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The Cult of Saints in Late Antiquity


from its origins to circa AD 700, across the entire Christian world


Augustine of Hippo preaches a sermon, probably on a feast of martyrs. Sermon 335I, delivered in Latin in an unknown city of central North Africa (possibly Hippo Regius), sometime between 391 and 430.

Evidence ID

E04471

Type of Evidence

Literary - Sermons/Homilies

Major author/Major anonymous work

Augustine of Hippo

Augustine of Hippo, Sermon 335I

[In die natali martyrum

'On a feast day of the martyrs']

Summary:

At the beginning of the sermon Augustine briefly comments upon Ps 116:15 ('Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints'), which has been just sung by the congregation, but swiftly starts to talk about the death and sacrifice of Christ and does not mention saints anymore.


Summary: Robert Wiśniewski.

Liturgical Activities

Service for the saint

Festivals

Saint’s feast

Protagonists in Cult and Narratives

Ecclesiastics - 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.

The dating of this sermon and the place in which it was preached are uncertain. In could have been preached at Hippo, Augustine's episcopal see.


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).


Record Created By

Robert Wiśniewski

Date of Entry

23/08/2017

Related Saint Records
IDNameName in SourceIdentity
S00060Martyrs, unnamed or name lostCertain


Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL:
Robert Wiśniewski, Cult of Saints, E04471 - http://csla.history.ox.ac.uk/record.php?recid=E04471