Saint Augustine is one of the best-known and most highly regarded saints in the history of the Church. His human and spiritual journey has inspired countless generations and continues to exert tremendous fascination on those who wish to discover God’s action in the conversion of a soul.
He was born on November 13, 354, in Tagaste, in present-day Algeria. Saint Monica, Augustine’s mother, passed the Christian faith on to her son, who nevertheless abandoned the teachings and example he had received from his mother, preferring philosophy and Manichaeism. His life was marked by his encounter with a woman, with whom he also had a son, and by his dedication to studying and teaching philosophy, rhetoric, and the humanities.
A decisive step in his transformation took place during a journey to Milan in 387, where he received the grace of listening to Saint Ambrose, from whom he received the sacrament of Baptism.
From Milan, he moved to Rome to travel to Africa with the intention of founding a monastic community. At Ostia, his mother Monica died, causing him great sorrow, but also immense gratitude to God for the faith she had passed on to him. Augustine went to Hippo, where he was ordained a bishop. Augustine left behind literary, theological, and philosophical works that are still studied and meditated upon today. During the Vandals’ invasion of Hippo in 429, Augustine fell seriously ill. He died at the age of 76 on August 28, 430.
Augustine was a man truly in love with God, who mysteriously allowed him to take a long journey before reaching conversion. Augustine had understood that all his knowledge and learning had not made his heart happy. Although he had achieved fame and renown, his soul felt a profound longing caused by the lack of something that he would only later discover was the loss of his vital relationship with God.
God allowed Augustine to abandon the faith taught by his mother and turn to philosophy and Manichaeism. During this time away from God, Augustine was able to deepen his knowledge of philosophy, rhetoric, and the art of writing and speaking well, which he would later place at the service of the Church. Augustine left behind memorable pages of commentary on the Gospels and the books of the Old Testament, capable of attracting readers to the beauty, truth, and richness of the Word of God.
Augustine’s writings are the most precious legacy he left to the Church, which was enriched by the invaluable gift of the correct interpretation of Scripture and a profound knowledge of the Word of God. Through Augustine, the Word continues to speak to people’s lives because, above all, God spoke personally to his heart through the Holy Spirit.
