E02340
Literary - Sermons/Homilies
Augustine of Hippo
Augustine of Hippo, Sermon 279
13.Christianum diem renouamus in memoriam caritati uestrae; quamuis fieri non possit, ut de cordibus uestris obliuione deletum sit. Sed hoc commendamus, quia sollemnitatem christianam et pagani et impii propter alias quasdam causas suas paulatim ueterescentes, ergo etiam pagani eundem diem uidentur sibi celebrare. Male, nequiter, infeliciter: sed quam multi inde liberentur, ante oculos uestros est. Ueterescent ista; sed nolite illa adiuuare, discernite uos ab eis, uos diuina quaerite.Sancti Iohannis diem celebraturi sumus, Iohannis Baptistae, praecursoris Domini, amici sponsi, cum tota castitate, cum tota sobrietate.
'13. Let me now refresh the memory of your graces about a Christian day; although it's impossible that you should have forgotten about it. But I'm impressing it upon you, because the pagans too, and the ungodly, for their own different and now somewhat dated reasons, yes even the pagans consider that they are celebrating this same day, this Christian solemnity. They do it wrongly, wickedly, miserably; but how many there are who need to be liberated from all that, you can see with your own eyes. These things will get out of date; but don't lend them your assistance, distance yourselves from them, you for your part seek divine celebrations. We are going to celebrate Saint John's day, John the Baptist, the Lord's forerunner, the friend of the bridegroom, with complete chastity, with total sobriety. They, when they notice you with surprise diverging from their enjoyments, little by little in that way follow your example; and all that stuff will become dated, and disappear.'
[...]
Itaque, fratres, crastinum diem celebrabimus, sicut dixi, in nomine Domini, sancti Iohannis Baptistae. Post septem dies, id est die sabbato, celebrabimus etiam natalicium martyrum sanctorum Petri et Pauli.
'And so, brothers, as I said, we shall be celebrating tomorrow, in the Lord's name, the feast of Saint John the Baptist. In seven days' time, that is on Saturday, we shall also be celebrating the birthday of the holy martyrs Peter and Paul.'
Text: Morin 1930, 592.
Translation: Hill 1994, 68-69.
Sermon/homily
FestivalsSaint’s feast
Activities accompanying CultFeasting (eating, drinking, dancing, singing, bathing)
Protagonists in Cult and NarrativesEcclesiastics - bishops
Theorising on SanctityRelationships with pagan practices
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 tentatively dated to 401 on the basis of intertextual references and its place in the collection of Augustine's sermons. We know that Augustine was then in Carthage.
Discussion
The feast of the birth of John was (and still is) celebrated on 24 June; this was believed to be the summer solstice - hence the clash with earlier ('pagan') celebrations. The feast of Peter and Paul was (and is) on 29 June.Bibliography
Edition:Morin, G., Sancti Augustini Sermones post Maurinos reperti (Miscellanea Agostiniana, vol. 1; Rome: Tipografia Poliglotta Vaticana, 1930).
Translation:
Hill, E., The Works of Saint Augustine. A Translation for the 21st Century, vol. III 8, Sermons 273-305A on the Saints (New York: New City Press, 1994).
Dating:
Kunzelmann, A., "Die Chronologie der sermones des hl. Augustinus," Miscellanea Agostiniana, vol. 2 (Rome: Tipografia Poliglotta Vaticana, 1931), 417-452.
Robert Wiśniewski
03/01/2017
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00008 | Paul, the Apostle | Paulus | Certain | S00020 | John the Baptist | Iohannes Baptista, precursor Domini | Certain | S00036 | Peter, the Apostle | Petrus | Certain |
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