St. Augustine, Bishop and Doctor
The great
St. Augustine's life is unfolded to us in documents of unrivaled richness, and of no great
character of ancient times have we information comparable to that contained in the
"Confessions", which relate the touching story of his
soul, the "Retractations," which give the history of his
mind, and the "Life of
Augustine," written by his friend
Possidius, telling of the
saint's apostolate.
We will confine ourselves to sketching the three periods of this great life: (1) the young wanderer's gradual return to the Faith; (2) the doctrinal development of the Christian philosopher to the time of his episcopate; and (3) the full development of his activities upon the Episcopal throne of Hippo.
From his birth to his conversion (354-386)
Augustine was born at Tagaste on 13 November, 354. Tagaste, now Souk-Ahras, about 60 miles from Bona (ancient
Hippo-Regius), was at that
time a small free city of proconsular Numidia which had recently been
converted from
Donatism. Although eminently respectable, his
family was not
rich, and his
father, Patricius, one of the
curiales of the city, was still a
pagan. However, the admirable
virtuesthat made
Monica the ideal of
Christian mothers at length brought her husband the
grace of
baptismand of a
holy death, about the year 371.
Augustine received a
Christian education. His mother had him
signed with the cross and enrolled among the
catechumens. Once, when very ill, he asked for
baptism, but, all danger being soon passed, he deferred receiving the
sacrament, thus yielding to a deplorable
custom of the times. His association with "men of
prayer" left three great
ideas deeply engraven upon his
soul: a
Divine Providence, the future life with
terrible sanctions, and, above all,
Christ the Saviour. "From my tenderest infancy, I had in a manner sucked with my mother's milk that
name of my Saviour, Thy Son; I kept it in the recesses of my heart; and all that presented itself to me without that
Divine Name, though it might be elegant, well written, and even replete with
truth, did not altogether carry me away" (
Confessions I.4).
But a great
intellectual and
moral crisis stifled for a
time all these
Christian sentiments. The heart was the first point of attack. Patricius,
proud of his son's success in the schools of Tagaste and
Madauradetermined to send him to
Carthage to prepare for a forensic career. But, unfortunately, it required several months to collect the necessary means, and
Augustine had to spend his sixteenth year at Tagaste in an idleness which was fatal to his
virtue; he gave himself up to pleasure with all the vehemence of an ardent
nature. At first he
prayed, but without the sincere desire of being heard, and when he reached
Carthage, towards the end of the year 370, every circumstance tended to draw him from his
true course: the many seductions of the great city that was still half
pagan, the licentiousness of other students, the theatres, the intoxication of his literary success, and a
prouddesire always to be first, even in
evil. Before long he was
obliged to confess to
Monica that he had formed a
sinful liaison with the
person who bore him a son (372), "the son of his
sin" — an entanglement from which he only delivered himself at
Milan after fifteen years of its thralldom.
Two extremes are to be avoided in the appreciation of this crisis. Some, like Mommsen, misled perhaps by the tone of grief in the
"Confessions", have exaggerated it: in the "Realencyklopädie" (3d ed., II, 268) Loofs reproves Mommsen on this score, and yet he himself is too lenient towards
Augustine, when he claims that in those days, the
Church permitted
concubinage. The
"Confessions" alone
provethat Loofs did not understand the 17th
canon of Toledo. However, it may be said that, even in his fall,
Augustine maintained a certain dignity and felt a compunction which does him
honour, and that, from the age of nineteen, he had a genuine desire to break the chain. In fact, in 373, an entirely new inclination manifested itself in his life, brought about by the reading Cicero's "Hortensius" whence he imbibed a love of the wisdom which Cicero so eloquently praises. Thenceforward
Augustine looked upon rhetoric merely as a profession; his heart was in
philosophy.
Unfortunately, his
faith, as well as his
morals, was to pass though a terrible crisis. In this same year, 373,
Augustine and his friend Honoratus fell into the snares of the
Manichæans. It seems strange that so great a
mind should have been victimized by
Oriental vapourings, synthesized by the
Persian Mani (215-276) into coarse, material
dualism, and introduced into
Africa scarcely fifty years previously.
