Augustine of Hippo preaches a sermon, possibly at Hippo Regius (Numidia, central North Africa) and probably on the feast of *Cyprian (bishop and martyr of Carthage, S00411). Exposition on Psalm 88 (Sermon 1), delivered in Latin, 392/417.
Evidence ID
E01767
Type of Evidence
Literary - Sermons/Homilies
Major author/Major anonymous work
Augustine of Hippo
Augustine of Hippo, Exposition on Psalm 88, sermon 1, ch. 27
Martyres nostri, quorum natalitia celebramus, sanguinem suum propter haec credita et nondum uisa fuderunt; quanto fortiores nos esse debemus, uidendo quod illi crediderunt?
'Our martyrs, whose annual feast (natalitia) we are celebrating, shed their blood for that in which they had believed, but did not see. How much stronger should be, having seen in what they believed!'
Text: Dekkers & Fraipont 1956.
Translation: Robert Wiśniewski.
Liturgical Activities
Sermon/homily
FestivalsSaint’s feast
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 from 392 to 417. The two sermons on Ps 88 (see E01768) were preached the same day, that is, according to the lemma of a single manuscript (Vallicelianus B. 38), on the feast of *Cyprian of Carthage: Habitus in natale sancti Cypriani vigiliis. Yet in both sermons Augustine refers only generally to the feast of martyrs, always in the plural. It is impossible to say where the sermon was preached, Hippo, Augustine's episcopal see, is just a default location. See La Bonnardière, 96-97.
Bibliography
Edition:Dekkers, E. & 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
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00411 | Cyprian, bishop and martyr of Carthage | Certain |
|---|
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Robert Wiśniewski, Cult of Saints, E01767 - http://csla.history.ox.ac.uk/record.php?recid=E01767