Augustine of Hippo preaches a sermon on Easter Tuesday in Hippo Regius (Numidia, central North Africa), after the reading of a written account (libellus) of a man healed by the agency of *Stephen (the First Martyr, S00030). The sermon, which mentions miracles at Uzalis (Proconsularis, central North Africa) and at Ancona (central Italy), where a stone from the stoning of Stephen is preserved, is interrupted by another miraculous healing. Sermon 323, delivered in Latin, 424/427.
E03851
Literary - Sermons/Homilies
Augustine of Hippo
Augustine of Hippo, Sermon 323 (following on from Sermon 322, E03660)
[Habitus post libellum de sancto Stephano
'Preached after [the reading of] a written account about Saint Stephen']
Augustine starts the sermon by saying that the case of the brother, who was healed two days before, and of his sister, teach us that we have to respect our parents. Then he refers to St Stephen's shrine in Ancona, which was mentioned in the written account which has just been read.
2. Nos autem, fratres, satagamus Domino deo nostro gratias referre pro illo qui sanatus est; et pro illa quae adhuc tenetur, preces fundamus. Benedicamus Deum, quia dignos nos habuit, ut hoc uideremus. Quid enim sumus, quia ego apparui istis nesciens? Illi enim me uidebant, et ego nesciebam: et admonebantur ut ad istam ciuitatem uenirent. Quis sum ego? homo sum unus de multis, non de magnis. Et uere, ut audiat charitas uestra, multum miror, et gaudeo nobis esse concessum: quoniam iste homo nec Anconae curari potuit; imo potuit, sed propter nos factum non est, quia facillime fieri potuit.
Sciunt enim multi quanta miracula per beatissimum martyrem Stephanum in ista ciuitate fiant. Et audite quod miremini: memoria eius antiqua ibi erat, et ipsa est ibi. Sed fortasse dicis: corpus eius nondum apparuerat, memoria ibi unde erat? Latet quidem causa: sed quid ad nos fama pertulerit, non tacebo charitati uestrae. Quando lapidabatur sanctus Stephanus, aliqui etiam innocentes, et maxime de iis qui iam in Christum crediderant, circumstabant: dicitur lapis uenisse in cubitum, et excussus inde uenisse ante quemdam religiosum. Tulit illum, et seruauit. Homo erat de nauigantibus, sors nauigationis attulit illum ad littus Anconae, et reuelatum est illi ibi debere reponi lapidem illum. Ille obediuit reuelationi, et fecit quod iussum est: ex illo coepit esse ibi memoria sancti Stephani, et rumor erat quia brachium sancti Stephani ibi est, nescientibus hominibus quid contigisset. Verum autem intelligitur propterea ibi fuisse reuelatum, ut ibi poneret lapidem qui de cubito martyris excussus est, quia graece cubitum ἀγκών dicitur. Sed qui sciunt quae ibi miracula fiant, ipsi nos doceant. Non ibi coeperunt fieri ista miracula, nisi posteaquam corpus sancti Stephani apparuit. Ecce ibi non est curatus iste iuuenis, ut nostris oculis seruaretur.
3. Apud Uzalim ubi est episcopus frater meus Euodius, quanta miracula ibi fiant quaerite, et inuenietis. Praetermissis autem aliis, indico uobis unum quod ibi factum est, ut uideatis quanta sit ibi praesentia maiestatis. Mulier quaedam subito aegrotum filium, cui succurrere festinando non potuit, in gremio suo catechumenum amisit: quae clamans, mortuus est, inquit, filius meus catechumenus.
Et cum haec diceret Augustinus, populus de memoria sancti Stephani clamare coepit, Deo gratias. Christo laudes. In quo continuo clamore, puella quae curata est ad absidam perducta est. Qua uisa, populus cum gaudio et fletu, nullis interpositis sermonibus, sed solo strepitu interposito, aliquandiu clamorem protraxit: et silentio facto, Augustinus episcopus dixit, scriptum est in psalmo, dixi, proloquar aduersum me delictum meum omino deo meo, et tu dimisisti impietatem cordis mei. Dixi, proloquar: nondum prolocutus sum: dixi, proloquar, et tu dimisisti. Commendaui istam miseram, imo ex misera, commendaui eam uestris orationibus. Disposuimus orare, et exauditi sumus. Sit gaudium nostrum actio gratiarum. Citius exaudita est mater ecclesia, quam in perniciem maledicta mater illa.
conuersi ad Dominum, etc.
