E02626
Literary - Sermons/Homilies
Augustine of Hippo
Augustine of Hippo, Sermon Dolbeau 6 (=299A auctus)
1. Sancti diei festiuitatem quae nos hodie congregat, ualde notam et auribus et mentibus et actibus uestris, eiusdem gratulationis uobis cum participes et uobis cum laeti commemoramus. Petri et Pauli Apostolorum natalis illuxit, natalis non qui mundo implicauit, sed qui de mundo liberauit ... Et hic dies ob eorum meritum festus est nobis propositus ad celebrandi sollemnitatem et ad imitandi sanctitatem, ut recordantes martyrum gloriam amemus in eis quod oderant qui occiderunt, et amantes uirtutem honoremus passionem... Vnus dies duorum martyrum et duorum apostolorum: quantum ecclesiae traditione percepimus, non uno die ambo passi sunt, et uno die ambo passi sunt.
'I am delighted to be sharing in your joy and your gratitude, as we commemorate this holy day, which has brought us all together today for its celebration: it is of course very familiar to your ears, your minds and your actions. It is the birthday (natalis) of the Apostles Peter and Paul, which has dawned today, not the birthday which entangled them in the world, but the one which set them free from the world ... And it is on account of their merits that this day has been set before us for the solemn celebration of their feast and the imitation of their holiness, so that by recalling the glory of the martyrs we might love in them what those who slew them hated, and by loving their manly courage we might honour their sufferings. One day for two martyrs and two apostles; as far as we have gathered from the tradition of the Church, they did not suffer on one and the same day, and yet they did suffer on one and the same day. Peter was the first to suffer on this day, Paul suffered on this day later on.'
In what follows Augustine comments upon to the New Testament stories of Peter and Paul, strongly emphasising that they should be taken as an example for the Christians. In § 8 he refers to the the texts, having been read publicly, in which some martyrs confessed their faith faith before the judge. Occasionally he mentions the Donatists, and returns to them in the last phrase of the sermon, in which he comments upon Psalm 19:4 saying that 'their (here: the Apostle's) voice has gone to the ends of the world':
9. ... Quid contra ista haeretici recitabunt? Puto quia et ipsi hodie celebrant natalem apostolorum; adfectant quidem istum diem celebrare, sed non audent istum psalmum cantare.
'What will the heretics chant against this? I imagine that they too are celebrating the birthday of the apostles today; they pretend, indeed, to celebrate this day, but they certainly daren't sing this psalm.'
Text: Dolbeau 1996, 511 and 520.
Translation: Hill 1997, 264 and 272.
Summary: Robert Wiśniewski.
Sermon/homily
Service for the saint
FestivalsSaint’s feast
Non Liturgical ActivityTransmission, copying and reading saint-related texts
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.
Because of the nature of its anti-Donatist content, Dolbeau 1996, 506-7, dates this sermon to 403/406, most probably 404/405. If delivered in 404 the sermon would have been preached in Carthage; if in any other of the possible years, in Hippo.
Bibliography
Edition and commentary:Dolbeau, F., Augustin d'Hippone, Vingt-six sermons au peuple d'Afrique (Etudes Augustiniennes, Antiquité, vol. 147; Paris, 1996), 511-520.
Translation:
Hill, E., The Works of Saint Augustine. A Translation for the 21st Century, vol. III 11, Newly discovered sermons (New York: New City Press, 1997).
Robert Wiśniewski
28/02/2017
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00008 | Paul, the Apostle | Paulus | Certain | S00036 | Peter, the Apostle | Petrus | Certain |
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