Augustine of Hippo preaches a sermon on the feast of the beheading of *John the Baptist (S00020). Sermon 308, delivered in Latin in Hippo Regius (Numidia, central North Africa), sometime between 391 and 430.
Evidence ID
E02815
Type of Evidence
Literary - Sermons/Homilies
Major author/Major anonymous work
Augustine of Hippo
Augustine of Hippo, Sermon 308
[In eadem solemnitate
'On the same feast']
Starting from the biblical reading on Herod who swore to give to Salome whatever she would ask for, Augustine preaches against the custom of taking oaths, without further references to the cult of John the Baptist.
Text: Patrologia Latina 38, 1408-1410.
Summary: Robert Wiśniewski.
Liturgical ActivitiesSermon/homily
Festivals
Sermon/homily
Service for the saint
FestivalsSaint’s feast
Non Liturgical ActivityOath
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.
The dating of this sermon is uncertain, but it was certainly preached in Hippo, which Augustine states clearly in § 5.
Discussion
The words 'On the same feast' refer to Sermon 307 (E02768) which was preached on the feast of beheading of John the Baptist. According to the early 6th century Calendar of Carthage, on the 27 of December the Church of this city celebrated the feast 'of saint John the Baptist and of the apostle James whom Herod killed'. That was most probably the feast of the beheading of John. One needs to note, however, that though the sermon refers to the reading about the death of John, it does not mention the feast which is named only in the colophon. This colophon could be a later addition.Augustine preaches against the custom of taking oaths, but does not suggest in any way that people swore by saints.
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 9. Sermons 306-340A 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.
Record Created By
Robert Wiśniewski
Date of Entry
11/04/2017
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00020 | John the Baptist | Certain |
|---|
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