Augustine himself tells us that he was enticed by the promises of a free
philosophy unbridled by
faith; by the boasts of the
Manichæans, who claimed to have discovered contradictions in
Holy Writ; and, above all, by the hope of finding in their
doctrine a
scientific explanation of nature and its most mysterious phenomena. Augustine's inquiring
mind was enthusiastic for the
natural sciences, and the
Manichæans declared that nature withheld no secrets from Faustus, their
doctor. Moreover, being tortured by the problem of the origin of
evil,
Augustine, in default of solving it, acknowledged a conflict of two principles. And then, again, there was a very powerful charm in the
moralirresponsibility resulting from a
doctrine which denied
liberty and attributed the commission of
crime to a foreign principle.
Once won over to this
sect,
Augustine devoted himself to it with all the ardour of his
character; he read all its books, adopted and defended all its opinions. His furious proselytism drew into
error his friend
Alypius and Romanianus, his Mæcenas of Tagaste, the friend of his
father who was defraying the expenses of Augustine's
studies. It was during this
Manichæan period that Augustine's literary faculties reached their full development, and he was still a student at
Carthage when he embraced
error.
His studies ended, he should in due course have entered the
forum litigiosum, but he preferred the career of letters, and
Possidius tells us that he returned to Tagaste to "teach grammar." The young professor captivated his pupils, one of whom,
Alypius, hardly younger than his master, loath to leave him after following him into
error, was afterwards
baptized with him at
Milan, eventually becoming
Bishop of Tagaste, his native city. But
Monica deeply deplored Augustine's
heresy and would not have received him into her home or at her table but for the advice of a
saintly bishop, who declared that "the son of so many tears could not perish." Soon afterwards
Augustine went to
Carthage, where he continued to teach rhetoric. His talents shone to even better advantage on this wider stage, and by an indefatigable pursuit of the
liberal arts his
intellect attained its full maturity. Having taken part in a poetic tournament, he carried off the prize, and the Proconsul Vindicianus publicly conferred upon him the
corona agonistica.
It was at this moment of literary intoxication, when he had just completed his first work on
æsthetics(now lost) that he began to repudiate
Manichæism. Even when
Augustine was in his first fervour, the
teachings of Mani had been far from quieting his restlessness, and although he has been accused of becoming a
priest of the
sect, he was never initiated or numbered among the "elect," but remained an "auditor" the lowest degree in the
hierarchy. He himself gives the reason for his disenchantment. First of all there was the fearful depravity of
Manichæan philosophy — "They destroy everything and build up nothing"; then, the dreadful immorality in contrast with their affectation of
virtue; the feebleness of their arguments in controversy with the
Catholics, to whose
Scriptural arguments their only reply was: "The
Scriptures have been falsified." But, worse than all, he did not find
science among them —
science in the modern sense of the word — that
knowledge of nature and its laws which they had promised him. When he questioned them concerning the movements of the stars, none of them could answer him. "Wait for Faustus," they said, "he will explain everything to you." Faustus of Mileve, the celebrated
Manichæan bishop, at last came to
Carthage;
Augustine visited and questioned him, and discovered in his responses the vulgar rhetorician, the utter stranger to all
scientific culture. The spell was broken, and, although
Augustine did not immediately abandon the
sect, his
mind rejected
Manichæan doctrines. The illusion had lasted nine years.
But the
religious crisis of this great
soul was only to be resolved in
Italy, under the influence of
Ambrose. In 383
Augustine, at the age of twenty-nine, yielded to the irresistible attraction which
Italy had for him, but his
mother suspected his departure and was so reluctant to be separated from him that he resorted to a subterfuge and embarked under cover of the night. He had only just arrived in
Rome when he was taken seriously ill; upon recovering he opened a
school of rhetoric, but, disgusted by the tricks of his pupils, who shamelessly defrauded him of their tuition fees, he applied for a vacant professorship at
Milan, obtained it, and was accepted by the prefect, Symmachus. Having visited
Bishop Ambrose, the fascination of that
saint's kindness induced him to become a regular attendant at his preachings.
However, before embracing the
Faith,
Augustine underwent a three years' struggle during which his
mind passed through several distinct phases. At first he turned towards the
philosophy of the Academics, with its
pessimistic scepticism; then
neo-Platonic philosophy inspired him with genuine enthusiasm. At
Milan he had scarcely read certain works of
Plato and, more especially, of Plotinus, before the
hope of finding the
truth dawned upon him. Once more he began to dream that he and his friends might lead a life dedicated to the search for it, a life purged of all vulgar aspirations after
honours,
wealth, or pleasure, and with
celibacy for its rule (
Confessions VI). But it was only a dream; his
passions still enslaved him.
