Saint Augustine was born on 354 CE in Tagaste, Africa.

His given name was Aurelius Augustinus. His father was

Patricius, a pagan who was baptized Christian before he

died, and his mother was Monica, a baptized Christian with

an influential role in the life of her son. Augustine is

regarded as one of the most intelligent Christian theologians

and bishops of all time. His works and actions have left a

major imprint on the Church and its doctrine.



As a boy, Augustine was not baptized and grew up in the

Roman Empire. He studied under the local schoolmasters

in Tagaste until he turned fifteen and moved to continue his

studies in Madaurus. From Madaurus, he moved to

Carthage for advanced studies in rhetoric and law. It was in

Carthage that he took a concubine and later had a son

named Adeodatus from her. It was in this period of his life

that embraced Manichaeism, which is a belief that one god

is responsible for all good and another responsible for all

evil. Augustine’s belief in Manichaeism prompted Monica,

his mother, not to allow his entrance into the family’s house.

Even with her actions, she continued praying and hoping

that Augustine would find the Lord. After he ended his

studies in Carthage, he became a teacher and was

constantly on the move throughout Northern Africa.



Augustine stopped teaching and moved to Milan where he

gained the position of Public Orator. In Milan, Augustine

met Ambrose, the Bishop of Milan. Augustine grew to love

Ambrose’s allegorical interpretations of the Bible and this

led to his appreciation and new understanding of the

Scripture. He also studied and learned to appreciate

Plato’s works and started linking a lot of his works into the

meaning and messages in the Bible. Augustine’s family,

including his mother, joined him in Milan. Her constant

prayers for his conversion to Christianity and the strict

ethical demands of Ambrose made Augustine’s

appreciation of Plato’s work grew deeper. It made him no

choice, but to convert to Christianity. On Easter Sunday of

387 CE in Milan, Augustine along with his son and his

friend, Alypius, were baptized by Ambrose.



After Augustine’s mother passed away, he traveled

throughout the Roman Empire. He wrote many of his

books on theology along the way. He had no aspirations of

priesthood, but through a mere chance visit at Hippo in

Africa; the bishop Valerius needed a parish priest.

Augustine appeared to be the best candidate, and in 391

CE, he was ordained. Augustine’s model for his ministry

was St. Paul and he found St. Paul as a mentor. In Hippo,

he set up a monastery for the sake of training new priests.

With Augustine’s many contributions to Hippo, Bishop

Valerius requested Augustine to become his Co-adjutire. A

year later, Valerius passed away and Augustine became the

Bishop of Hippo.



While Augustine was bishop, he wrote some of his greatest

works, which still survive today. The first of these is

Confessions, where he thanked God for changing him, and

he also revealed how he struggled with himself, his sexual

nature, self-will and his pride. He presented his positions on

incarnation and the Trinity. Confessions were both his

biography and also his presentation of his ideas. This book

was written with the hope that others will experience

conversion to Christianity and how he, Augustine, felt on

his way towards conversion.



City of God is another great work of Augustine which he

showed that Rome fell because it was a "City of Earth" and

not because of Christianity and he Christians. The City of

God emerged from God’s love while Rome, the "City of

Earth" emerged from the love of self. This was the

dominant theme in the story. Augustine also critiqued

Greco-Roman culture drawing from the greatest historians

and writers of the period. He pointed out the degradation

of Roman standards of conduct, life patterns or style and

sexual behaviors. Contrasting the Roman side, Augustine

depicted Christianity with vigor, health and cleanliness. He

wrote many more books, but these two were some of his

best.



Outside writing books, Augustine also involved himself in

controversies in the Church. As said before, Manichaeism

was the belief that one God made good and another evil.

Augustine, after following this sect a while back,

denounced it because of the polytheistic belief, and also

giving human features to God. He resolved the controversy

by debating the Manichaen Bishop Fortunatus. Augustine

easily defeated him in the debate, and thus, he discredited

Manichaean religion.



Another controversy, that Augustine was involved in, was

Donatism. Donatastics believed that Catholics blemished

priesthood and that there were no true sacraments. This

divided the African church into groups of warring factions.

Augustine fought the Donatists by saying that the

sacraments depended on the Lord, not the giver. He

showed that the Church is the union of all people into

Christ. He defined free will, Christian sacraments, and

original sin. His argument with the Donatists clarified

Christian doctrines for further generations to come.



Pelagianism was the final controversy that Augustine

handled. They believed that God’s grace is not needed for

salvation, but only good works. Augustine fought this

controversy by explaining that grace was necessary for

salvation because without it, people would be even more

sinful. The leader of Pelagianism, Pelagius, never met with

Augustine, but as a result of this controversy, "God’s saving

grace" was clearly understood through Augustine’s

arguments.



On August 28, 430 CE in Hippo, Augustine died. He is

regarded as one of the greatest and intelligent saints of the

Church. He clarified Church doctrines, established

monasteries for new priests, educated many into the

meaning of Christianity and made Christianity humanistic

which is nurtured by God’s love and grace.







Brown, Peter. Augustine of Hippo. Berkeley: University of

California Press, 1967.



Possidius. The Life of Saint Augustine. Villanova:

Augustinian Press, 1988.