AUGUSTINE, SAINT (Lat. Aurelius Augu,s tinus) (354-430). Bishop of Hippo, in North Africa, the greatest of the Latin Fathers, and one of the most eminent doctors of the Western Church. He is called Aurelius Augustinus by Oro!tius and Prosper of Aquitania. From his autobiographical Confessions, and from the biog raphy written by his friend Possidius, we gather the most important facts of his life. He was born in Tagaste, a town in Numidia, November 13, 354, and died in Hippo, August 28, 430, during the siege of that town by the Vandals. His father, Patrieius, was a pagan (afterwards converted), hut his mother Monica, was a de voted Christian, who labored long and earnestly for her son's conversion, and who has been canonized by the Church. Augustine was brought up to be a rhetorician, and studied at Tagaste, Madaura, and Carthage. From about the age of 10 until shortly before his conversion. he lived in concubinage, which, along with other youthful irregularities, he afterwards bitterly lamented (cf. his Confessions, Book III.). One of the greatest obstacles to his conversion was this state of concubinage, against whose bond age he struggled for a long time in vain; he seemed to be sincerely and deeply attached to the object of his passion, to whom he was faithful for many years. By her he had one son, whom he named Adeodatus (`the gift of God').
The perusal of Cicero's Ifortensius awakened Augustine to a more serious view of life, and he became an earnest seeker after truth, but experi mented with several systems before finally enter ing the Christian Church. For nine years he was a follower of Manichieism (q.v.), a Persian dualistic philosophy then widely current in the Western Empire. With its fundamental prinei ple of conflict between two opposing world powers, symbolized by light and darkness, good and evil. Manichaeism seemed to Augustine to correspond to the facts of experience, and to fur nish the most plausible hypothesis upon which to construct a philosophical and ethical system. Moreover, its demands upon novices (midi /ores) were not strict enough to cause great uneasiness of conscience; witness Augustine's petition recorded in his Confessions 17), make me pure and chaste—but not quite yet!" He never advanced to full membership, not becoming one of the perfee/i. After nine . years he abandoned this system, failing after diligent inquiry to find in it the solution of his greatest difficulties. His next stage of develop ment was skepticism.
About this time (A.n. 3S3) Augustine left Cartilage for Rome. His mother, almost heart broken at his secret flight, took ship and fol lowed. He did not remain long in the capital, but went on to Milan, where he fell under the influence of the Neo-Platonie philosophy, which so carried serious thinkers over from doubt to faith, and whore 110 also met the great Bishop Ambrose, who at that time was the most distinguished ecclesiastic in Italy. Augustine
presently found himself attracted since more toward Christianity, and asking what answer it had to give to the problems of life. In obedience to what seemed to him the direct call of God. he turned to the Scriptures and read the words, ye on the Lord :Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lists thereof" (Rom. xiii. 14). This decided the question. Augustine resolved to embrace Chris tianity and to believe as the Church believed. With his natural son he was baptized by Am brose on Easter Eve, 3S7. His mother, who had rejoined him in Italy, was rejoiced at this an swer to her prayers and hopes. She died soon afterwards at Ostia.
The remaining 43 years of Augustine's life were devoted to the service of the Church. He returned to Africa, was made presbyter in 391, and bishop of Hippo in 395, which latter office he held until his death. It was a period of political and theological unrest, for, while the barbarians pressed in upon the Empire, even sacking Rome itself, schism and heresy also threatened the Church. Augustine threw himself into the theological conflict, not from inclination, but from a sense of duty. With voice and pen he waged war, and usually he complered. The whole of Western Christendom has entered into the fruits of his victories. Beside the Mani•hann controversy, Augustine was engaged in two great theological conflicts. One was with the Donatists (q.v.). a numerous but schismatie body, and re lated chiefly to questions of Church disciplineand order. It also involved a certain puritan theory of the Church and her ministry which Augustine did not share. In the course of this discussion he developed his ecclesiastical and sacramental theories. The other was with the Pelagians, followers of a British monk who disliked the idea of absolute predestination, and related to such doctrinal questions as man's primitive state, the f111, denravity, and so on. In the course of this conflict, which was long and bitter, Augustine developed his theories of sin and grace. of divine sovereignty and predestination. The Roman Catholic Church has found especial satisfaction in .Augustine's teaching respecting the Church and its sacraments, while Protestants have sought authority for their characteristic doctrines in his anthropology and soteriology.