Augustine, while a priest in Hippo Regius, in his Letter 29 of 394/396 to Alypius, bishop of Thagaste, recounts events which took place in Hippo (Numidia, central North Africa) during the feast of an unnamed saint, probably *Leontius (bishop of Hippo, S01685). He emphasises his efforts to put an end to the custom of excessive eating and drinking on such occasions and mentions similar unsuitable celebrations in Rome, at the basilica of *Peter (the Apostle, S00036). Written in Latin in Hippo.
E01837
Literary - Letters
Augustine of Hippo
Augustine of Hippo, Letter 29.10
In some manuscripts the colophon says that the letter concerned the feast of Leontius, bishop of Hippo.
Augustine tells Alypius how the congregation in Hippo protested against the prohibition of celebrating a laetitia (joy), which usually consisted in excessive eating and heavy drinking. In the days preceding the feast, Augustine preached against this custom, emphasising how wicked it was to relish carnal pleasures in the name of religion, particularly within the walls of the church. Augustine summarises the last of these sermons. In this context he says what follows:
Deinde hortatus sum, ut transmarinarum ecclesiarum, in quibus partim ista recepta numquam sunt, partim iam per bonos rectores populo obtemperante correcta, imitatores esse uellemus. Et quoniam de basilica beati apostoli Petri cotidianae uinulentiae proferebantur exempla, dixi primo audisse nos saepe esse prohibitum, sed quod remotus sit locus ab episcopi conuersatione et in tanta ciuitate magna sit carnalium multitudo peregrinis praesertim, qui noui subinde ueniunt, tanto uiolentius quanto inscitius illam consuetudinem retinentibus, tam immanem pestem nondum compesci sedari que potuisse. Verum tamen nos si Petrum apostolum honoraremus, debere praecepta eius audire et multo deuotius epistulam, in qua uoluntas eius apparet, quam basilicam, in qua non apparet, intueri; statim que accepto codice recitaui, ubi ait ...
'Then I exhorted them that we should want to be imitators of the Church across the sea in which these practices were in part never accepted and in part corrected by good pastors with the obedience of the people. And because examples of daily drunkenness in the basilica of the blessed apostle Peter were brought forth, I first said that we had heard that this had often been forbidden, but that the place was distant from the residence of the bishop and in so large a city there is a great multitude of people who live according to the flesh, especially since travelers, when they first arrive there, retain that custom with more insistence, the more ignorant they are. Hence, so great a plague could not as yet be brought under control and quieted down. If, nonetheless, we wanted to honor the apostle Peter, we ought to heed his commandments and to look with more devotion at his Letter, in which his will is seen, rather than at his basilica, in which it is not seen. And having immediately taken up the book, I read out where it says ...'
There follows a quotation from 1 Peter 4.1-3. In paragraph 11 Augustine refers to an afternoon celebration of the same feast he claims than when he spoke the noise of feasting and revelry was heard from the 'church of the heretics', i.e. the Donatist basilica.
Text: Goldbacher 1895, 120.
Translation: Teske 2001, 99.
Summary: Robert Wiśniewski.
Sermon/homily
FestivalsSaint’s feast
Cult PlacesCult building - independent (church)
Activities accompanying CultFeasting (eating, drinking, dancing, singing, bathing)
Rejection, Condemnation, SceptisismCondemnation/rejection of a specific cultic activity
Protagonists in Cult and NarrativesCrowds
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.
This letter must have been written after 394, since only then did Alypius become the bishop of Thagaste, but before 396/7 when Augustine became bishop of Hippo.
Bibliography
Edition:Goldbacher, A., Augustinus, Epistulae (ep. 1-30) (Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum 34/1; Vienna: Tempsky, 1895).
English translation:
Teske, R., The Works of Saint Augustine: A Translation for the 21st Century. Letters 1-99, vol. II 1 (New York: New City Press, 2001), 95-100.
Robert Wiśniewski
27/06/2016
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00036 | Peter, the Apostle | Petrus | Certain | S01685 | Leontius, bishop of Hippo, ob. 4th c.? | Uncertain |
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