Augustine of Hippo preaches a sermon on the feast of the nativity of *John the Baptist (S00020). Sermon 293, delivered in Latin, possibly in Hippo Regius (Numidia, central North Africa) in 413.
Evidence ID
E02431
Type of Evidence
Literary - Sermons/Homilies
Major author/Major anonymous work
Augustine of Hippo
Augustine of Hippo, Sermon 293
[In natali Ioannis Baptistae
'On the birthday of John the Baptist]
Sancti Ioannis, cuius natiuitatem, cum euangelium legeretur, mirantes audiuimus, solemnitatem hodie celebramus.
'It's the feast of Saint John, about whose birth we heard with wonder when the gospel was being read, that we are celebrating today.'
In what follows Augustine comments upon the relation between Christ and John the Baptist, emphasises that they are the only men whose earthly birthdays the Church celebrates, and reflects on the dates of their respective solemnities, the winter and summer solstices. He also presents John as an example of humility and Christ as the only mediator between people and God (§§ 7-8).
Text: Patrologia Latina 38, 1327.
Translation: Hill 1994, 148.
Summary: Robert Wiśniewski.
Liturgical ActivitiesSermon/homily
FestivalsConsiderations about the veneration of saints
Sermon/homily
Service for the saint
FestivalsSaint’s feast
Protagonists in Cult and NarrativesEcclesiastics - bishops
Theorising on SanctityConsiderations about the veneration of saints
Relationships 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 dated to 413 on the basis of intertextual references and its place in the collection of Augustine's sermons.
Bibliography
Edition:Migne, J.P., Patrologia Latina 38 (Paris, 1865).
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.
Record Created By
Robert Wiśniewski
Date of Entry
03/01/2017
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00020 | John the Baptist | Ioannes Baptista | Certain |
|---|
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