Augustine of Hippo, in his City of God (22.8), tells how two siblings from Cappadocia (central Asia Minor)were healed at the memorial shrine of *Stephen (the First Martyr, S00030) in Hippo Regius (Numidia, central North Africa) at Easter c. 425. The account of this miracle is publicly read in the church. Written in Latin in Hippo, 426/427.
E01135
Literary - Other
Augustine of Hippo
Augustine of Hippo, City of God 22.8
Summary:
Having enumerated a number of contemporary miracles, especially in Hippo and other places in North Africa, in which relics of Stephen were deposited, Augustine presents in detail a miracle that he qualifies as greater, more evident, and better known that those named above.
Ten siblings in Cappadocia are cursed by their mother and they are seized by shaking of their limbs. They wander through the Roman world and two of them, Paul and Palladia, come to Hippo, two weeks before Easter. They visit the church every day and pray at the memorial shrine (memoria) of Stephen. Just before the mass of Easter, Paul, who holds the railings of the holy place (loci sancti cancelli), 'where the relics are' (ubi martyrium erat) of Stephen, suddenly falls asleep and after waking up does not tremble anymore. People in the church shout with joy. Augustine celebrates mass. Next day he promises the congregation that on the following day a written account (libellus) of the miracle will be read in the church, and it is read accordingly in the presence of the siblings. When, after the reading, they withdraw to the memoria, Palladia is healed as well.
Summary: Robert Wiśniewski.
Cult building - independent (church)
Cult building - dependent (chapel, baptistery, etc.)
Descriptions of cult places
MiraclesHealing diseases and disabilities
Miracle after death
RelicsBodily relic - unspecified
Protagonists in Cult and NarrativesWomen
Ecclesiastics - bishops
Foreigners (including Barbarians)
Other lay individuals/ people
Crowds
Cult Related ObjectsRegisters of miracles
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 story of Paul and Palladia is known also from Augustine's Sermons 321-324 (E03631, E03632, E03660 and E03851) which were delivered on four successive days, from Easter Sunday to Tuesday. Sermon 322 (E03660) contains the libellus, the written account that Augustine refers to in this passage.The term memoria (literally 'memory' or 'memorial') is also 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 (as here) no substantive difference in the ways he uses the word.
Augustine does not suggest that the fame of the relics of Stephen held at Hippo reached Cappadocia, but evidently wants to show that Hippo was not just a local cult centre.
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 |
|---|
Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL:
Robert Wiśniewski, Cult of Saints, E01135 - http://csla.history.ox.ac.uk/record.php?recid=E01135