Augustine of Hippo preaches a sermon on Easter Monday, promising that a written account (libellus) of a man healed by the agency of *Stephen (the First Martyr, S00030) will be read next day. Sermon 321, delivered in Latin in Hippo Regius (Numidia, central North Africa), 424/427.
E03632
Literary - Sermons/Homilies
Augustine of Hippo
Augustine of Hippo, Sermon 321
[Feria tertia paschae
'On Easter Monday']
Diximus quidem hesterno die, sicut meminit charitas uestra: huius libellus, aspectus est. Tamen quia nonnulla nobis indicauit, quae nosse debetis, ad maiorem admirationem et Domini nostri gloriam, de suorum sanctorum memoriis, de quibus dictum est, pretiosa in conspectu Domini mors sanctorum eius; etiam libellum dare decet, qui habet omnia quae ex eius ore cognouimus. Sed si dominus uoluerit, hodie parabitur, et uobis die crastino recitabitur. Hesterno die libellum promisimus charitati uestrae, ubi de illo sanato audire etiam possitis, quae uidere non potuistis.
'I did indeed say yesterday, as your graces will remember, that this man's written account is the very sight of him. And yet, he has told me a number of things you ought to know, to the greater admiration and glory of our Lord, about the memorial shrines (memoriae) of his saints, about whom it is said, "Precious in the eyes of the Lord is the death of his saints" (Ps 116:15). So it will be only right to produce a written account which will contain everything I learned from his lips. But, if the Lord so wishes, it will be compiled today, and read out to you tomorrow.'
Text: Patrologia Latina 38, 1442.
Translation: Hill 1994, 157.
Sermon/homily
Non Liturgical ActivityComposing and translating saint-related texts
Transmission, copying and reading saint-related texts
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
This short sermon was preaches on Easter Monday, the day after Sermon 320 (E03631). The written account promised by Augustine was read on Tuesday and is preserved in Sermon 322 (E03660).The term memoria (literally 'memory' or 'memorial') is also used by Augustine both for the shrines of martyrs and, more narrowly, for their relics. Since it is evident that, for Augustine, the memorial shrine (memoria) of a saint contained relics of that saint, there is often (as here) no substantive difference in the ways he uses the word.
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.
Robert Wiśniewski
23/08/2017
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00030 | Stephen, the First Martyr | Certain |
|---|
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