Monica, who had joined her son at
Milan, prevailed upon him to become
betrothed, but his
affiancedbride was too young, and although
Augustine dismissed the mother of
Adeodatus, her place was soon filled by another. Thus did he pass through one last period of struggle and anguish. Finally, through the reading of the
Holy Scripture light penetrated his
mind. Soon he possessed the
certainty that
Jesus Christ is the only way to
truth and
salvation. After that resistance came only from the heart. An interview with Simplicianus, the future
successor of
St. Ambrose, who told
Augustine the story of the
conversion of the celebrated
neo-Platonic rhetorician, Victorinus (
Confessions VIII.1,
VIII.2), prepared the way for the grand stroke of
grace which, at the age of thirty-three, smote him to the ground in the garden at
Milan (September, 386). A few days later
Augustine, being ill, took advantage of the autumn holidays and, resigning his professorship, went with
Monica,
Adeodatus, and his friends to Cassisiacum, the country estate of
Verecundus, there to devote himself to the pursuit of
truephilosophy which, for him, was now inseparable from
Christianity.
From his conversion to his episcopate (386-395)
Augustine gradually became acquainted with
Christian doctrine, and in his
mind the fusion of
Platonicphilosophy with
revealed dogmas was taking place. The
law that governed this change of thought has of late years been frequently misconstrued; it is sufficiently important to be precisely defined. The solitude of Cassisiacum realized a long-cherished dream. In his books "Against the Academics,"
Augustine has described the ideal serenity of this existence, enlivened only by the passion for
truth. He completed the
education of his young friends, now by literary readings in common, now by
philosophical conferences to which he sometimes invited
Monica, and the accounts of which, compiled by a secretary, have supplied the foundation of the "Dialogues." Licentius, in his "Letters," would later on recall these delightful
philosophical mornings and evenings, at which
Augustine was wont to evolve the most elevating discussions from the most commonplace incidents. The favourite topics at their conferences were
truth,
certainty (Against the Academics),
true happiness in
philosophy (On a Happy Life), the
Providential order of the world and the problem of
evil (On Order) and finally
God and the
soul (
Soliloquies, On the Immortality of the Soul).
Here arises the curious question propounded modern critics: Was
Augustine a
Christian when wrote these "Dialogues" at Cassisiacum? Until now no one had
doubted it; historians, relying upon the
"Confessions", had all
believed that Augustine's retirement to the villa had for its twofold object the improvement of his health and his preparation for
baptism. But certain critics nowadays claim to have discovered a radical opposition between the
philosophical "Dialogues" composed in this retirement and the state of
soul described in the
"Confessions". According to Harnack, in writing the
"Confessions"Augustine must have projected upon the
recluse of 386 the sentiments of the
bishop of 400. Others go farther and maintain that the
recluse of the
Milanese villa could not have been at heart a
Christian, but a
Platonist; and that the scene in the garden was a
conversion not to
Christianity, but to
philosophy, the genuinely
Christian phase beginning only in 390.
But this interpretation of the "Dialogues" cannot withstand the test of facts and texts. It is admitted that
Augustine received
baptism at
Easter, 387; and who could suppose that it was for him a meaningless
ceremony? So too, how can it be admitted that the scene in the garden, the example of the
recluses, the reading of
St. Paul, the
conversion of Victorinus, Augustine's ecstasies in reading the
Psalms with
Monica were all invented after the fact? Again, as it was in 388 that
Augustine wrote his beautiful apology "On the Holiness of the Catholic Church," how is it conceivable that he was not yet a
Christian at that
date? To settle the argument, however, it is only necessary to read the "Dialogues" themselves. They are certainly a purely
philosophical work — a work of youth, too, not without some pretension, as
Augustine ingenuously acknowledges (
Confessions IX.4); nevertheless, they contain the entire history of his
Christian formation. As early as 386, the first work written at Cassisiacum reveals to us the great underlying motive of his researches. The object of his
philosophy is to give authority the support of
reason, and "for him the great authority, that which dominates all others and from which he never wished to deviate, is the authority of
Christ"; and if he loves the
Platonists it is because he counts on finding among them interpretations always in harmony with his
faith (Against the Academics, III, c. x). To be sure such confidence was excessive, but it remains evident that in these "Dialogues" it is a
Christian, and not a
Platonist, that speaks. He reveals to us the intimate details of his
conversion, the argument that convinced him (the life and conquests of the
Apostles), his progress in the
Faith at the school of
St. Paul (ibid., II, ii), his delightful conferences with his friends on the Divinity of
Jesus Christ, the wonderful transformations worked in his
soul by
faith, even to that victory of his over the
intellectual pride which his
Platonic studies had aroused in him (On The Happy Life, I, ii), and at last the gradual calming of his
passions and the great resolution to choose wisdom for his only spouse (Soliloquies, I, x).
