Profile
Augustine was the son of a pagan father who converted on his death bed, and of Saint Monica, a devout Christian. He was raised as a Christian, he lost his faith in youth and led a wild life. He lived with a Carthaginian woman from the age of 15 through 30. He fathered a son whom he named Adeotadus, which means the gift of God. He taught rhetoric at Carthage and Milan, Italy. After investigating and experimenting with several philosophies, he became a Manichaean for several years; it taught of a great struggle between good and evil, and featured a lax moral code. A summation of his thinking at the time comes from his Confessions: “God, give me chastity and continence – but not just now.”
Augustine finally broke with the Manichaeans and was converted by the prayers of his mother and the help of Saint Ambrose of Milan, who baptized him. On the death of his mother he returned to Africa, sold his property, gave the proceeds to the poor, and founded a monastery. He was a monk, priest, preacher, and a Bishop of Hippo in 396. He founded religious communities. He fought Manichaeism, Donatism, Pelagianism, and other heresies. He oversaw his church and his see during the fall of the Roman Empire to the Vandals. He is a Doctor of the Church. His later thinking can also be summed up in a line from his writings: Our hearts were made for You, O Lord, and they are restless until they rest in you.
Born
- 13 November 354 at Tagaste, Numidia, North Africa (Souk-Ahras, Algeria) as Aurelius Augustinus
Died
- 28 August 430 at Hippo, North Africa
Patronage
- against sore eyes
- against vermin
- brewers
- printers
- theologians
- 7 dioceses
- 7 cities
Representation
- child
- dove
- eagle
- pen
- shell
- flaming heart, an allusion to a passage in his Confessions
Source: http://catholicsaints.mobi/calendar/5-may.htm
