Augustine of Hippo preaches a sermon for the feast of *Laurence (deacon and martyr of Rome, S00037), emphasising his fame in the city of Rome. Sermon 304, delivered in Latin at an unknown city of central North Africa, possibly in 417.
E02737
Literary - Sermons/Homilies
Augustine of Hippo
Augustine of Hippo, Sermon 304.1
Beati Laurentii triumphalem diem, quo calcauit mundum frementem, spreuit blandientem, et in utroque uicit diabolum persequentem, hodiernum nobis ecclesia Romana commendat. Quam gloriosa enim, et quanta uirtutum multitudine, quasi florum uarietate, distincta laurentii martyris sit corona, uniuersa testis est Roma. In ipsa enim ecclesia, sicut soletis audire, diaconi gerebat officium. Ibi sacrum Christi sanguinem ministrauit: ibi pro Christi nomine suum sanguinem fudit.
'The Roman Church recommends this day to us as the blessed Laurence's day of triumph, on which he trod down the world as it roared and raged against him, spurned it as it coaxed and wheedled him, and in each case conquered the devil as he persecuted him. How glorious a wreath is worn by Laurence the martyr, and with what a multitude of virtues it is adorned, as with a variety of flowers, the whole city of Rome can testify. It was in that Church, you see, as you have regularly been told, that he performed the office of deacon; there that he administered the sacred chalice of Christ's blood; there that he shed his own blood for the name of Christ.'
In what follows Augustine encourages his audience to imitate Laurence, each in his or her proper way, for the garden of the Lord's includes 'not only the roses of martyrs, but also the lilies of virgins, and the ivy of married people, and the violets of widows'.
Text: Patrologia Latina 38, 1395.
Translation: Hill 1994, 316, lightly modified.
Summary: Robert Wiśniewski.
Service for the saint
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 tentatively dated to 417 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 III/8. Sermons 273-305A for 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
11/04/2017
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00037 | Laurence/Laurentius, deacon and martyr of Rome | Laurentius | Certain |
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