It is now easy to appreciate at its
true value the influence of
neo-Platonism upon the
mind of the great
African Doctor. It would be impossible for anyone who has read the works of
St.
Augustine to deny the
existence of this influence. However, it would be a great exaggeration of this influence to pretend that it at any time sacrificed the
Gospel to
Plato. The same learned critic thus wisely concludes his study: "So long, therefore, as his
philosophy agrees with his
religious doctrines,
St.
Augustine is frankly
neo-Platonist; as soon as a contradiction arises, he never hesitates to subordinate his
philosophy to
religion,
reason to
faith. He was, first of all, a
Christian; the
philosophicalquestions that occupied his
mind constantly found themselves more and more relegated to the background" (op. cit., 155). But the method was a dangerous one; in thus seeking harmony between the two doctrines he thought too easily to find
Christianity in
Plato, or
Platonism in the
Gospel. More than once, in his "Retractations" and elsewhere, he acknowledges that he has not always shunned this danger. Thus he had
imagined that in
Platonism he discovered the entire doctrine of the
Word and the whole
prologue of St. John. He likewise disavowed a good number of
neo-Platonic theories which had at first misled him — the
cosmological thesis of the universal
soul, which makes the world one immense animal — the
Platonic doubts upon that grave question: Is there a single
soul for all or a distinct
soulfor each? But on the other hand, he had always reproached the
Platonists, as Schaff very properly remarks (Saint
Augustine, New York, 1886, p. 51), with being
ignorant of, or rejecting, the fundamental points of
Christianity: "first, the great
mystery, the
Word made flesh; and then
love, resting on the basis of
humility." They also ignore
grace, he says, giving sublime precepts of
moralitywithout any help towards realizing them.
It was this
Divine grace that
Augustine sought in
Christian baptism. Towards the beginning of
Lent, 387, he went to
Milan and, with
Adeodatus and
Alypius, took his place among the
competentes, being
baptized by
Ambrose on
Easter Day, or at least during Eastertide. The tradition maintaining that the
Te Deum was sung on that occasion by the
bishop and the
neophyte alternately is groundless. Nevertheless this
legend is certainly expressive of the joy of the
Church upon receiving as her son him who was to be her most illustrious
doctor. It was at this
time that
Augustine,
Alypius, and
Evodiusresolved to retire into solitude in
Africa.
Augustine undoubtedly remained at
Milan until towards autumn, continuing his works: "On the Immortality of the Soul" and "On Music." In the autumn of 387, he was about to embark at
Ostia, when
Monica was summoned from this life. In all literature there are no pages of more exquisite sentiment than the story of her
saintly death and Augustine's grief (
Confessions IX).
Augustine remained several months in
Rome, chiefly engaged in refuting
Manichæism. He sailed for
Africa after the death of the tyrant Maximus (August 388) and after a short sojourn in
Carthage, returned to his native Tagaste. Immediately upon arriving there, he wished to carry out his
idea of a
perfect life, and began by selling all his
goods and
giving the proceeds to the
poor. Then he and his friends withdrew to his estate, which had already been alienated, there to lead a common life in
poverty,
prayer, and the study of
sacred letters. Book of the "LXXXIII Questions" is the fruit of conferences held in this retirement, in which he also wrote "De Genesi contra Manichæos," "De Magistro," and, "De Vera Religione."
Augustine did not think of entering the
priesthood, and, through
fear of the
episcopacy, he even fled from cities in which an election was necessary. One day, having been summoned to
Hippo by a friend whose
soul's salvation was at stake, he was
praying in a
church when the people suddenly gathered about him, cheered him, and begged Valerius, the
bishop, to raise him to the
priesthood. In spite of his tears
Augustine was
obliged to yield to their entreaties, and was
ordained in 391. The new
priestlooked upon his
ordination as an additional reason for resuming
religious life at Tagaste, and so fully did Valerius approve that he put some
church property at Augustine's disposal, thus enabling him to establish a
monastery the second that he had founded. His
priestly ministry of five years was admirably fruitful; Valerius had bidden him preach, in spite of the deplorable
custom which in
Africareserved that ministry to
bishops.
