St Augustine was born in Thagaste, North Africa in the year 354. He was well educated and his early life was influenced by Manichaeism and Neo- Platonism. He had a mistress and a child outside of marriage and lived a rather dissolute life, much to the dismay of his mother, St Monica. She spent many years fasting and praying for his conversion as well as shedding many tears.
Eventually God spoke to his heart through the Holy Scriptures and through the Bishop of Milan, St Ambrose. He was baptised a Catholic in the year 387 at the age of 33 by St Ambrose, along with his son and some friends, much to the delight of his mother.
He returned from Italy to his native North Africa and formed a monastic community before becoming a priest around 390 and the Bishop of Hippo in 395. He wrote against heretics and published sermons. He has left many writings and works with two in particular his Confessions and City of God being his masterpieces. He died in 430. He is the classic example of sinner to saint.
Quote from St Augustine’s Confessions
“Too late have I loved you, O Beauty of ancient days, yet ever new. Too late I have loved you. And behold, you were within, and I abroad and there I searched for you. I was deformed, plunging amid those fair forms, which you had made. You were with me but I was not with you. Things held me far from you, things which, if they were not in you, were not at all. You called and shouted and burst my deafness. You flashed and shone and scattered my blindness. You breathed odours and I drew in breath and I pant for you. I tasted and I hunger and thirst. You touched me and I burned for your peace”.
Comments are closed, but trackbacks and pingbacks are open.