AUGUSTINE, ST. 



AUGUSTINE, ST. 



HI 



which ha exchanged in 1807 for that of theology. The popularity of 

 hit lectures, aud the many valuable worki which he published during 

 his residence t Jem, not only induced the Duke of Saxe-Weimar to 

 nuke him member of hi* consistory, bat other Herman universities 

 nude great efforts to draw him from Jena. In 1811 he accepted the 

 chair of theology in the university of Brealau, to which be wai invited 

 bj the Prussian government, and in add itin to which he wu honoured 

 with a .out in the consistory of the province of Silesia. Auguti had 

 now ample opportunities for displaying the practical character of hii 

 mind. HU influence upon the university of Brealau, and upon all the 

 educational establishments of Silesia, wai very great At the time 

 when the French marched into Russia, Augusti wai rector of the 

 university ; and it waa owing to hia intrepidity and patriotic apirit 

 that the property of the university waa saved. The Prussian govern- 

 ment acknowledged it* gratitude to him by Tarioua honourable dis- 

 tinctions. In IS 19 Anguati waa appointed chief professor of theolot-y 

 in the Dewly-esUblislied university of Bonn, and received the title of 

 Councillor of the Consistory at Cologne. In 1838 he wai placed at 

 tbe bead of the eed*sUUcal affaire of the Rhenish province of Pni-ii 

 by being appointed director of the consistory of Coblent, Notwith- 

 -ttinline the numerous duties which this office devolved upon him, he 

 till continued hu lectures in the uniTenity until his death on the 2Sth 

 of April 1841. 



Augusti waa one of tbe most voluminous theological writers of 

 Orrmany. He was originally led by tbe influence of Qrieabach to join 

 the critical or philosophical school of theology, but thia did not suit 

 hia natural bios, which was more inclined to maintain things as they 

 are than to speculative investigations ; and during the but forty years 

 of bis life he was a lesions, although not a bigoted, advocate of the 

 established form of religion. In doctrine he may be considered an 

 orthodox Lutheran. His writing*, most of which are of an historical 

 or arrhawlogical nature, are useful as works of reference ; but they are 

 d*5eient in elegance and simplicity of form, and contain more evidence 

 of learning and industry than of the true spirit of an historian. The 

 most important of all his works is the ' Denkwurdigkeitn aus Her 

 Christlicben Arciueologie,' 12 vols. Svo, Leipzig, 1817-31, which he 

 subsequently condensed into a ' Manual of Christian Archeology.' 



(Jmaitcne Allytmeint Lileratur-Zeilung for June, 1841 ; Inlrlliyrn;- 

 Hatt; Biographical Dictionary of tke Society for the Diffurim of I'ttful 

 Knowledge ; Conrtrtalioni Lerihm.) 



AUGLST1NK, ST., also called Aurtliia Augiutintu, Bi-hop of 

 Hippo, snd the most illustrious of tbe Latin fathers of tbe Church, 

 was born at Tagasto, now called Tsjelt, a small town in the inland 

 part of Numidia, on November 18, A.D. 854. Hia father I'atricins was 

 originally a heathen, but embraced Christianity late in life ; his mother 

 Moi.nica waa a woman di-tingtiihrd for her piety, who anxiously 

 endeavoured to inittil religious knowledge and habits into the mind of 

 her son. At the beginning of his treatise, ' De BeaU Vita,' Angmtine- 

 speaka of bis son, named Adeodatim, and of his brother Navigius ; and 

 in hi. 100th epistle, of a sister who died an abbas*. He prosecuted 

 hia >tudit in his earlier years first at Tairat, then at Madaura, and 

 Utterly at Carthage, where his morals became corrupted, and his 

 illegitimate son Adeodatua waa born in 871. The perusal of Cicero's 

 Hortensius,' about the year J7S, first detached him from his Immoral 

 habits ; and abunt the same time be became not only a proselyte to 

 the sect of tbe Maniclmna, but for a short period a zealous and able 

 defender of their opinions. In the meantime be soquired fame as a 

 rhetorician, and taught eloquence successively at Tagaate, Carthage, 

 Itome, and Milan. At Rome he left the Msnicbtcans, and joined for 

 a short time, as be himself Informs us, the sect of the Academics. 

