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Aurelius Augustinus, Augustine of Hippo ( 354– 430) is a saint and the pre-eminent Doctor of the Church according to Roman Catholicism; he was the eldest son of Saint Monica. In the Eastern Orthodox Church, which does not accept all of his teachings, he is usually called "Blessed Augustine." Many Protestants also consider him to be a spiritual ancestor of Protestantism, in the sense that Protestantism's founder Martin Luther was deeply influenced by him (Luther was trained as an Augustinian monk), and in Protestantism's general focus, following Augustine, on original sin which leads to a more realistic (though critics would say pessimistic) assessment of human reason and action apart from divine grace.1 Life
Saint Augustine was born in 354 in Tagaste to a Christian mother and a Pagan father, raised in Roman north Africa, educated in Carthage, and employed as a professor of rhetoric in Milan by 383. He followed the Manichaean religion in his student days, and was converted to Christianity by the preaching and example of Ambrose of Milan. He was baptized at Easter in 387, and returned to north Africa and created a monastic foundation at Tagaste for himself and a group of friends. In 391 he was ordained a priest in Hippo, (now AnnabaAnnaba ( Arabic , formerly Bone is a city in the north-eastern corner of Algeria near the river Wadi Seybouse and Tunisian border. Annaba, which was called Hippo Regius during Roman times, was probably established by the Phoenicians in the 12th century BC, in Algeria). He became a famous preacher (more than 350 preserved sermons are believed to be authentic), and noted for combatting the Manichaean heresy.
In 396 he was made coadjutor bishop of Hippo (assistant with the right of succession on the death of the current bishop), and remained as bishop in Hippo until his death in 430. He left his monastery, but continued to lead a monastic life in the episcopal residence. He left a Rule ( LatinAlternative meanings: See Latin (disambiguation Latin was the language originally spoken in the region around Rome called Latium. It gained great importance as the formal language of the Roman Empire. All Romance languages are descended from Latin, and ma, Regula) for his monastery that has led him to be designated the "patron saint of Regular Clergy ," that is, parish clergy who live by a monastic rule.
Augustine died on August 28August 28 is the 240th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (241st in leap years), with 125 days remaining. Events Wednesday, August 28, 475 The German general Orestes forces western Roman Emperor Julius Nepos to flee his capital of Ravenna and appoi, 430, during the siege of Hippo by the Vandals. He is said to have encouraged its citizens to resist the attacks, primarily on the grounds that the Vandals adhered to Arian Christianity, which Augustine regarded as heretical.
2 Writings
Augustine was a prolific author in several genres—theological treatises, sermons, scripture commentaries, philosophical dialogues, and autobiography. (A list of his books and letters can be found near the end of this article.) His ConfessionsConfessions is the name of a series of books by St. Augustine of Hippo written between 397 and 398 AD. The book tells about his sinful youth and how he converted to Catholicism. It is the first autobiography ever published as well as being a significant t is usually accorded the position of the first autobiography in history; Augustine moves from his conception to his current (at about the age of fifty) relationship with God, and ends with a long excursus on the book of GenesisThis article is about Genesis the first book of the Hebrew Bible. See Genesis (disambiguation) for other usages of the word. Genesis ( Greek: , having the meanings of "birth", "creation", "cause", "beginning", "source" and "origin"; translated from Hebrew in which he demonstrates how to interpret scripture. The psychological awareness and self-revelation of the work still impress readers.
At the end of his life (426-428?) Augustine revisited his previous works in chronological order and suggested what he would have said differently in a work titled the Retractions , which gives us a remarkable picture of the development of a writer and his final thoughts.
