Augustine of Hippo, in his Letter 212 of c. 425, recommends to an African bishop two women who carry relics of *Stephen (the First Martyr, S00030). Written in Latin in Hippo (Numidia, central North Africa).
E01851
Literary - Letters
Augustine of Hippo
Augustine of Hippo, Letter 212
Domino beatissimo et merito uenerabili fratri et coepiscopo Quintiliano Augustinus in Domino salutem.
Honorabiles dei famulas et praecipua membra Christi, Gallam uiduam sancti propositi et eius filiam Simpliciolam uirginem sacram matri aetate subditam, sanctitate praelatam, quas uerbo domini aluimus, ut potuimus, uenerationi tuae in christi dilectione commendo et tamquam mea manu per hanc epistulam trado consolandas et in omnibus adiuuandas, quae utilitas earum uel necessitas postulat ... Portant sane se cum reliquias beatissimi et gloriosissimi martyris Stephani, quas non ignorat sanctitas uestra, sicut et nos fecimus, quam conuenienter honorare debeatis.
'To his most blessed lord and rightly venerable brother and fellow bishop, Quintilian, Augustine sends greetings in the Lord.
I commend to Your Reverence in the love of Christ the honorable servants of God and precious members of Christ, Galla, a widow who has made a holy commitment, and her daughter Simpliciola, a consecrated virgin, less than her mother in age but greater than her in holiness, whom we have nurtured as best we could with the word of the Lord. By this letter, as if by my own hand, I entrust them to you to be consoled and assisted in every way that their benefit or need demands ... In fact they are carrying with them relics of the most blessed and most glorious martyr, Stephen. Your Holiness knows how you ought to pay them due honor, as we also have done.'
Text: Goldbacher 1895, 357.
Translation: Teske 2001, 29.
Unspecified relic
Privately owned relics
Transfer/presence of relics from distant countries
Transfer, translation and deposition of relics
Protagonists in Cult and NarrativesEcclesiastics - bishops
Women
Ecclesiastics - monks/nuns/hermits
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.
Discussion
The episcopal see of Quintilian to whom this letter is addressed is unknown. The relics of *Stephen arrived in Africa c. 420. It is interesting to remark that they were partly in private hands.Bibliography
Edition:Goldbacher, A., Augustinus, Epistulae (ep. 185-270) (Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum 57; Vienna: Tempsky, 1911).
English translation:
Teske, R., The Works of Saint Augustine: A Translation for the 21st Century, vol. II 4 Letters 211-270, 1*-29* (New York: New City Press, 2005), 29.
Further reading:
Meyers, J., Les miracles de saint Etienne. Recherches sur le recueil pseudo-augustinien (BHL 7860-7861), avec édition critique, traduction et commentaire (Turnhout: Brepols, 2006).
Gauge, V., "Les routes d’Orose et les reliques d’Etienne," Antiquité Tardive 6 (1998), 265–286.
Robert Wiśniewski
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00030 | Stephen, the First Martyr | Stephanus | Certain |
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