Augustine combated
heresy, especially
Manichæism, and his success was prodigious. Fortunatus, one of their great
doctors, whom
Augustine had challenged in public conference, was so humiliated by his defeat that he fled from
Hippo.
Augustine also abolished the abuse of holding banquets in the
chapels of the
martyrs. He took part, 8 October, 393, in the
Plenary Council of Africa, presided over by
Aurelius,
Bishop of
Carthage, and, at the request of the
bishops, was
obliged to deliver a discourse which, in its completed form, afterwards became the treatise
"De Fide et symbolo".
As bishop of Hippo (396-430)
Enfeebled by old age, Valerius,
Bishop of
Hippo, obtained the authorization of
Aurelius,
Primate of
Africa, to associate
Augustine with himself as coadjutor.
Augustine had to resign himself to
consecration at the hands of Megalius,
Primate of Numidia. He was then forty two, and was to occupy the
See of Hippo for thirty-four years. The new
bishop understood well how to combine the exercise of his pastoral
duties with the
austerities of the
religious life, and although he left his
convent, his episcopal residence became a
monastery where he lived a community life with his
clergy, who bound themselves to observe
religious poverty. Was it an order of
regular clerics or of
monks that he thus founded? This is a question often asked, but we feel that
Augustine gave but little thought to such distinctions. Be that as it may, the episcopal house of
Hippo became a veritable nursery which supplied the founders of the
monasteries that were soon spread all over
Africa and the
bishops who occupied the neighbouring
sees.
Possidius (Vita S. August., xxii) enumerates ten of the
saint's friends and
disciples who were promoted to the
episcopacy. Thus it was that
Augustine earned the title of patriarch of the
religious, and renovator of the
clerical, life in
Africa.
But he was above all the defender of
truth and the shepherd of
souls. His
doctrinal activities, the influence of which was destined to last as long as the
Church itself, were manifold: he preached frequently, sometimes for five days consecutively, his
sermons breathing a spirit of
charity that won all hearts; he wrote
letters which scattered broadcast through the then
known world his solutions of the problems of that day; he impressed his spirit upon divers
African councils at which he assisted, for instance, those of
Carthage in 398, 401, 407, 419 and of
Mileve in 416 and 418; and lastly struggled indefatigably against all
errors. To relate these struggles were endless; we shall, therefore, select only the chief controversies and indicate in each the
doctrinal attitude of the great
Bishop of
Hippo.
The Manichæan controversy and the problem of evil
After
Augustine became
bishop the
zeal which, from the
time of his
baptism, he had manifested in bringing his former co-religionists into the
true Church, took on a more paternal form without losing its pristine ardour — "let those rage against us who
know not at what a bitter cost
truth is attained. . . . As for me, I should show you the same forbearance that my brethren had for me when I blind, was wandering in your doctrines" (
Contra Epistolam Fundamenti 3). Among the most memorable events that occurred during this controversy was the great victory won in 404 over Felix, one of the "elect" of the
Manichæans and the great
doctor of the
sect. He was propagating his
errors in
Hippo, and
Augustine invited him to a public conference the issue of which would necessarily
cause a great stir; Felix declared himself vanquished, embraced the
Faith, and, together with
Augustine, subscribed the acts of the conference. In his writings
Augustine successively refuted Mani (397), the famous Faustus (400), Secundinus (405), and (about 415) the
fatalistic Priscillianists whom
Paulus Orosius had
denounced to him. These writings contain the
saint's clear, unquestionable views on the
eternalproblem of
evil, views based on an
optimism proclaiming, like the
Platonists, that every work of
God is
good and that the only source of
moral evil is the
liberty of creatures (
City of God XIX.13.2).
Augustine takes up the defence of
free will, even in
man as he is, with such ardour that his works against the
Manichæan are an inexhaustible storehouse of arguments in this still living controversy.
In vain have the
Jansenists maintained that
Augustine was unconsciously a
Pelagian and that he afterwards acknowledged the loss of
liberty through the
sin of
Adam. Modern critics, doubtless unfamiliar with Augustine's complicated system and his peculiar terminology, have gone much farther. In the "Revue d'histoire et de littérature religieuses" (1899, p. 447), M. Margival exhibits
St.
