Augustine of Hippo preaches a sermon on a feast of martyrs, in which he condemns the practice of drinking on such occasions. Sermon 335D, delivered in Latin in Hippo Regius (Numidia, central North Africa), sometime between 400 and 430.
E04445
Literary - Sermons/Homilies
Augustine of Hippo
Augustine of Hippo, Sermon 335D
[De martyribus
'On martyrs']
When commenting upon Ps 36:8 ("They will get drunk on the plenty of your house"), Augustine refers this verse to the "holy drunkenness" of the martyrs, which has nothing to do with the custom of drinking at their feasts:
2. Ecce qualem ebrietatem desiderant qui se in locis martyrum inebriant, et quos illi persecuti sunt lapidibus, persequuntur calicibus; insuper etiam saltant et membra christi ad ludendum daemonibus donant, et putant se placere martyribus dum placent inmundis spiritibus. Quanta ista dicimus? ipsos certe adtendant ad quorum memorias se inebriant: si ista dilexissent, martyres non essent.
'That, I suppose, is the kind of drunkenness those of you desire who get drunk at the shrines of the martyrs, and who persecute with their cups the ones those people persecuted with stones; and go even to dance and give the members of Christ over to the demons of play; and they think they are pleasing the martyrs, when in fact they are pleasing unclean spirits. How many times do I have say these things? They should surely turn their attention to those at whose memorial shrines (memoriae) they get drunk; if they approved this sort of behaviour, they wouldn't have been martyrs.'
In what follows Augustine argues that though persecutions have ceased, temptations are still dangerous. Drunkenness is one of them, visiting astrologers, diviners, and charm-makers is another. People can imitate the martyrs when they are ill andrefuse to accept amulets.
Text: Patrologiae Latinae Supplementum, 777.
Translation: Hill 1994, 229.
Summary: Robert Wiśniewski.
Service for the saint
Sermon/homily
FestivalsSaint’s feast
Cult PlacesBurial site of a saint - unspecified
Activities accompanying CultFeasting (eating, drinking, dancing, singing, bathing)
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 was evidently preached at Hippo and not at the beginning of Augustine's career as a preacher, since the audience was already familiar with his admonitions against the custom of drinking at saints' feasts.
Discussion
For other sermons by Augustine against drunkenness at the feasts of martyrs, see E02842, E02859, E03305, E04081, E04279, E04423, E04445, E01837, E02340, E02740.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:Hamman, A., Patrologiae Latinae Supplementum, vol. 2 (Turnhout: Brepols, 1960).
Translation:
Hill, E., The Works of Saint Augustine. A Translation for the 21st Century, vol. III 9, Sermons 306-340A on the Saints (New York: New City Press, 1994).
Robert Wiśniewski
23/08/2017
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00060 | Martyrs, unnamed or name lost | Certain |
|---|
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