Augustine of Hippo preaches a sermon on the feast of the *Scillitan Martyrs (martyrs in Carthage from Scillium, S00913), referring to their Acts. Sermon 299E, delivered in Latin, probably in Carthage (central North Africa), possibly in 397.
E02683
Literary - Sermons/Homilies
Augustine of Hippo
Augustine of Hippo, Sermon 299E
[Tractatus de natale sanctorum Scillitanorum in Basilica Novarum
'Discourse on the feast of the Scillitan saints in the Basilica Novarum]
1. Martyrum Christi uirorum et feminarum fortitudo Christus. Si enim uiri soli in passione fortes exsisterent, sexui fortiori uirtus tribueretur. Ideo fortiter pati et infirmior sexus potuit, quia Deus in omnibus potuit ...
'1. The strength, the fortitude, of Christ's martyrs, men and women alike, is Christ. If men, alone, you see, stood out as being brave and strong in suffering, their courage would be attributed to the stronger sex. The reason the weaker sex too has been able to suffer bravely, is that God was able make it possible in people of all sorts ...'
There follows a general reflection on martyrdom. Later on (ch. 2) Augustine refers to the words spoken by one of the martyrs which indeed can be found in the Acts of the Scillitan Martyrs:
Illo magisterio edocta fortissima femina; honore<m>, inquit, Caesari tamquam Caesari: timorem autem Deo.
'Taught by this magisterial lesson, that most valiant woman said: "Honour to Caesar as Caesar, but reverence to God".'
In what follows the preacher deals with the issue of wealth.
Text: Morin 1930, 550 and 553.
Translation: Hill 1994, 263 and 265.
Summary: Robert Wiśniewski.
Service for the saint
Sermon/homily
FestivalsSaint’s feast
Cult PlacesCult building - independent (church)
Non Liturgical ActivityOral transmission of saint-related stories
Transmission, 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.
This sermon is tentatively dated to 397 on the basis of intertextual references and its place in the collection of Augustine's sermons. Carthage, the site of the martyrs' shrine, is the most likely location.
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 9, 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
28/02/2017
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00913 | Scillitan Martyrs, martyrs in Carthage from Scillium | Certain |
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