Augustine of Hippo preaches a sermon on the feast of *Cyprian (bishop and martyr of Carthage, S00411). Sermon 309, delivered in Latin, probably in Carthage (central North Africa), sometime between 391 and 430.
Evidence ID
E02834
Type of Evidence
Literary - Sermons/Homilies
Major author/Major anonymous work
Augustine of Hippo
Augustine of Hippo, Sermon 309
[In natali Cypriani martyris
'On the feast of the martyr Cyprian']
Sermonem a nobis debitum auribus et cordibus uestris exigit tam grata et religiosa solemnitas, qua passionem beati martyris celebramus ...
'Such a happy and religious occasion as this, on which we are celebrating the blessed martyr's passion, requires me to pay the debt of the sermon I owe to your ears and hearts ...'
In what follows Augustine tells the story of Cyprian's exile, arrest, and hearing before the proconsul. His death is just mentioned.
Text: Patrologia Latina 38, 1410-1412.
Translation: Hill 1994, 63-67.
Summary: Robert Wiśniewski.
Liturgical ActivitiesService for the saint
FestivalsEcclesiastics - bishops
Service for the saint
Sermon/homily
FestivalsSaint’s feast
Cult PlacesCult building - independent (church)
Protagonists in Cult and NarrativesEcclesiastics - bishops
Ecclesiastics - lesser clergy
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.
According to a colophon this sermon was preached in Carthage, in the place of Cyprian's martyrdom. Its date is impossible to establish with any certainty.
Discussion
This sermon is quite exceptional in Augustine's homiletic collection, because after a short introduction it just tells the story of Cyprian's martyrdom. Normally Augustine rather referred to such stories than told them and he usually commented upon the biblical readings. The story is evidently based on the Proconsular Acts of Cyprian (see E05168), which most probably were not read before the sermon.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 | S00411 | Cyprian, bishop and martyr of Carthage | Cyprianus | Certain |
|---|
Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL:
Robert Wiśniewski, Cult of Saints, E02834 - http://csla.history.ox.ac.uk/record.php?recid=E02834