Augustineas the victim of
metaphysical pessimism unconsciously imbibed from
Manichæan doctrines. "Never," says he, "will the
Oriental idea of the
necessity and the
eternity of
evil have a more
zealous defender than this
bishop." Nothing is more opposed to the facts.
Augustine acknowledges that he had not yet understood how the first
good inclination of the
will is a
gift of God (Retractions, I, xxiii, n, 3); but it should be remembered that he never retracted his leading theories on
liberty, never modified his opinion upon what constitutes its
essential condition, that is to say, the full power of choosing or of deciding. Who will dare to say that in revising his own writings on so important a point he lacked either clearness of perception or sincerity?
The Donatist controversy and the theory of the Church
The
Donatist schism was the last episode in the
Montanist and
Novatian controversies which had agitated the
Church from the second century. While the East was discussing under varying aspects the Divine and
Christological problem of the
Word, the
West, doubtless because of its more practical genius, took up the
moral question of
sin in all its forms. The general problem was the
holiness of the
Church; could the sinner be
pardoned, and remain in her bosom? In
Africa the question especially concerned the
holiness of the
hierarchy. The
bishops of Numidia, who, in 312, had refused to accept as valid the
consecration of Cæcilian,
Bishop of
Carthage, by a
traditor, had inaugurated the
schismand at the same
time proposed these grave questions: Do the
hierarchical powers depend upon the
moral worthiness of the
priest? How can the
holiness of the
Church be compatible with the unworthiness of its
ministers?
At the
time of Augustine's arrival in
Hippo, the
schism had attained immense proportions, having become identified with political tendencies — perhaps with a national movement against Roman domination. In any event, it is easy to discover in it an undercurrent of anti-social revenge which the emperors had to combat by strict
laws. The strange
sect known as "Soldiers of Christ," and called by
Catholics Circumcelliones (brigands, vagrants), resembled the revolutionary
sects of the
Middle Ages in point of fanatic destructiveness — a fact that must not be lost sight of, if the severe legislation of the emperors is to be properly appreciated.
The history of Augustine's struggles with the
Donatists is also that of his change of opinion on the employment of rigorous measures against the
heretics; and the
Church in Africa, of whose
councils he had been the very soul, followed him in the change. This change of views is solemnly attested by the
Bishop of
Hippo himself, especially in his Letters,
93 (in the year 408). In the beginning, it was by conferences and a friendly controversy that he sought to re-establish unity. He inspired various conciliatory measures of the
African councils, and sent ambassadors to the
Donatists to invite them to re-enter the
Church, or at least to urge them to send deputies to a conference (403). The
Donatistsmet these advances at first with silence, then with insults, and lastly with such
violence that
PossidiusBishop of Calamet, Augustine's friend, escaped death only by flight, the
Bishop of Bagaïa was left covered with horrible wounds, and the
life of the
Bishop of
Hippo himself was several times attempted (
Letter 88, to Januarius, the
Donatist bishop). This madness of the
Circumcellionesrequired harsh repression, and
Augustine,
witnessing the many
conversions that resulted therefrom, thenceforth approved rigid
laws. However, this important restriction must be pointed out: that
St.
Augustine never wished
heresy to be punishable by
death —
Vos rogamus ne occidatis (
Letter 100, to the Proconsul Donatus). But the
bishops still favoured a conference with the
schismatics, and in 410 an edict issued by Honorius put an end to the refusal of the
Donatists. A solemn conference took place at
Carthage, in June, 411, in presence of 286
Catholic, and 279
Donatist bishops. The
Donatistspokesmen were Petilian of Constantine, Primian of Carthage, and Emeritus of Cæsarea; the
Catholicorators,
Aurelius and
Augustine. On the historic question then at issue, the
Bishop of
Hippo provedthe innocence of Cæcilian and his
consecrator Felix, and in the
dogmatic debate he established the
Catholic thesis that the
Church, as long as it is upon earth, can, without losing its
holiness,
toleratesinners within its pale for the sake of
converting them. In the name of the emperor the Proconsul Marcellinus
sanctioned the victory of the
Catholics on all points. Little by little
Donatism died out, to disappear with the coming of the
Vandals.
So amply and magnificently did
Augustine develop his theory on the
Church that, according to Specht "he deserves to be named the
Doctor of the Church as well as the
Doctor of Grace"; and
Möhler(Dogmatik, 351) is not
afraid to write: "For depth of feeling and power of conception nothing written on the
Church since
St. Paul's time, is comparable to the works of
St.
