Augustine of Hippo preaches a sermon, probably on the feast of martyrs, emphasising that it is the cause, not the suffering, that makes one a martyr. Sermon 327, delivered in Latin, possibly in Hippo Regius (Numidia, central North Africa), probably before 411.
E04167
Literary - Sermons/Homilies
Augustine of Hippo
Augustine of Hippo, Sermon 327
[In natali martyrum
'On a feast of martyrs']
Cantauimus Deo martyrum uoce, iudica me, Deus, et discerne causam meam de gente non sancta. Martyrum uox est.
'We have sung to God in the words of the martyrs, "Judge me, O God, and distinguish my cause from an unholy people" [Ps 43:1]. It is the voice of the martyrs.'
In what follows Augustine explains what martyrdom consists of.
Multi patiuntur tribulationes; parem habent poenam, sed parem non habent causam. Multa mala patiuntur adulteri, multa mala patiuntur malefici, multa mala patiuntur latrones et homicidae, multa mala patiuntur scelerati omnes, multa mala, inquit, et ego martyr tuus patior: sed discerne causam meam de gente non sancta, latronum, homicidarum, scelestorum omnium. Pati talia, qualia ego, possunt: habere talem causam non possunt. Ego in fornace purgor; illi cinerescunt. Et haeretici patiuntur, et plura a se ipsis; et uolunt martyres dici. Sed contra illos cantauimus, discerne causam meam de gente non sancta. Non facit martyrem poena, sed causa.
'Many people endure tribulation; they have equivalent pains, but not equivalent causes. Many evils are endured by adulterers, many evils by sorcerers, many evils by robbers and murderers, many evils by all sorts of villains; "I too, your martyr," he says, "endure many evils. But distinguish my cause from an unholy people of robbers, murderers, villains of all sorts. They can suffer the same sort of things as I do, they cannot have the same sort of cause. I am being refined in the furnace; they are just being incinerated." Heretics too suffer, and very often at their own hands; and they want to be called martyrs. But it is against them that we sung, "Distinguish my cause from an unholy people". It is not the punishment that makes the martyr but the cause.'
Text: Patrologia Latina 38, 1450.
Translation: Hill 1994, 173.
Service for the saint
Sermon/homily
FestivalsSaint’s feast
Rejection, Condemnation, SceptisismAcceptance/rejection of saints from other religious groupings
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 cannot be dated with any certainty; the obvious and strong reference to the false Donatist martyrs makes it most probable that it was preached before 411, when the Donatist Church was officially delegalised.
Discussion
The idea that it is the cause, not the suffering, that makes a martyr also appears elsewhere in Augustine, see e.g. Sermon 306A (E02773).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 | S00060 | Martyrs, unnamed or name lost | Certain |
|---|
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