E04537
Literary - Sermons/Homilies
Augustine of Hippo
Augustine of Hippo, Sermon 375B
Ut autem similitudinem demus, unde celerius quod dicimus aduertatis, sicut uerbi gratia, quando Stephanus martyr, et Focas uel aliquis alius passus est et occisus et sepultus, caro eorum sola occisa et sepulta est, animae autem eorum neque occidi neque sepeliri potuere, et tamen rectissime dicimus, mortuus est Stephanus, uel Focas, uel quicumque alius pro nomine Christi, ita, quando passus et occisus et sepultus est Dei unigenitus, caro utique eius sola occisa et sepulta est: anima autem, et multo magis diuinitas eius occidi non potuit.
'But let us provide a comparison, from which you may grasp more quickly what I am saying; for example, when the martyr Stephen, or Phocas, or any other suffered and was killed and buried, it was their flesh alone that was killed and buried, while their souls could be neither killed nor buried; and yet we are quite right is saying, "Stephen or Phocas or anybody else died for the name of Christ." In the same way, when the only-begotten Son of God suffered and was killed and buried, it was of course only his flesh; but his soul, and much more his divinity, could not be killed.'
Text: Morin 1930, 27.
Translation: Hill 1995, 335.
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.
This sermon was preached at Easter of an unknown year, in Hippo, Augustine's episcopal see.
Discussion
St Stephen was an exemplary martyr and it is no surprise that Augustine mentioned him, but Phocas/Phokas is puzzling. There is no other evidence of the cult of a saint of this name is Africa. Augustine most probably had in mind Phokas of Sinope, who, as a saint with a specialisation in protecting sailors might have had a particular appeal in the port-city of Hippo, and whose cult, according to Asterius of Amaseia, was popular in the West (E01963). It is worth emphasising that the congregation in Hippo, and not just Augustine, was evidently familiar with this saint, for Augustine does not feel the need to explain who he was.Bibliography
Edition:Morin, G., Sancti Augustini Sermones post Maurinos reperti (Miscellanea Agostiniana, vol. 1; Rome: Tipografia Poliglotta Vaticana, 1930).
Translation:
Hill, E., The Works of Saint Augustine. A Translation for the 21st Century, vol. III 10, Sermons 341-400 On Various Subjects (New York: New City Press, 1995).
Robert Wiśniewski
23/08/2017
ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00030 | Stephen, the First Martyr | Stephanus | Certain | S00052 | Phokas, martyr of Sinope | Focas | Uncertain | S00413 | Phokas, martyr of Antioch | Focas | Uncertain |
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