Today the Church throughout the world joins with the ancient city of Hippo (NOT the Hippo on the left, but certainly this is a big day for him as well..), located in what is today Algeria, in celebrating one of the great saints of the church: St. Augustine. Augustine was born in 354 in North Africa, and died on this very day in the year 430. Augustine's journey to the Catholic Church was a long and arduous one, leading to his eventual baptism at the age of 32 while he was living and working in Milan. He was eventually to return to North Africa where he served as a Bishop. His famous work The Confessions provides a stirring account of his attempts to seek happiness in this life and purpose in this life.
Augustine has been described as the last great classical man and nearly the first great medieval man. His spiritual autobiography (The Confessions mentioned above) represents a break through in that his writing gives witness to a greater self-awareness, a real searching of the soul not previously described.Augustine was very interested in singing. He is often credited with the phrase Qui cantat, bis orat or "He who sings prays twice..." noting perhaps the greater engagement of the whole person when one sings. Augustine loved the singing that took place in the Milan Cathedral of his time.
Augustine is a favorite of Pope Benedict XVI. Recently, the Holy Father referred to St. Augustine in his homily to all who were gathered for World Youth Day in Sydney, Australia. He shared with the young people gathered there his insights into the role of the Holy Spirit in our lives as the source of our unity. You can read this very fine message here.
Augustine was a friend of the Lord. He knew the same longings, frustrations and anxieties that you and I do. His work Confessions opens with the phrase "You have made us for yourself, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you." Augustine knew that his ultimate happiness rested in the one who created, the God who is love - love ceaselessly passing between the Father and the Son which is the Holy Spirit. We try to find this happiness in so many other things. Augustine, our brother in the Church, reminds us that ultimately it is only in God, and his life of self-giving that we find happiness.
Check out St. Augustine the next time you are in the cathedral! Look in the large stained-glass window in the west transept and you will see a Bishop holding a burning heart. Thinking about the quote above, you can understand why we symbolically depict him in this way.
Lord,
Renew in your Church
the spirit you gave St. Augustine.
Filled with this spirit,
may we thirst for you alone as the fountain of wisdom
and seek you as the source of eternal love.
Grant this through Christ our Lord.
Amen