'2. We though, brothers, must do all we can to give thanks to the Lord our God for the man who has been cured; and to pour out our prayers for the woman who is still in the grip of malady. Let us bless God for holding us worthy to see this. After all, what am I, that all unknowingly I should have appeared to these two. I mean, they could see me, and I was unaware of it; and they were thereby advised to come to this city. Who I am? I am one man out of many, not one of the great ones. And indeed, as your graces will hear, I am really astonished, and I rejoice that this has been granted to us; because this man was unable to be cured even at Ancona; or rather, he could have been cured there, but for our sake he wasn't, because of course it could have happened very easily.
You see, many people know what great miracles are performed through the blessed martyr Stephen in that city. And listen to something that should astonish you. He has had a relic (memoria) there from a long time ago, and it is still there. But perhaps you will say, "His body hadn't yet be discovered, so how could he have a relic there?" The reason is indeed not known; but I won't conceal from your graces the story that reached us. When Stephen was being stoned, there were also some innocent people standing round, and especially some of those who already believed in Christ. The story goes that a stone struck his elbow, and bounced from there to land at the feet of a religious man. He picked it up and kept it. He was a seafaring man, and the chances of his seafaring brought him ashore at Ancona, and it was revealed to him that the stone should be deposited there. He obeyed the revelation, and did what he was told; and from that time there began to be a memorial shrine of Saint Stephen there; and the rumour was that an arm of Saint Stephen was there, as people didn't know what really happened. In fact, though, we are to understand that the reason why it was revealed that he should deposit the stone there which had bounced off the martyr's elbow, is that the Greek for elbow is ankon. But let those who know what miracles take place there teach us about them. These miracles didn't start happening there until after the body of Saint Stephen had come to light. And lo and behold, this young man was not cured there, so he might be kept for our eyes.
3. Inquire how many miracles take place at Uzalis, where my brother Evodius is bishop, and you will find out. Leaving others aside, I will tell you about one which happened there, so that you may see what a powerful presence of the divine majesty makes itself felt there. A woman's child was taken suddenly ill, so that for all her hurry she couldn't get help for him, and she lost him in her arms, while he was still only a catechumen. She cried out, "He's dead, my son, only a catechumen."
And while Augustine was saying this the people round the shrine of Saint Stephen began to shout, "God be thanked! Christ be praised!" In the midst of this continuous clamour, the young woman who had just been cured was led into the apse. When they saw her, the people prolonged their shouting for some time with great joy and weeping, not uttering any words, but just making noise; and when silence was eventually obtained Bishop Augustine said: It is written in the psalm: I said, I will utter against myself my wrongdoing to the Lord my God, and you have forgiven the impiety of my heart (Ps 32:5). I said, I will utter; I haven't yet uttered. I said, I will utter, and you have forgiven. I commended this unfortunate lady, or rather ex-unfortunate, to your prayers. We were disposing ourselves to pray, and we were heard. Let our joy constitute our thanksgiving. Mother Church was heard more speedily than that accursed mother was to destructive effect.
Turning to the Lord, etc.'
Text: Patrologia Latina 38,1445-1446.
Translation: Hill 1994, 162-164, lightly modified.
Summary: Robert Wiśniewski.
Sermon/homily
Cult PlacesCult building - dependent (chapel, baptistery, etc.)
Non Liturgical ActivityVisiting graves and shrines
MiraclesMiracle after death
Healing diseases and disabilities
Apparition, vision, dream, revelation
RelicsUnspecified relic
Bodily relic - arm/hand/finger
Contact relic - instrument of saint’s martyrdom
Protagonists in Cult and NarrativesWomen
Ecclesiastics - bishops
Foreigners (including Barbarians)
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 is probably not really a separate sermon, but the next part of Sermon 322 (E03660) which was also preached on Easter Tuesday, the day after Sermon 321 (E03632) and two days after Sermon 320 (E03631).This, like Sermon 322, is also an extremely interesting piece of evidence. While Augustine was preaching, commenting upon the miraculous healing of Paulus, his sister, Palladia, was cured; thus the text offers almost the minutes of a miracle (an account of events as they happened).
Also of interest is Augustine's detailed discussion of the relics of Stephen long venerated at Ancona, believed by some to be his arm, but, according to Augustine, a stone which had struck Stephen's elbow - ankon in Greek, hence its deposition at Ancona. It had to be incorrect that an arm of Stephen was in Ancona before his body was discovered in Palestine!
The word memoria (literally 'memory' or 'memorial') is 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 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).
Robert Wiśniewski
23/08/2017
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00030 | Stephen, the First Martyr | Stephanus | Certain |
|---|
Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL:
Robert Wiśniewski, Cult of Saints, E03851 - http://csla.history.ox.ac.uk/record.php?recid=E03851