 ( tto lieaU Vita,' torn. i.. 211) He arrived at Milan in S84, where 

 St Ambrose wu at that time bishop, whose sermons, added to the 

 tears and entreaties of bis mother Monnlca, about 386, entirely removed 

 toe scepticism into which he had fallen, and effected Augustine's con- 

 version. He was accordingly baptised by 8t Ambrose in April 887, 

 and hii son Adeodattis, of whose remarkable genius he apeak* with 

 enthusiasm, was baptised along with him. Soon after this Monnica, 

 his mother, died at (Mia Tiberlna. ('Confess.,' lib. it., c. 10) He 

 now renounced his rhetorical pursuit*, snd devoted himself to the study 

 of tlie Oospel, going first to Rome, but afterwards pent three years in 

 seclusion at Tagaste, where be wrote several of hia works. 



Being at Hippo, Va|eriu<, then bi.hop of that diocese, ordained him 

 a priest early in 891 ; and at a council held there In .'IBS he diplay. d 

 such learning and eloquence in defrnce. nf the faith, that the brshops 

 who computed it were unanimously of opinion that ho should ) 

 chosen on* of their number. In 895 he became coadjutor to Valerius, 

 and in 194 sncoreded him in the sole rule of the bishopric of Hi|i|Ki. 

 He appears to have established about this time a kind of clerical com- 

 munity within his episcopal residence; and WDM utill active in his 

 nmioaition, not only to the heresies of theManichwans, but to thoee of 

 tbe DonsttsU and Pelagians. His great work, 'De Civitate Dei,' in 

 tMhVvsd to hsve been begun In 413. and finished about 420. In 41", 

 after tbe general council held at Carthage, he produced his two work* 

 againtt tie Pelagians, ' De Gratia Chriati ' and ' De Pecoato Original!,' 

 from the former of which he received the appellation of the ' 1 



".' Hia labours were continued both personally and by his 

 pen to the dose of life. One of hi. latest works was his ' Confessions,' 

 I Ma admirably written autobioirniphy. 



In the Utter part of his career Augustine had other enemies to 

 contend with besides thoee of the Church. The Vandals had entirely 

 overrun Africa, and pasaed even into Spain, and Augustine had now 

 for hii opponent! the enemies of the empire. Carthage and Hii>p<> 

 made resistance for a considerable time; and St. Augustine, though 

 pressed by his associates, refused to quit his flock and escape by flight. 

 Still he saw the imminent danger to which Hippo waa exposed ; and, 

 dreading that it would fall into the hands of the enemy, prayed to 

 Qod that before that calamity happened he might be taken away. 

 His prayer, it would appear, was answered, as he died during the 

 third month of the siege, of fever, August 28th, 430, at the age of 78. 

 The Vandals, who took Hippo in the year following, ahowed respect to 

 his library, his works, and bil body. Victor Vitensis (' Hirt. Persec. 

 Vnndalinr,' p. 6) says his library contained at that time 232 separate 

 book* or treatises on theological subjects, besides an exposition of the. 

 Psalter and the Gospels, and an innumerable quantity of homilies and 

 epistles. The Catholic binhops of Africa carried his body to the 

 inland of Sardinia, the place to which they were driven by Thraan- 

 mond, king of the Vandals, in 500 ; and Luitprand, king of Lou. 

 caused it to be conveyed, about or soon after 7-1. frin Sardinia to 

 Pavia. (Baronii ' Annul**,' fol Lucas, 1738-56, torn. xii. p. 320.) 



igiiitino's works were numerous, and have been printed in a 

 collected form repeatedly : at Paris, in 10 vols., folio, 1532 ; by 

 Erasmus, from Frobenins's press, 10 vols., folio, 1540-3; by the 

 divines of Louvain, 10 torn., folio, Lugd., 15S6 ; and by the Bene- 

 dictines of the congregation of St. Maur, 10 vol*., folio, Paris, 

 1679-1700; 12 vols., folio, Paris, 168S-1708; and 12 vols., folio, 

 Antwerp, 1700-3. 



