Augustine: A Biography
Augustine was born in Thagaste,
present day Algeria, in 354 CE. His mother was a devout Catholic and his father
was a pagan. This familial religious dichotomy led to his confusion over religion,
a confusion which influenced his whole life. Throughout his life he crossed
paths with people who led him to his ultimate religion, that of Christianity.
Augustine traveled to Carthage at the age of sixteen to study rhetoric. While
he was in Carthage, Augustine was befriended by the group of men that called
themselves the Manichees. This religious sect promised Augustine truth. Augustine
joined the group in search of religious truth. The Manichees believed in separation
of the body and soul and an ongoing fight between good and evil forces. Augustine
ultimately turned away from the Manichees upon hearing their leader Faustus
speak at a gathering. Faustus proved to be incapable to provide Augustine with
any truths to religion. Seeing Faustus as an uneducated phony, Augustine strayed
away from the Manichees, feeling empty. He began teaching in his own school
of rhetoric in Carthage, around the same time that he met his mistress. This
relationship lasted sixteen years and she had his first and only child. Augustine
did not discuss his mistress or his son much in his Confessions, so little is
known of either one. It was quite a change for him to have one mistress however,
since before his new mistress he had engaged in a life of lust.
After Carthage, Augustine
decided to pursue a higher teaching career with brighter pupils. He moved to
Rome and began to teach rhetoric once again. He soon became disappointed in
his students. Augustine's new students would often leave without paying him
which demonstrated poor morals on their behalf. He decided to leave Rome because
of his disappointment in his students. From Rome Augustine traveled to Milan,
to once again, teach rhetoric.
While in Milan, Augustine
agreed to allow his mother, Monica, who followed him wherever he ventured, arrange
a proper marriage for him. Monica arranged a marriage between Augustine and
a ten year old girl. Since the girl was so young, Augustine was not to marry
her for two years. In the meantime, he was forced to send his mistress, the
mother of his child, back to Africa. After his mistress was gone, Augustine
found another mistress to keep him content until he was able to marry. In 386,
Augustine quit teaching rhetoric for several reasons. He became ill and no longer
had the want for money which had been his main motivation for teaching. Also,
he no longer agreed with what he was teaching. During his stay in Milan, Augustine
met the Bishop Ambrose. He was very impressed with the way that Ambrose discussed
the Holy Scriptures. Ambrose quickly opened up the mind of Augustine to see
the Scriptures in a new light. Because of this, Augustine became a student of
Ambrose. This relationship would eventually lead to his conversion to Christianity.
Augustine had trouble converting to Christianity because of an internal battle
between what he called his old will and his new will. Augustine felt that his
old will ruled his desires which he wanted to overcome. His new will ultimately
helped him to control his desires, although he found that he could not fully
overcome them, and to convert to Christianity. In his conversion, he finally
had all of his questions answered and put his faith in God. Augustine converted
to Catholicism. In the climax of his conversion, Augustine opened the Bible
to Paul’s letter to the Romans and read it. The passage gave him the rest
of the faith that he needed. Augustine was fully converted. He was now celibate,
and he decided not to marry.
Augustine decided to go
back to Northern Africa to serve God after he was baptized by Ambrose in 386.
On his journey back to Africa, his mother, Monica died. Augustine then continued
on to Africa to serve in the name of God. In 391, Augustine became an ordained
Priest of Hippo, modern day Annaba, the town in which he spent the remainder
of his life. Later, in 395 he became the Bishop. Augustine wrote many passages
on his philosophical views and his religious outlook throughout his final years.
He died in the year 430 at the age of 76 in Hippo.
Links to Maps of
these places:
Use
this map to locate Italy and Algeria
Use
this map to locate Carthage
Use
this map to locate Milan and Rome in Italy
Works Cited
Website from where I borrowed the above picture
"Augustine of Hippo."
Wikimedia Foundation Inc. . 24 Oct. 2005
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augustine_of_Hippo>.
Loflin, Lewis. Saint Augustine:
Madness and the Christian World View. March 2002. 23 Oct. 2005 <http://www.sullivan-county.com/news/mine/augustine.htm>.
Mendelson, Michael, "Saint
Augustine", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2000 Edition),
Edward N. Zalta (ed.), 23 Oct. 2005<http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2000/entries/augustine/>
O'Donnel, James J. Augustine
the African. 08 2003. 24 Oct. 2005
<http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/jod/twayne/aug1.html>.
Portalie, Eugene. "Catholic
Encyclopedia: St. Augustine." Catholic Encyclopedia. 2003. 26 Oct. 2005
<http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02084a.htm>.
St. Augustine. Confessions. New York: Oxford University Press, 1998.
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This page was last updated: 11/6/05
E-mail me: mkkelly at smcm dot edu
