Augustine of Hippo preaches a sermon on the feast of a group of martyrs, probably the *Twenty Martyrs (of Hippo, S00703), stigmatising the custom of dancing and drinking, probably during saints' festivals. Sermon 326, delivered in Latin, probably in Hippo Regius (Numidia, central North Africa), sometime between 391 and 430.
E04081
Literary - Sermons/Homilies
Augustine of Hippo
Augustine of Hippo, Sermon 326
[In natali martyrum
'On the feast of the martyrs']
1. Solemnitas beatissimorum martyrum laetiorem nobis reddidit diem. Laetamur, quia de terra laboris ad regionem quietis martyres transierunt: sed hoc non saltando, sed orando; non potando, sed ieiunando; non rixando, sed tolerando meruerunt.
'The solemn feast of these most blessed martyrs has brought us a happier day than usual. What makes us happy is that the martyrs have passed over from this land of labour and toil to the territory of peace and quiet; but they earned this not by dancing but by praying; not by drinking, but by fasting; not by being quarrelsome, but by their endurance.'
In what follows Augustine tells of the martyrs' desire to be in heaven and quotes, in paragraph 2, parts of a dialogue between the martyrs and their judge.
Text: Patrologia Latina 38,1449.
Translation: Hill 1994, 165-166.
Summary: Robert Wiśniewski.
Service for the saint
Sermon/homily
FestivalsSaint’s feast
Activities accompanying CultFeasting (eating, drinking, dancing, singing, bathing)
Non Liturgical ActivityTransmission, 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 cannot be dated with any certainty; it is described as preached on the feast of the Twenty Martyrs of Hippo only in three manuscripts: see Hill 1994, 171.
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
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00703 | Twenty Martyrs of Hippo Regius | Uncertain |
|---|
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