Augustine of Hippo preaches a sermon at the feast of *Vincent (almost certainly the deacon and martyr of Zaragoza and Valencia, S00290). Sermon 4, delivered in Latin, possibly in Hippo Regius (Numidia, central North Africa), early in the 5th c.
Evidence ID
E01948
Type of Evidence
Literary - Sermons/Homilies
Major author/Major anonymous work
Augustine of Hippo
Augustine of Hippo, Sermon 4.36
Has uobis epulas exhibuerit sanctus dominus Deus noster per natalicia martyris sui Vincenti. Nomen uictoriae est. Amate autem, ut uincatis. Non enim deest persecutio. Diabolus persecutor est, numquam deficit occasio coronae.
'Such a treat the Holy Lord our God prepared for you for the yearly feast of his martyr, Vincentius. His is the name of victory. Love then, in order to win. For the persecution has not disappeared. The devil is the persecutor and no one lacks an opportunity to win the crown.'
There follows a passage on the ways in which the devil persecutes or tries contemporary Christians.
Text: Lambot 1961, 47.
Translation and summary: Robert Wiśniewski.
Liturgical Activities
Sermon/homily
FestivalsSaint’s feast
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.
This sermon is dated tentatively to the early 5th century on the basis of intertextual references with other of Augustine's writings.
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 1. Sermons 1-19 (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.
Record Created By
Robert Wiśniewski
Date of Entry
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00290 | Vincentius/Vincent, deacon and martyr of Zaragoza and Valencia | Vincentius | Certain |
|---|
Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL:
Robert Wiśniewski, Cult of Saints, E01948 - http://csla.history.ox.ac.uk/record.php?recid=E01948