The commanding power which Augustine possessed over the minds 

 of his contemporaries may be ascribed to route rare combinations 

 which distinguished his own mind. With strong passion, h unit. -d 

 mildness and humanity; with authority, much deference, to th feelings 

 of those over whom it waa exercised ; with a large expanse of intellect, 

 perfect logical strictness. The same is the character of hii writings. 

 In the same work often in the same page we find him mililin 

 almost puerile, giving loose to the full stream of a rapid Imagination 

 and deep piety, and then arguing with African subtlety, or canvassing 

 some minute scruple. He remained to the end of his life almost 

 ignorant of Greek, and entirely *o of Hebrew ; and his theological 

 acquirements wore not profound. But his oral eloquence was of the 

 most effective description, for it embodied the heat and earnest n<.i of 

 religious feeling, together with great rhetorical Ulents cultivated by a 

 rhetorical education. His habits were simple and frugal, but without 

 any affectation of austerity. 



(Acta Kanctorum, TO), vi. ; tftmoirc* pour serri'r <) I' Hi 

 ii<uiii/uf, by M. Lenaine Tillrmout, 4 to, Paris, 1702, the 13th volume 

 of which is devoted to sn elaborate account of his life and cm, <:.. 

 versics; Lardn r. ('. r ability of ttit Oatftl Hillary, part i. vol. vi. 

 pp. 58 and 59, and vol. x. 198 308; Neander, GackicUe dtr CArufli- 

 chrn Religion nd Kirclte.) 



AU<ii ST., first archbishop of Canterbury, also by con- 



traction called ST. AUSTIN, w.n prior of the Benedictine monastery 

 of St. Andrew at Rome, where he had been educated under Gregory, 

 afterwards Popo Gregory I. and St Gregory. He is usually called the 

 Apostle of the English, because he was lent. with about forty other 

 monks, Italian* and Gauls, to convert tbe Anglo-Saxons to the 

 Christian religion. This mission waa undertaken iu the year 696, 

 under St Gregory's immediate direction, who bail himself projected 

 and undertaken the conversion of the Anglo-Saxons, previous to hi* 

 advancement to the popedom. Augustine and his company soon felt 

 disposed to return rather than take so long a journey to a country, with 

 the manners and language of which they were unacquainted. Augus- 

 tine was accordingly despatched back to Rome to obtain the Pope'* 

 leave for their return ; but Gregory disregarded his remonstrances, 

 and, providing him with Dew letters of protection, commanded him to 

 proceed. 



Augustine and hi* companions having passed through France, 

 embarked for Britain, and landed late in S96 in the Isle of Thanel, 

 whence they sent me*engem to Rthelbert, kin; of Kent, to inform 

 him of their arrival and of the object <>f their mission. Rtbalbwt't 

 quren. Bertha, daughter of Chrrebert, king of th Pnrieii. was a 

 Christian ; and by thn articles of her marriage (as early as 67<i> had 

 tlie free exercise of her religion allowed her. Sh had also a French 

 l.i!m|. of the name of Luidhanl in her suite as chaplain, nn?l had the 

 use of the small church of St. Martin without the walla of Canterbury. 

 Kth' 'Hurt ordered the miiuionario* at first to continue in the Isle of 

 | Thanet; but some time after came to them and invite 1 them to an 

 audience, in the open air. Although he refused at first to abandon 

 tbe gods of his fathers for a new worship, he allowed them to preach 

 without mnlp.tutinn, and asaicned them B residence in Canterbury, 

 then called Dorohernia. which they entered in procesnion, sinking 

 hymns. Thorn ('Script.,' x. col. 1759) says they took up their 

 residence in a street which has Ir-en ince called Stable-pate, in the 

 parish of St Alphagp. These minionarie., who now applied them- 

 selves to the strict severity of monastic life, preached jointly in the 

 church of St Martin, with tho French Christians of Queen Bertha's 

 suite. After the conversion and baptism of the king himself, they 

 received license to preach in any part of of hia dominions, which 



