Augustine of Hippo, in his City of God (22.8), tells how relics of *Stephen (the First Martyr, S00030), were deposited in Calama (Numidia, central North Africa); a few men, from Calama and other places, were healed there and one man was converted. Written in Latin in Hippo Regius (central North Africa), 426/427.
E01116
Literary - Other
Augustine of Hippo
Augustine of Hippo, City of God 22.8
Eucharius est presbyter ex Hispania, Calamae habitat, uetere morbo calculi laborabat; per memoriam supradicti martyris, quam Possidius illo aduexit episcopus, saluus factus est. Idem ipse postea morbo alio praeualescente mortuus sic iacebat, ut ei iam pollices ligarentur; opitulatione memorati martyris, cum de memoria eius reportata esset et super iacentis corpus missa ipsius presbyteri tunica, suscitatus est.
'Eucharius, a priest from Spain, residing at Calama, was for a long time a sufferer from stone. By the relics (memoria) of the same martyr, which the bishop Possidius brought him, he was cured. Afterwards the same priest, sinking under another disease, was lying dead, and already they were binding his hands. By the succour of the same martyr he was raised to life, the priest's cloak having been brought from the memorial shrine (memoria) and laid upon the corpse.'
There follows a story of a pagan nobleman, Martialis from Calama. When he gets seriously ill his daughter and son-in law beseech him to become Christian, but Martialis refuses. His son-in-law prays at the memorial shrine (memoria) of Stephen, takes a flower from this place and puts it at the head of Martialis. In the morning the latter calls for the bishop, is baptised, and dies in peace.
Sanati sunt illic per eundem martyrem etiam podagri duo ciues, peregrinus unus: sed ciues omni modo; peregrinus autem per reuelationem, quid adhiberet quando doleret, audiuit; et cum hoc fecerit, dolor continuo conquiescit.
'There, too, by the same martyr, two citizens, and one stranger, were cured of gout; but while the citizens were absolutely cured, the stranger was only informed what he should apply when the pain returned; and when he followed this advice, the pain was at once relieved.'
Text: Dombart and Kalb 1955.
Translation: Dods 1887, lightly modified.
Cult building - unspecified
Non Liturgical ActivityPrayer/supplication/invocation
MiraclesMiracle after death
Healing diseases and disabilities
Miracles causing conversion
RelicsBodily relic - unspecified
Contact relic - cloth
Protagonists in Cult and NarrativesEcclesiastics - bishops
Ecclesiastics - lesser clergy
Pagans
Other lay individuals/ people
Women
Foreigners (including Barbarians)
Cult Related ObjectsFlowers
Source
Augustine of Hippo was born in 354 in the north African city of Thagaste. He received an education in rhetoric at Carthage, and after a period teaching there moved to Rome, and then in 384 to a public professorship of rhetoric in Milan. In these early years of adulthood Augustine was a Manichaean, but then got disillusioned with this religion, and in Milan in 386, largely under the influence of Ambrose, bishop of the city, he converted to Christianity, and was baptised by Ambrose in 387. Returning to Africa in 388, he was ordained a priest in 391 at Hippo Regius (in the province of Numidia), and rapidly acquired a reputation as a preacher. In 395 he became bishop of Hippo, which he remained until his death in 430. Details of his early life were recorded by Augustine himself in his Confessions, and shortly after his death a pupil and long-time friend, Possidius, wrote his Life, focused on Augustine as an effective Christian writer, polemicist and bishop (E00073).Amongst his many writings, the most informative on the cult of saints are his numerous Sermons, the City of God, and a treatise On the Care of the Dead. The Sermons tell us which saints (primarily African, but with some from abroad) received attention in Hippo, Carthage and elsewhere, and provide occasional details of miracles and cult practices. The City of God records the distribution, and subsequent miracles, of the relics of saint Stephen, after they arrived in Africa from Palestine in around 420. On the Care of the Dead, discusses the possible advantages of burial ad sanctos (in other words, close to a saint), and theorises on the link between the saints who dwell in heaven and their corporeal remains buried in their graves. In these works, and others, Augustine reveals his own particular beliefs about the saints, their relics and their miracles.
Augustine wrote Book 22 of the City of God in Hippo, in 426/427. Chapters 8-9 enumerate a number of contemporary miracles, most of which took place in Hippo and other cities of North Africa, either at the relics of Stephen, the first martyr or those of *Gervasius and Protasius, martyrs in Milan.
Discussion
The term memoria (literally 'memory' or 'memorial') is used by Augustine both for the shrines of martyrs and, more narrowly, for their relics. Since it is evident that, for Augustine, the memorial shrine (memoria) of a saint contained relics of that saint, there is often no substantive difference in the ways he uses the word. Here he is clearly referring primarily to relics.Bibliography
Edition:Dombart, B., and Kalb, A., Augustinus, De civitate dei, 2 vols. (Corpus Christianorum Series Latina 47-48; Turnhout: Brepols, 1955).
English translation:
Dods, M., Augustine, The City of God (Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, vol. 2; Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1887).
Further reading:
Meyers, J., Les miracles de saint Etienne. Recherches sur le recueil pseudo-augustinien (BHL 7860-7861), avec édition critique, traduction et commentaire (Turnhout: Brepols, 2006).
Robert Wiśniewski
21/02/2016
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00030 | Stephen, the First Martyr | Stephanus | Certain |
|---|
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