Augustine." He has corrected, perfected, and even excelled the beautiful pages of
St. Cyprian on the Divine institution of the
Church, its authority, its essential marks, and its mission in the economy of
grace and the administration of the
sacraments. The
Protestant critics, Dorner, Bindemann, Böhringer and especially Reuter, loudly proclaim, and sometimes even exaggerate, this rôle of the
Doctor of
Hippo; and while Harnack does not quite agree with them in every respect he does not hesitate to say (History of Dogma, II, c. iii): "It is one of the points upon which
Augustine specially
affirms and strengthens the
Catholic idea.... He was the first [!] to transform the authority of the
Church into a
religious power, and to confer upon practical
religion the gift of a
doctrine of the Church." He was not the first, for Dorner acknowledges (Augustinus, 88) that
Optatus of Mileve had expressed the basis of the same
doctrines.
Augustine, however, deepened, systematized, and completed the views of
St. Cyprian and
Optatus. But it is impossible here to go into detail. (
See Specht, Die Lehre von der Kirche nach dem hl. Augustinus, Paderborn, 1892.)
The Pelagian controversy and the Doctor of Grace
The close of the struggle against the
Donatists almost coincided with the beginnings of a very grave
theological dispute which not only was to demand Augustine's unremitting attention up to the
time of his death, but was to become an
eternal problem for individuals and for the
Church. Farther on we shall enlarge upon Augustine's system; here we need only indicate the phases of the controversy.
Africa, where
Pelagius and his
disciple Celestius had sought refuge after the taking of
Rome by Alaric, was the principal centre of the first
Pelagian disturbances; as early as 412 a
council held at Carthagecondemned
Pelagians for their attacks upon the
doctrine of
original sin. Among other books directed against them by
Augustine was his famous
"De naturâ et gratiâ". Thanks to his activity the condemnation of these innovators, who had succeeded in deceiving a
synod convened at Diospolis in Palestine, was reiterated by
councils held later at
Carthage and
Mileve and confirmed by
Pope Innocent I (417). A second period of
Pelagian intrigues developed at
Rome, but
Pope Zosimus, whom the stratagems of Celestius had for a moment deluded, being enlightened by
Augustine, pronounced the solemn condemnation of these
heretics in 418. Thenceforth the combat was conducted in writing against
Julian of Eclanum, who assumed the leadership of the party and
violently attacked
Augustine.
Towards 426 there entered the lists a school which afterwards acquired the name of
Semipelagian, the first members being
monks of
Hadrumetum in
Africa, who were followed by others from
Marseilles, led by
Cassian, the celebrated
abbot of Saint-Victor. Unable to admit the absolute
gratuitousness of
predestination, they sought a middle course between
Augustine and
Pelagius, and maintained that
grace must be given to those who
merit it and denied to others; hence goodwill has the precedence, it desires, it asks, and
God rewards. Informed of their views by
Prosper of Aquitaine, the
holy Doctoronce more expounded, in
"De Prædestinatione Sanctorum", how even these first desires for
salvationare due to the
grace of God, which therefore absolutely controls our
predestination.
Struggles against Arianism and closing years
In 426 the
holy Bishop of
Hippo, at the age of seventy-two, wishing to spare his episcopal city the turmoil of an election after his death,
caused both
clergy and people to
acclaim the choice of the
deacon Heraclius as his auxiliary and
successor, and transferred to him the administration of externals.
Augustine might then have enjoyed some rest had
Africa not been agitated by the undeserved disgrace and the revolt of Count Boniface (427). The
Goths, sent by the Empress Placidia to oppose Boniface, and the
Vandals, whom the latter summoned to his assistance, were all
Arians. Maximinus, an
Arian bishop, entered
Hippo with the imperial troops. The
holy Doctor defended the
Faith at a public conference (428) and in various writings. Being deeply grieved at the devastation of
Africa, he laboured to effect a reconciliation between Count Boniface and the empress. Peace was indeed reestablished, but not with Genseric, the
Vandal king. Boniface, vanquished, sought refuge in
Hippo, whither many
bishops had already fled for protection and this well fortified city was to suffer the horrors of an eighteen months' siege. Endeavouring to control his anguish,
Augustine continued to refute
Julian of Eclanum; but early in the siege he was stricken with what he realized to be a fatal illness, and, after three months of admirable patience and fervent
prayer, departed from this land of exile on 28 August, 430, in the seventy-sixth year of his age.
