Augustine of Hippo preaches a sermon on Easter Sunday, referring to a man who has has just been healed by the agency of *Stephen (the First Martyr, S00030); sight of the healed man is better testimony than any written account (libellus). Sermon 320, delivered in Latin in Hippo Regius (Numidia, central North Africa), 424/427.
E03631
Literary - Sermons/Homilies
Augustine of Hippo
Augustine of Hippo, Sermon 320
[De martyre Stephano habitus ipso die paschae
'On the martyr Stephen, preached on Easter Sunday']
De miraculis Dei per orationes beatissimi martyris Stephani libellos solemus audire. Libellus huius, aspectus est; pro scriptura notitia, pro charta facies demonstratur. Qui nostis quid in illo dolentes uidere soleatis, in praesenti gaudentes legite quod uidetis: ut Dominus Deus noster abundantius honoretur, et quod in libello conscriptum est, in uestram memoriam conscribatur. Date ueniam, quia diuturnum non reddo sermonem: nostis etenim fatigationem meam. Ut heri ieiunus tanta agere possem et non deficere, ut et hodie uobis cum loquar, orationes sancti Stephani praestiterunt.
Conuersi ad Dominum, etc.
'We are accustomed to hearing written accounts (libelli) which describe the miracles God performs through the prayers of the most blessed martyr Stephen. This man's written account is the sight of him; first-hand knowledge instead of some writing, his face presented to you instead of a document. You know what you had got used to seeing in him with sorrow and sadness; now read what you can see in him present among you with joy and gladness. In this way the Lord our God may be more abundantly honoured, and what is written down in a written account may be engraved in your memories. Please excuse me for not giving a long sermon; you know, after all, how tired I am. That I could do so much yesterday, while fasting, and not collapse, and that I could also speak to you today, is something the prayers of Saint Stephen have obtained for me.
Turning to the Lord etc.'
Text: Patrologia Latina 38,1442.
Translation: Hill 1994, 157, lightly modified.
Sermon/homily
Cult PlacesCult building - dependent (chapel, baptistery, etc.)
Non Liturgical ActivityComposing and translating saint-related texts
Transmission, copying and reading saint-related texts
MiraclesMiracle after death
Healing diseases and disabilities
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 was preached certainly after the discovery of the relics of Stephen in Chaphargamala (Palestine) in 415, their arrival in Africa c. 420 and in Hippo c. 424, for the relics are evidently kept in the church in which Augustine is speaking. It was also preached before Book 22 of The City of God (which refers to this episode) was written in 426/427 (see E01135).
Discussion
The name of the healed man was Paulus. For other sermons preached on the following days and referring to this miracle, see Sermons 321-324 (E03632, E03660, E03851, E03999).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 9. Sermons 306-340A for the Saints (New York: New City Press, 1994).
Robert Wiśniewski
23/08/2017
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00030 | Stephen, the First Martyr | Stephanus | Certain |
|---|
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