision of St. Augustine in a ruined arcade.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|''The vision of St. Augustine'' by [[Ascanio Luciano]]]]

[[Ambrose]] baptized Augustine and his son Adeodatus, in Milan on [[Easter Vigil]], 24–25 April 387.{{sfn|Brown|2000|p=117}} A year later, in 388, Augustine completed his [[Christian apologetics|apology]] ''On the Holiness of the Catholic Church''.{{sfn|Portalié|1907a}} That year, also, Adeodatus and Augustine returned home to Africa.<ref name=EA /> Augustine's mother [[Saint Monica|Monica]] died at [[Ostia Antica|Ostia]], Italy, as they prepared to embark for Africa.{{sfn|Pope|1911}} Upon their arrival, they began a life of aristocratic leisure at Augustine's family's property.{{sfn|Possidius|2008|p=|loc=3.1}} Soon after, Adeodatus, too, died.{{sfn|A'Becket|1907}} Augustine then sold his patrimony and gave the money to the poor. He only kept the family house, which he converted into a [[monastic]] foundation for himself and a group of friends.<ref name=EA /> Furthermore, while he was known for his major contributions to Christian rhetoric, another major contribution was his preaching style.<ref name=":4">{{Cite journal|last=Oort|first=Johannes van|date=5 October 2009|title=Augustine, His Sermons, and Their Significance|journal=HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies|volume=65|pages=1–10}}</ref>

After converting to Christianity, Augustine turned against his profession as a rhetoric professor in order to devote more time to preaching.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal|last=Tell|first=Dave|date=1 November 2010|title=Augustine and the 'Chair of Lies': Rhetoric in The Confessions|url=https://online.ucpress.edu/rhetorica/article-abstract/28/4/384/82868/Augustine-and-the-Chair-of-Lies-Rhetoric-in-The?redirectedFrom=fulltext|journal=Rhetorica|language=en|volume=28|issue=4|pages=384–407|doi=10.1525/RH.2010.28.4.384|issn=0734-8584|hdl=1808/9182|s2cid=146646045 |hdl-access=free}}</ref> In 391 Augustine was [[ordination|ordained]] a [[priest]] in [[Hippo Regius]] (now Annaba), in Algeria. He was especially interested in discovering how his previous rhetorical training in Italian schools would help the Christian Church achieve its objective of discovering and teaching the different scriptures in the Bible.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Herrick|first=James|title=The History and Theory of Rhetoric|publisher=Pearson|year=2008|isbn=978-0-205-56673-0|location=New York|edition=4th}}</ref> He became a famous [[preacher]] (more than 350 preserved sermons are believed to be authentic), and was noted for combating the [[Manichaeism|Manichaean religion]], to which he had formerly adhered.{{sfn|Portalié|1907a}} He preached around 6,000 to 10,000 sermons when he was alive; however, there are only around 500 sermons that are accessible today.<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal|last=Sypert|first=John|date=1 May 2015|title=Redeeming Rhetoric: Augustine's Use of Rhetoric in His Preaching Ministry|url=https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/eleu/vol4/iss1/3|journal=Eleutheria|volume=4|issue=1|issn=2159-8088}}</ref> When Augustine preached his sermons, they were recorded by stenographers.<ref name=":4" /> Some of his sermons would last over one hour and he would preach multiple times throughout a given week.<ref name=":2" /> When talking to his audience, he would stand on an elevated platform; however, he would walk towards the audience during his sermons.<ref name=":2" /> When he was preaching, he used a variety of rhetorical devices that included [[Analogy|analogies]], word pictures, [[simile]]s, [[metaphor]]s, [[Repetition (rhetorical device)|repetition]], and [[antithesis]] when trying to explain more about the Bible.<ref name=":2" /> In addition, he used questions and rhymes when talking about the differences between people's life on Earth and Heaven as seen in one of his sermons that was preached in 412 AD.<ref name=":3">{{Cite web|last=Conybeare|first=Catherine|editor1-first=Michael J|editor1-last=MacDonald|date=30 November 2017|title=Augustine's Rhetoric in Theory and Practice|url=https://www.oxfordhandbooks.com/view/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199731596.001.0001/oxfordhb-9780199731596-e-025|access-date=8 March 2021|website=The Oxford Handbook of Rhetorical Studies|language=en|doi=10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199731596.001.0001|isbn=978-0-19-973159-6}}</ref> Augustine believed that the preachers' ultimate goal is to ensure the salvation of their audience.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Farrell|first=James|date=1 January 2008|title=The Rhetoric(s) of St. Augustine's Confessions|url=https://scholars.unh.edu/comm_facpub/3|journal=Augustinian Studies|volume=39|issue=2|pages=265–291|doi=10.5840/augstudies200839224}}</ref>

In 395, he was made [[coadjutor Bishop]] of Hippo and became full Bishop shortly thereafter,{{sfn|Brown|2000|p=}} hence the name "Augustine of Hippo"; and he gave his property to the church of Thagaste.<ref>Augustine, ''ep''.126.1</ref> He remained in that position until his death in 430. Bishops were the only individuals allowed to preach when he was alive and he scheduled time to preach after being ordained despite a busy schedule made up of preparing sermons and preaching at other churches besides his own.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sanlon |first=Peter T. |title=Augustine's Theology of Preaching |publisher=Fortress Press |year=2014 |isbn=978-1-4514-8278-2 |location=Philadelphia |pages=}}</ref> When serving as the Bishop of Hippo, his goal was to minister to individuals in his congregation and he would choose the passages that the church planned to read every week.<ref name=":42">{{Cite journal |last=Oort |first=Johannes van |date=5 October 2009 |title=Augustine, His Sermons, and Their Significance |journal=HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies |volume=65 |pages=1–10}}</ref> As bishop, he believed that it was his job to interpret the work of the Bible.<ref name=":42" /> He wrote his autobiographical ''[[Confessions (Augustine)|Confessions]]'' in 397–398. His work ''The City of God'' was written to console his fellow Christians shortly after the [[Visigoths]] had [[Sack of Rome (410)|sacked Rome in 410]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=O'Donnell |first=James J. |title=Augustine |publisher=Twayne Publishers |year=1985 |isbn=0-8057-6609-X |location=Boston |page=12}}</ref> Augustine worked tirelessly to convince the people of Hippo to convert to Christianity. Though he had left his monastery, he continued to lead a monastic life in the episcopal residence.{{sfn|Portalié|1907b}}

Much of Augustine's later life was recorded by his friend [[Possidius]], bishop of [[Calama (Numidia)|Calama]] (present-day [[Guelma]], Algeria), in his ''Sancti Augustini Vita''. During this latter part of Augustine's life, he helped lead a large community of Christians against different political and religious factors which had a major influence on his writings.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Wagner|first=Nathan|date=1 May 2018|title=Rhetorical Distinctions in Augustine's Early and Later Writing|url=https://online.ucpress.edu/rhetorica/article-abstract/36/2/105/83045/Rhetorical-Distinctions-in-Augustine-s-Early-and?redirectedFrom=fulltext|journal=Rhetorica|language=en|volume=36|issue=2|pages=105–131|doi=10.1525/rh.2018.36.2.105|s2cid=172122521 |issn=0734-8584}}</ref> Possidius admired Augustine as a man of powerful intellect and a stirring orator who took every opportunity to defend Christianity against its detractors. Possidius also described Augustine's personal traits in detail, drawing a portrait of a man who ate sparingly, worked tirelessly, despised gossip, shunned the temptations of the flesh, and exercised prudence in the financial stewardship of his see.{{sfn|Possidius|2008|p=}}