AUGUSTINE, SAINT, named also Aurelius Augustinus, was born in the year 351, at Tagasta, a small town of Africa, in the inland part of Numi dia. His father, whose name was Patricius, though possessed of little wealth, was held in considerable estimation by his fellow-citizens, and filled for some time the office of a magistrate in the town above mentioned. His mother Monnica, who is represent ed as a woman of great piety, carefully instructed her son in the principles of Christianity, and watched his future conduct with the most anxious affection. He was sent, at an early age, to a place of public in-. struction, where he showed a capacity so quick as to require very little application ; but, at the same time, so strong a tendency to youthful sports, as greatly tended to impede his progress in learning. He soon indicated a strong dislike to Grecian literature, but was very much interested by the perusal of the La tin mythologists, and extremely attached to all thea trical exhibitions. During a season of sickness he requested that he might be baptised ; but his mother, who was well aware of his vicious propensities, and who had rather a superstitions notion, that sins were peculiarly aggravated when committed after baptism, procured the ceremony to be deferred. In 371 he was sent to Madaura to pursue his classical studies ; and, after the death of his father, he was enabled, by the assistance of his friends, to visit the city of Car thage, in order to complete his education. Here he addicted himself to every species of licentiousness ; became disgusted with the profession of the law, to which he had at first directed his attention ; was at tracted, for a time, to the study of philosophy, in consequence of perusing one of Cicero's dialogues, entitled Hortensius ; * turned from this pursuit to the examination of the sacred scriptures ; but, offend ed by the simplicity of their style, and anxious to un derstand every thing by demonstration, he at length attached' himself to the followers of Manichmus. At the intreaty of his mother, who had followed him to Carthage, he returned in 374 to the place of his na tivity, where he taught grammar and rhetoric, during the space of six years, with great applause. The death of an intimate friend having rendered him unhappy in that situation, he removed to Carthage in the year 380, and continued to give instructions as a rhetorician with uncommon reputation and success. Still indulging his habits of dissipation, he attached himself, about this time, with great constancy, to a concubine, by whom he had a son named Adeodatus. Becoming dissatis fied with the doctrines of his Manichxan friends, and provoked by the insolence of his pupils at Carthage, he went to Rome in 383, with his mistress and child, leaving his mother behind, without any information of his departure. His fame spread very rapidly in this metropolis ; and, by the favour of Symmachus, przfect of the city, he was appointed professor of rhetoric in Milan. In this place, his celebrity as a teacher continued to increase, while his character was debased by his illicit indulgences. By the sermons of Bishop Ambrose, which he at first attended only for the sake of their eloquence, by a more intimate acquaintance with that eminent prelate, and by the intreaties of his mother, who had followed him to Milan, he was persuaded to abandon his Manichwan sentiments, to dismiss his concubine, and to consent to enter the married state. Before his good pur poses were accomplished, however, he relapsed into his old irregularities, and formed another illicit con nection. At length, having entered upon the study of Paul's epistles, and being assisted by the exhorta tions of a presbyter named Simplieian, he resolved, after .a long and hard struggle, to abandon all secular pursuits, and to devote himself to a life of devout contemplation. He relates, that lie was led to this determination by a very extraordinary circumstance ; that while meditating in his garden he seemed to hear a voice addressing him in these Take and read, take and read !" that, upon opening the New Testament, he was presented with this passage, Let us walk honestly as in the day, not in riot ing and drunkenness, not in chambering and wanton ness," &c. (Rom. xiii. 13.) ; that his friend Alipius, upon hearing what had happened, pointed out, as ap plicable to himself, these words in the beginning of the following chapter,—" him that is weak in the faith receive you ;" and requested, therefore, to be received as his fellow Christian. They retired with some friends
to a residence in the country ; employed a considerable time in reading and prayer ; and were baptised to gether by Bishop Ambrose in the year 387. Au gustine immediately set out for his native country ; stopped at Rome on his way, where he composed a work against the Manichmans'; and while waiting at Ostia for an opportunity to embark for Africa, was deprived of his constant attendant and faithful coun sellor, his mother Monnica. As soon as he arrived at Tagasta, he withdrew to a country residence, where he lived with a few select friends, in imita tion of the first Christians, " having all things com mon." After spending about three years in this manner, he went to visit a person of rank in the city of Hippo Regius. During his residence there, it happened that the priest's office was vacant, and Va lerius the bishop had assembled the canons for the purpose of electing another incumbent. Augustine having entered the church to witness the form of proceeding, was instantly presented to the bishop, by the unanimous consent of the assembly, as the fittest person to be chosen ; and, in spite of all his remon strances, was ordained a presbyter in the year 391. He still continued to follow the manner of life which he had begun in his late retreat ; formed his associates into a kind of religious society ; and thus at length gave rise to the Augustine Friars, or eremites of St Augustine. In 391, he had a dispute with Jerome, in which he treated his venerable opponent with so much respect, that they afterwards became very inti mate friends. As Valerius was a Greek, and found considerable difficulty to speak publicly in the Latin language, he appointed Augustine to preach in his place, and even in his presence, though this was con trary to the custom of the African church. He sig nalized himself very much at a provincial council in 393,-by pronouncing an exposition of the creed ; and, in 395, by the influence of his friend and patron Va lerius, was installed as joint bishop of the church at Hippo. He wrote much against the Manichwans, and was very successful in vindicating from their ob jections the authority and integrity of sacred scrip ture. He laboured also with great activity and abi lity to expose the dangerous principles of the Dona tists ; narrowly escaped assassination from some of that sect in 398 ; but was not deterred from acting a very conspicuous part in the council which was held against them at Carthage in the year 411. By a council of the African clergy in 418, he was pub licly requested to refute the errors of Pelagius and Celestine ; and to him is principally due the credit of having checked the progress of their opinions. In the course of this controversy, Pelagius wrote to him a very soothing and flattering epistle ; in reply to which, Augustine requested him, " rather to pray to God to make him, by his grace, such as he (i. e. Pelagius) had described him, than continue to de scribe him such as he was not." In 426, in the seventy-second year of his age, he chose a person named Eradius to assist him in his public duties, and after this employed himself almost entirely in writing upon a great variety of subjects. In 430 Hippo was invested by the Vatdals, and sustained a siege of fourteen months. The aged bishop resolved to share the distresses of his people, and continued to encou rage them to the last. But he was soon overpower ed by the excessive fatigue which he underwent, and died with every indication of sincere penitence and fervent piety, on the 28th of August 430, in the seventy-sixth year of his age. About seven months after this event, the city of Hippo was taken and burned by the Vandals ; but the library of Augus tine, containing an immense number of his own writ ings, was carefully preserved. The most accurate and splendid edition of the works of Augustine, is that which was given by the Benedictines, printed first at Paris in 1679, and afterwards at Antwerp in. 1700, with some augmentation by Le Clerc, under the fictitious name of Phereponus.