Augustine of Hippo tells how an emperor [Honorius in 404] visited Rome, knelt and prayed at the tomb of *Peter the Apostle (S00036), and removed his diadem in the presence of the saint. Sermon Dolbeau 25, delivered in Latin in an unknown city of central North Africa, in 404 or shortly after.
E04553
Literary - Sermons/Homilies
Augustine of Hippo
Augustine of Hippo, Sermon Dolbeau 25 (= 360B)
In this long sermon Augustine touches upon several topics, including the triumph of Christianity, which is best illustrated by the conversion of the emperors. In this context he describes a recent ceremonial entrance (adventus) of an emperor, who must be identified with Honorius, to Rome.
26. Veniunt, ut dicere coeperam, reges Romam. Ibi sunt templa imperatorum qui superbia sua diuinos sibi honores exegerunt ab hominibus et, quia poterant – reges enim erant et dominatores –, extorserunt potius quam meruerunt. Cui potuit tale aliquid extorquere piscator? Ibi est sepulcrum piscatoris, ibi templum est imperatoris. Petrus ibi est in sepulcro, Hadrianus ibi est in templo. Templum Hadriani, memoria Petri. Venit imperator. Videamus quo currerit, ubi genua figere uoluit: in templo imperatoris, an in memoria piscatoris? Posito diademate, pectus tundit ubi est piscatoris corpus, cuius merita cogitat, cuius coronam credit, per quem cupit peruenire ad deum, cuius orationibus se adiuuari sentit et inuenit.
'As I had begun to say, kings are coming to Rome. That's where the temples of emperors are to be found, who in their pride required divine honours to be paid them by men, and because they had the power – they were kings, after all, and rulers – they extorted rather than earned such honours. From whom could a fisherman extort any such thing? There in Rome is to be found the tomb of a fisherman, there the temple of an emperor. Peter is there in a tomb, Hadrian is there in a temple. A temple for Hadrian, a memorial shrine (memoria) for Peter. The emperor comes. Let us see where he hurried off to, where he wished to kneel: in the emperor's temple or in the fisherman's memorial shrine? Laying aside his diadem, he beat his breast where the fisherman's body lies; it's on his [Peter's] merits that he reflects, in the crown he received that he believes, through him that he is eager to reach God, by his prayers that he feels and discovers he is assisted.'
Text: Dolbeau 1996, 266.
Translation: Hill 1997, 382,lightly modified.
Summary: Robert Wiśniewski.
Burial site of a saint - tomb/grave
Non Liturgical ActivityVisiting graves and shrines
Protagonists in Cult and NarrativesMonarchs and their family
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 imperial visit to Rome mentioned here must have been that of Honorius in 404, and so this sermon must have been preached in that year or shortly after.
Discussion
It is interesting to remark that, according to Augustine, Honorius knelt before the tomb of St Peter and took off his diadem. While it need not reflect what the emperor actually did, it shows how Augustine believed he should have behaved.The 'temple' of Hadrian was actually his mausoleum, today Castel Sant'Angelo, not far from the Vatican.
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 and commentary:Dolbeau, F., Augustin d'Hippone, Vingt-six sermons au peuple d'Afrique (Etudes Augustiniennes, Antiquité, vol. 147; Paris, 1996), 248-267.
Translation:
Hill, E., The Works of Saint Augustine. A Translation for the 21st Century, vol. III 11, Newly Discovered Sermons (New York: New City Press, 1997).
Robert Wiśniewski
23/08/2017
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00036 | Peter, the Apostle | Petrus | Certain |
|---|
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