Augustine of Hippo preaches a sermon on the feast of *Cyprian (bishop and martyr of Carthage, S00411). Sermon 313C, delivered in Latin in Carthage (central North Africa), possibly in 396/410.
E03260
Literary - Sermons/Homilies
Augustine of Hippo
Augustine of Hippo, Sermon 313C
[Tractatus de natale sancti Cypriani
'Discourse on the feast of St Cyprian']
1. Insignem martyrem Christi, per quem maxime istam rexit, auxit, ornauit atque inlustrauit ecclesiam, hodiernus dies anniuersaria celebratione passionis eius memoriae nostrae, non elapsum reuocat, sed fixum et manentem laetius gratius que commendat. Oportet itaque nos sermone sollemni in domino laudare animam serui eius...
'Today's anniversary celebration of this outstanding martyr of Christ, through whom above all others he governed this Church, increased it, adorned it and made it illustrious, does nor recall him to our minds as though he had dropped out of them, but rather commends him to us all the more happily and gratefully, fixed permanently as he is in our memories. And so it is my duty with a formal sermon to praise in the Lord the soul of his servant ...'
2. Augustine emphasises that Cyprian should be praised not only for his death, but also for his teaching and living. He is renowned in the entire world:
Quae enim regio in terris inueniri potest, ubi non eius eloquium legitur, doctrina laudatur, caritas amatur, uita praedicatur, mors ueneratur, passionis festiuitas celebratur?
'What region in all the lands can be found, after all, where his eloquent words are not read, his teaching not praised, his charity not loved, his life not extolled, his death not venerated, the feast of his martyrdom not celebrated'
Augustine continue to praise Cyprian as a prolific writer who crushed the heretics. At the end of the sermon he says as follows:
Multi usquequaque habent magnum corpus librorum eius. sed nos uberiores gratias domino agamus, quod habere meruimus sanctum corpus membrorum eius.
'Many people everywhere have the great corpus of his works. But let us, here, give more thanks than ever to God, because we have been found worthy to have with us the holy corpus of his body.'
Text: Morin 1930, 101-103.
Translation: Hill 1994, 529-531.
Summary: Robert Wiśniewski.
Service for the saint
FestivalsSaint’s feast
RelicsBodily relic - entire body
Protagonists in Cult and NarrativesEcclesiastics - bishops
Theorising on SanctityConsiderations about the veneration of saints
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 the late 390s or early 400s on the basis of intertextual references, but this dating is far from certain. Since Augustine addresses the community which possesses Cyprian's body, he is certainly preaching in Carthage.
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 306-340A 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
01/06/2017
| 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, E03260 - http://csla.history.ox.ac.uk/record.php?recid=E03260