Life of St.

Augustine
Bishop of Hippo
Doctor of Grace
354-430 AD
Real Name:
Aurelius Augustinus

Father: Patricius - Pagan

Mother: Monica (St. Monica) - Christian
Siblings: 2 Brothers and 1 Sister
(Navigius and Perpetua)
Birthplace: Thagaste, Numidia, North Africa

• Augustine's schooldays: his parents deliver him

to the schoolmaster
• 364 AD - 10 y/o
• - Thagaste
• - He likes Latin and dislikes
• Arithmetic and Greek
• In his writings, Augustine accuses himself of
often studying by constraint, not obeying his
parents and masters, not writing, reading, or
minding his lessons so much as was required of
him.
• And this he did not for lack of intelligence or
memory, but out of love of play.
They stripped a pear tree of its fruit "not to
eat the fruit ourselves, but simply to
destroy it."
Here in his own behaviour he saw an
example of sin being committed simply for
the sake of doing evil.
366 AD - 12 y/o

- Madaura (20 miles south of Thagaste

- Studied Rhetoric, at that time, which is
fundamental to any professional career,
such as law and public life.
372 AD - 18 y/o
- Adeodatus (God-Given) was born.
- His father died and was baptized to Christianity
at his deathbed.
- He became a “Manichaean”.
- Manichaeism, which is a pseudo-Christian sect
formed by Mani. Followers believe on the God of
good and the God of evil.
374 AD - 20 y/o
-returned to Thagaste to teach grammar
(needed for the study of Rhetoric).

376 Ad - 22 y/o
- Returned to Carthage after his best friend died
in Thagaste.
- Opened a school of Rhetoric and became a
teacher for 8 years. Adolescent years
• 373 AD - 19 y/o
- He read Hortensius of Cicero.
- It is a philosophical book, which moved him to
abandon his career as a lawyer in the imperial
service.
- “Intellectual conversion”

The Hortensius advised against the pursuit of

sensual pleasure as harmful to the discipline of
thinking in a philosophic manner; however, the
sexual drives within Augustine were then too strong
for him to be willing to separate from his concubine.
383 AD - 29 y/o

-Went to Rome w/ Alypius (former student) to

open a school.
- He deceived his mother so that she couldn’t
follow him.
- Milan – he was asked to be professor of
Rhetoric by Symmachus, a prefect of the City.
384 AD - 30 y/o
- Milan – He was inspired by the sermons of
Bishop Ambrose and became frequent hearer of
the bishop’s sermons.
385 AD - 31 y/o
- Monica arrived in Milan and offered Augustine
an arranged marriage.
- Augustine was faithful to his concubine for 14
years until here.
Adolescent years
386 AD - 32 y/o
- “Spiritual Conversion”
- “Tolle Lege, Tolle Lege”
- Romans 13:13-14

'Take up and read'

387 AD - 33 y/o
- “Baptism” - Fall, April 24
- Augustine, together w/ Alypius and
Adeodatus, was baptized by Bishop
Ambrose in Milan Augustine is baptized by
Ambrose (the text behind his head is the
famous medieval hymn, 'Te Deum', which
legend believed had been by Augustine
and Ambrose, jointly improvising at just
this moment
387 AD - 33 y/o

- Summer,
- Monica died in Ostia when they were
about to go back to Thagaste.
- She died at 56 y/o.
388 AD - Founded a monastery in Thagaste.

390 AD - Adeodatus died at 18 y/o

-Nebridius, his friend, also died.

391 AD - He was made a priest on the spot while

looking to build another community in
Hippo.

395 AD - He was made coadjutor (assistant) bishop

of Hippo
396 AD - 42 y/o
- Bishop Valerius died and he became the
bishop of Hippo Augustine’s life as a bishop:
1.Drove out in Hippo Donatists
2.Interfering for prisoners to save them from
torture and execution
3.Advocating for the poor
4.Buying freedom for badly treated slaves
5.Charging religious women with the care of
abandoned and orphaned children.
397 AD - The Confessions
- 5 years
399 AD - On the Trinity
- 20 years
413 AD - The City of God
-13 years

100 books
240 letters
500+ sermons
 Death of Augustine:
August 28, 430 at 76 y/o

Image : The bones of St Augustine are locked in a glass-

sided urn and usually kept in the large marble “arca”
situated immediately behind the main altar of the
Church of S. Pietro in Ciel d'Oro, Pavia, On this
occasion, the urn has been placed on the altar table.