Editing Augustine of Hippo (section)

=== 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.