Saint Augustine

Who is he?

Saint Augustine was a bishop in North Africa, one of the greatest Doctors of the Church. He was the son of Saint Monica. His life is the story of a son who wandered far away and then found his way back to his Father’s house.

Life story

Augustine was born in 354 in Thagaste, North Africa (now in Algeria). He was a very good student but also mischievous. He later told how he and his friends once climbed into a neighbor’s orchard and stole pears, not because they were hungry, but just because they liked doing something wrong.

When he grew up, he became a teacher of rhetoric, which means teaching people how to speak well. He looked for the truth in false teachings and lived a wild life, far from God. His mother wept and prayed for her son for many years, even following him all the way to Italy.

In Milan, he went to hear Saint Ambrose preach and began to change. In 386, one day as he sat in a garden, his heart deeply troubled, he heard a child’s voice singing: “Take up and read, take up and read!” He opened a book of Saint Paul’s letters and read the advice to live decently (cf. Rom 13:13) and to “put on the Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom 13:14). Suddenly his heart was at peace, and he decided to belong to God.

At the Easter Vigil in 387, Saint Ambrose baptized him. Soon after, his mother died, joyful that God had answered her prayers. Back in North Africa, he lived with his friends in a praying community. In 391, the people of Hippo asked him to become a priest, and a few years later he became their bishop.

For more than thirty years, he preached, cared for the poor and wrote a great many books. The most famous are the “Confessions,” which tells the story of his journey back to God, and “The City of God.” The rule for community life he wrote is still followed by many religious orders today. He died on 28 August 430.

Why is he a saint?

Saint Augustine once lived in sin, but he let God’s grace change him. From then on, he loved God with all his heart and used his great mind to help everyone understand the faith. In the “Confessions,” he wrote something like this: Lord, you made us for yourself, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you.

A lesson for you

• If you have wandered away from God, don’t think there is no way back: God is always waiting for you, like a father waiting for his child.
• Thank your parents and pray for them, because they quietly pray for you every day.
• Read God’s Word often: one Bible verse can change a whole life.