Augustine of Hippo, in his treatise On the Care of the Dead, deals with the issue of the potential advantages of burial ad sanctos (i.e. close to the body of a saint); he rejects any direct benefit, but agrees there are some indirect ones. Written in Latin in Hippo Regius (Numidia, central North Africa), 420/422.
E01750
Literary - Other
Augustine of Hippo
Augustine of Hippo, On the Care of the Dead
Summary:
Augustine writes this treatise in response to a letter in which Paulinus, bishop of Nola, asked him whether burials ad sanctos bring any profit to the dead. Paulinus had been asked by a woman named Flora, who most probably lived in Africa, to bury her son who had died in Nola near the tomb of Felix the Confessor, the famous saint of this city. This request was granted, but Paulinus, even though convinced that what he did conformed with the custom of the Church and so was right, was looking for a theological justification of this practice and wanted to know Augustine's thoughts on this matter (ch. 1, see E01156).
Augustine's response is nuanced. First of all, he acknowledges that it is a duty of the living to bury their dead (chs. 2-3, 9). He also admits that the practice can be sensible, for two reasons. First, burying the dead in basilicas and at the memorial shrines of martyrs is soothing to the survivors, because they know that they properly fulfilled the duty of burying their kin. Second, it can be in a way beneficial to the dead, because the living, upon recollection of the place in which those whom they loved were buried, would pray to the saints who lay close to them and are able to intercede for them (chs. 6-7, 22).
Augustine rejects, however, any direct advantage for such interments and argues that even the lack of any burial whatsoever cannot directly affect the posthumous fate of the soul. This can be proven by the fact that the bodies of many martyrs, whose souls obviously were taken to heaven, were left unburied (chs. 6, 8, 11, see E01168). Martyrs actually overcame their natural anxiety over the fate of their bodies (ch. 10).
Moreover, he believes that no power can dwell in the bodies of the dead, for their souls, whether they dwell with God in heaven or not, have no contact with their bodies and with this world in general. The fact that the dead seem to appear to the living in visions, which apparently contradicts this opinion, is indeed difficult to explain. Yet in many cases these visions are a natural product of the sleeping man's mind. They can also be caused by the activity of angels who take the shape of the dead. In either case, these visions should not be interpreted as actual meetings with the souls of the dead (chs. 12-18).
Augustine acknowledges that miracles occur at the tombs of saints: Felix for instance appeared in Nola during a barbarian siege. Augustine has no clear explanation of this phenomenon. He suspects though that these miracles might be caused by angels, sent by God who wants to add glory to the martyrs and make people admire their virtues (chs. 19-21, see E01158 and E04769).
Text: Zycha 1900.
Summary: Robert Wiśniewski.
Burial site of a saint - unspecified
Non Liturgical ActivityBurial ad sanctos
Prayer/supplication/invocation
MiraclesMiracle during lifetime
Apparition, vision, dream, revelation
Miraculous interventions in war
Revelation of hidden knowledge (past, present and future)
RelicsBodily relic - unspecified
Protagonists in Cult and NarrativesWomen
Theorising on SanctityConsiderations about the validity of cult forms
Considerations about the nature 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 the treatise On the Care of the Dead in 420/422, in response to a letter in which Paulinus of Nola asked whether burials ad sanctos bring any profit to the dead. The response was nuanced. If Augustine rejected any direct advantage for such interments and argued that even the total lack of burial cannot affect directly the posthumous fate of the soul, he acknowledged that the practice can bring consolation to the living and indirectly help the dead for whom people visiting the graves of saints will pray.
Bibliography
Edition:Zycha, J. De cura pro mortuis gerenda (Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum 41; Vienna: Tempsky, 1900), 619-660.
English translation:
Browne, H., On the Care of the Dead (Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, vol. 3; Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1887).
Further reading:
Duval, Y., Auprès des saints corps et âme. L'inhumation « ad sanctos » dans la chrétienté d'Orient et d'Occident du IIIe siècle au VIIe siècle (Paris: Études Augustiniennes 1988).
Robert Wiśniewski
27/06/2016
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00000 | Felix, priest and confessor of Nola | Felix | Certain |
|---|
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