Augustine of Hippo preaches two sermons at the feast of *Cyprian (bishop and martyr of Carthage, S00411) in Carthage (central North Africa). Exposition 2 on Psalm 32 (Sermon 1), delivered in Latin, c. 403.
E01786
Literary - Sermons/Homilies
Augustine of Hippo
Augustine of Hippo, Exposition 2 on Psalm 32, sermon 1 (lemma in Codex Neapolitanus 13)
In Mappalibus. Per vigilias sancti martyris Cypriani.
'At Mappalia. On the vigil of St Cyprian the martyr'.
Exposition 2 on Psalm 32, sermon 1 (lemma in Codex Neapolitanus 13)
Ad mensam eius
'At his altar (mensa)'
Exposition 2 on Psalm 32, sermon 2.1
... Psalmi huius primarum partium pauci uersus uigiliarum nuper actarum sollemnitate tractati sunt; quod restat audiamus.
'... A few verses from the first part of this psalm were discussed recently at the solemn vigil. Let us listen to the rest.'
Exposition 2 on Psalm 32, sermon 2.9
... Locus iste, quando martyris beati corpus percussum est, lupis plenus erat; uicit tot lupos una ouis capta, et impleuit locum ouibus ouis occisa.
'... This very place in which the body of the blessed martyr was struck was then full of wolves. And one captured sheep won over so many wolves, and this killed sheep filled the place with sheep.'
Text: Dekkers and Fraipont 1956.
Translation: Robert Wiśniewski
Sermon/homily
FestivalsSaint’s feast
Cult PlacesAltar
Place of martyrdom of a saint
Protagonists in Cult and NarrativesEcclesiastics - 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 other places in North Africa in the period from 392 to 417. According to la Bonnardière, 76-79, the two sermons which constitute the second exposition on Psalm 32 were preached in 403, for Augustine refers in them to the council held this year at Carthage. Both sermons were delivered in this city at the feast of *Cyprian, martyr at Carthage, which is attested by the lemmas in Codex Napolitanus 13. Sermon 1 was preached at the vigil of the feast, in the basilica called Mappalia, at the tomb of Cyprian, and Sermon 2 on the feast day, in another church, at the place of his execution, known otherwise as Ager Sexti.
Bibliography
Edition:Dekkers, E., and Fraipont, J., Enarrationes in psalmos (Corpus Christianorum, Series Latina 38; Turnhout: Brepols, 1956).
Further reading:
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.
About the topography of Christian Carthage:
Ennabli, L., Carthage, une métropole chrétienne du IVe à la fin du VIIe siècle (Paris: CNRS Éditions, 1997).
Leone, A., Changing Townscapes in North Africa from Late Antiquity to the Arab Conquest (Bari: Edipuglia, 2007).
Robert Wiśniewski
27/06/2016
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00411 | Cyprian, bishop and martyr of Carthage | Cyprianus | Certain |
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