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The Cult of Saints in Late Antiquity


from its origins to circa AD 700, across the entire Christian world


Augustine of Hippo, in a sermon preached almost certainly in Carthage (central North Africa), invites the congregation to gather on the morrow at the table (mensa) of *Cyprian (bishop and martyr of Carthage, S00411), and also mentions a feast of unnamed martyrs which will be celebrated on the following day. Exposition on Psalm 80, delivered in Latin, 392/417.

Evidence ID

E01763

Type of Evidence

Literary - Sermons/Homilies

Major author/Major anonymous work

Augustine of Hippo

Augustine of Hippo, Exposition on Psalm 80, ch. 23

Etiam in crastinum diem inuitamus caritatem uestram. Cras illi habent, ut audiuimus, mare in theatro: nos habeamus portum in Christo. Sed quoniam perendino die, id est, quarta sabbati, non possumus ad mensam Cypriani conuenire, quia festiuitas est sanctorum martyrum; crastino ad ipsam mensam conueniamus.

'We invite your Charity also for tomorrow. Tomorrow they have, as we have heard, a sea in the theatre; let us have a port in Christ. Yet since the day after tomorrow, that is on the fourth day after the Sabbath (Wednesday) we cannot gather at the sacred table of Cyprian, for there is a feast of holy martyrs, we will gather at this sacred table tomorrow.'


Text: Dekkers & Fraipont 1956.
Translation: Robert Wiśniewski.

Liturgical Activities

Sermon/homily

Festivals

Saint’s feast

Cult Places

Burial site of a saint - tomb/grave
Altar

Protagonists in Cult and Narratives

Ecclesiastics - bishops

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.

The
Expositions on the Psalms are based on Augustine's homilies preached either in Hippo or in other places in North Africa in the period between 392 and 417.


Discussion

We cannot identify the group of martyrs whose feast Augustine has in mind. The table (mensa) of Cyprian almost certainly refers to his tomb in Carthage. This passage shows that it could have been difficult to attract people to a Christian feast when secular festivities took place at the same time.


Bibliography

Edition:
Dekkers, E., and Fraipont, J., Enarrationes in psalmos (Corpus Christianorum, Series Latina, 38; Turnhout: Brepols, 1956).

About the text:
La Bonnardière, M.A., "Les Enarrationes in Psalmos prêchées par saint Augustin à l'occasion de fêtes des martyrs," Recherches Augustiniennes 7 (1971), 73-104.


Record Created By

Robert Wiśniewski

Date of Entry

27/06/2016

Related Saint Records
IDNameName in SourceIdentity
S00060Martyrs, unnamed or name lostCertain
S00411Cyprian, bishop and martyr of CarthageCyprianusCertain


Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL:
Robert Wiśniewski, Cult of Saints, E01763 - http://csla.history.ox.ac.uk/record.php?recid=E01763