Augustine of Hippo preaches a sermon in Carthage (central North Africa), in the Basilica Novarum, on the feast day of the *Scillitan Martyrs (martyrs in Carthage from Scillium, S00913). Sermon 37, delivered in Latin, 397/411.
Evidence ID
E01932
Type of Evidence
Literary - Sermons/Homilies
Major author/Major anonymous work
Augustine of Hippo
Augustine of Hippo, Sermon 37
[Sermo habitus in natale martirum Scilitanorum in Basilica Novarum ubi dicit mulierem fortem quis inuenit
'Sermon preached on the feast of the Scillitan martyrs, in the Basilica Novarum, in which he says: "who will find a virtuous woman?"']
In ch. 1 Augustine comments upon Proverbs 31:10 ('who can find a virtuous wife?') and refers these words to the Church, which is the virtuous woman and the mother of the martyrs:
Dies est enim martyrum, et ideo magis laudanda est mater martyrum.
'This is the day of the martyrs, and so we should praise the mother of the martyrs'.
In what follows no martyrs are mentioned.
Text: Lambot 1961, 446-447.
Summary and 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.
This sermon was preached in Carthage, its dating is uncertain (397 according to Lambot 1961, p. 445; 411 according to Kunzelmann 1931, p. 444).
Discussion
The Basilica Novarum was a suburban basilica whose name, literally the 'Basilica of the new ones', almost certainly refers to the areae novae, or the 'new cemeteries'; see Ennabli 1997, 27.Bibliography
Edition:Lambot, , C., Sermones de vetere testamento (1-50) (Corpus Christianorum. Series Latina, 41; Turnhout: Brepols, 1961).
Translation:
Hill, E. The Works of Saint Augustine: A Translation for the 21st Century, vol. III 2. Sermons 20-50 (New York: New City Press, 1990).
Dating:
Kunzelmann, A., "Die Chronologie der sermones des hl. Augustinus," Miscellanea Agostiniana, vol. 2 (Rome: Tipografia Poliglotta Vaticana, 1931), 417-452.
Basilica:
Ennabli, L., Carthage. Une métropole chrétienne du IVe à la fin du VIIe siècle (Paris: Études d'Antiquités Africaines, 1997).
Record Created By
Robert Wiśniewski
Date of Entry
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00913 | Scillitan Martyrs, martyrs in Carthage from Scillium | Scilitani | Certain |
|---|
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