Was St. Augustine Black?

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Not that it matters but was St. Augustine Black? Are there any reliable links that prove it? Thanks.
 
stove said:
Not that it matters but was St. Augustine Black? Are there any reliable links that prove it? Thanks.
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Possibly, but probably not. He was born in Tagaste which is now called Souk-Ahras which is near the Algerian Tunisian border in North Africa.
 
stove said:
Not that it matters but was St. Augustine Black? Are there any reliable links that prove it? Thanks.
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I think St.Augustine was christian arabic so his skin colour brownish.

You check on google and search for St.Augustine,voila,you’ll get as plenty information about him as you hope for:)

Laudate Dominum
 
The Arab conquest of North Africa didn’t happen for some centuries after St. Augustine. The truth is that we don’t really know what color he or his parents were; in ancient Rome “race” (as we think of it today) wasn’t typically something of particular note. What we do know is that his mother was certainly native African, and his father might have been, but his father was definitely more “Roman” in cultural (if not ethnic) heritage. 🤷

Peace and God bless!
 
I always thought St. Augustine was Berber in heritage, so he’d be somewhat brownish? 🤷 Not that it matters, I guess…
 
St Monica; Augustines Mother; was a Berber; which is generally speaking someone who is from North Africa; particularily western Egypt; Lybia; Tunisia and Algeria. So St. Monica would certainly have slightly dark skin.

As Patricius; Augustines Father; was a member of the Curiales it is likely he was of Roman Descent in some way or form.
 
I haven’t read other posts on this so I might be repeating answers. I’m pressed for time so here goes:
Augustine was most likely a Berber in blood. They are much in appearance like Moroccans, etc. However, keep in mind that MANY of the folks in North Africa had Phoenician blood like Hannibal and the gang. Carthage was a Phoenician colony. Back then it’s hard to tell who interbred with whom. I would imagine Augustine had a brownish skin tone. But it’s hard to tell. The earliest portrait painted of the venerable Bishop of Hippo was done in the sixth century, LONG after he had passed on. In it he looks like he has a brownish skin tone but, nevertheless, it was done around 150 years after his death.

Hard to tell but I doubt he was dark black, full-on African skin tone, north African berber look was most likely…
 
gurneyhalleck1 said:
I haven’t read other posts on this so I might be repeating answers. I’m pressed for time so here goes:
Augustine was most likely a Berber in blood.
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Augustine most likely didn’t consider himself a Berber. What we so know about him, the story of his conversion and his writings, is more import then his skin colour or racial background.
wiki:
Because the term Berber appeared for the first time after the end of the Roman Empire, the relevance of its use for the previous period is not accepted by all historians of antiquity.[3]# ^ Journée d’étude Africa Antiqua sur l’historiographie de l’Afrique du Nord. Voir les remarques de M. Lenoir en fin de compte rendu
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I never said his skin color mattered? Where did I imply it did? I’m answering the OP as are you?

What we know historically is that he was most likely of a Berber background and his father possibly as well. His father could’ve been Latinized north african or heck even of Phoenician stock like the people of Carthage? We don’t know? And I could care less if Augustine was purple like Barney, man. I’m just answering…🤷

At least I do like your name…bassist for Zeppelin! Right on! 👍
John_Paul_Jones said:
Augustine most likely didn’t consider himself a Berber. What we so know about him, the story of his conversion and his writings, is more import then his skin colour or racial background.
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Well, according to Wiki, St. Augustine’s father was named “Patricius,” (LOL what an original name) and was also Pagan. So, considering his Latin name, how being Pagan in in the Roman Empire was really popular, and that St. Augustine was born in a Roman colony; I think that Patricius would have been fair skinned.

And, many people on this thread have pointed out that his mother , St. Monica, is of from the Berber ethnic group. So, mixing those two together (a fair skinned Southern Euro with a West of the Nile Berber), I think you’d get something from your dark-olive Berber, which we see today in Egypt, to a light-tan skinned person, which is type of ethnic group seen across Southern Europe (like in Spain, Italy, Greece, etc.).

But, I highly doubt he was black, as in the the common black ethnic group when we think of as “the Africans.” Those ethnic groups would have been more densely populated (if not, only) on the other side of the Sahara.
 
yosephdaviyd said:
His mother Monica was fully African. I don’t know about his Father. Check Wikipedia.
David L. Gray (Yoseph Daviyd)
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African is synonymous in the U.S. with black just like the term Asian in the U.S. is synonymous with East Asians and Southeast Asians and not people that look like East Indians.

Africa is a large continent with a very diverse population. Being African does not necessarily mean one is black.
 
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