About Saint Augustine

[AlbMagno]

Hello, since some time ago I’ve been thinking about asking some questions about Saint Augustine, and now that I am more interested in one of his orders (OSA), I think it’s the time.

First, how did he die? I know he died during the invasion of arians in Hippo but I cannot find if he was martyred or just died naturally during the siege.

Second, how did his writings become so popular in Europe? He was a bishop from North Africa and I am not sure how his books got to medieval Europe. I know Africa in Late Antiquity had much bigger and important cities, but in the life of Augustine that was fading quicly.

Finally, why he is more popular than other Church Fathers? I am not questioning his individual greatness as intellectual, but I’ve read other Church Fathers and they seem as deep and prolific as him. From the little I’ve read from him, he seems to synthetize better greek philosophy with Catholic Tradition, when that wasn’t as common as with Scholasticism, but I don’t know if he is considered better for that.

 

[Dan_Defender]

First, how did he die? I know he died during the invasion of arians in Hippo but I cannot find if he was martyred or just died naturally during the siege.

Nobody really knows. It is likely that he died of starvation during the siege.

Finally, why he is more popular than other Church Fathers? I

Maybe because he was such a great apologist, others before him were more specific in their defense of the faith but St Augustine I find is rather comprehensive, covering most aspects of the faith.

 

[Bithynian]

Second, how did his writings become so popular in Europe?

Africa sounds quite distant and exotic from continental Europe, but Hippo Regius was a Roman city at the time of Augustine and was part of an extensive network of commercial, social and intellectual exchange with other Roman cities and provinces.

Finally, why he is more popular than other Church Fathers?

I think it’s largely because he wrote in Latin at the time when the Western Church was increasingly adopting Latin in its theology and liturgy. Prior to the 4th century, much of everything was done in Greek. As examples, Clement of Rome’s epistle was in Greek, and the Kyrie Eleison in the Mass is a vestige of when it was celebrated predominantly in Greek.

It’s worth noting that Augustine is essentially unread in the Eastern Church, and his theology is found to be very problematic by many Eastern Orthodox.

Likewise, there are some very important Eastern Church fathers that Western Christians have either never heard of or never read: the Cappadocian Fathers, which includes Gregory Nazianzus, Basil the Great and (my favourite) Gregory of Nyssa.

 

[JSRG]

AlbMagno:

First, how did he die? I know he died during the invasion of arians in Hippo but I cannot find if he was martyred or just died naturally during the siege.

Nobody really knows. It is likely that he died of starvation during the siege.

Actually, Possidius recorded it in his biography of Augustine, and was apparently an eyewitness. It appears it was natural causes:

And that his attention might not be interrupted by anyone, about ten days before he departed from the body he asked of us who were present that no one should come in to him, except only at the hours in which the physicians came to examine him or when nourishment was brought to him. This, accordingly, was observed and done, and he had all that time free for prayer. Up to the very moment of his last illness he preached the Word of God in the church incessantly, vigorously and powerfully, with a clear mind and sound judgment. With all the members of his body intact, with sight and hearing unimpaired, while we stood by and watched and prayed, “he slept with his fathers,” as it is written, “well-nourished in a good old age.” And in our presence, after a service was offered to God for the peaceful repose of his body, he was buried.

Source: http://www.tertullian.org/fathers/possidius_life_of_augustine_02_text.htm#C31

I don’t see any reason to doubt his account.

 

[OddBird]

Second, how did his writings become so popular in Europe?

As @Bithynian said, North Africa is quite close to Europe (the Mediterranean’s narrowest point, the Gibraltar strait, is just 14 kilometers of water between Spain and Morocco). During the Antiquity, the southern and northern shore of the Mediterranean were frequently linked by boat, and saint Augustine himself converted during a stay in Italy, under the influence of a great European saint, Ambrosius of Milan.

Even during his lifetime, he had disciples like saint Paulinus of Nola, an Italian bishop, and saint Prosper of Aquitaine, a lay Christian apologist from Gaul, who began circulating his writings around them.

Culturally, saint Augustine was completely a product of the Roman empire (of which his part of the world, the contemporary Tunisia, had long been a part) ; he spoke Latin and was not very proficient at Greek, which he hated having to learn as a child, and was well versed in classical Roman philosophy. The political, cultural and economical centre of his world was Rome. He was very much a part of the Latin cultural area, and thus more of a European than an African, if I may use these anachronical categories.

 

[AlbMagno]

Thank you all for your answers, each of you provided useful points.

 

[commenter]

He wrote an enormous amount, and far more of his work survives than that of others. He also addressed a multitude of different topics, including Psychology, Autobiography, Philosophy (several areas), politics, and culture in general in addition to Theology.

His work on many areas is (or was) studied by non Catholics, and non Christians.