Augustine of Hippo

**Augustine of Hippo** (; ; 13 November 354 – 28 August 430), also known as **Saint Augustine**, was a Christian philosopher and theologian.

## Early life
Augustine was born in the year 354. His mother is believed to have been of Berber origin.

After growing up, he began to learn and write a lot about Christianity, and became a bishop in Hippo Regius, which was in modern-day Annaba, Algeria. He was highly influenced by archbishop Ambrose. Later in life, Augustine moved to Italy, and over the next years his religious ideology grew stronger, and he became a teacher.

### Death 
Shortly before Augustine died, a group called the Vandals invaded Roman Africa. The Vandals were a Germanic tribe who believed in a version of Christianity called Arianism. In the spring of 430, they surrounded the city of Hippo, where Augustine was living. At this time, Augustine became very sick.

According to Possidius, who wrote about Augustine’s life, one of Augustine’s few miracles happened during the siege. He healed a sick man. Augustine is also said to have excommunicated himself as he was dying. This means he cut himself off from the church in a public way to show he was sorry for his sins and to share in the suffering of others who sinned.

Augustine spent his last days praying and feeling sorry for his sins. He asked to have the penitential Psalms of David hung on his walls so he could read them. These prayers made him cry a lot, according to Possidius. Augustine was also in charge of the church’s library in Hippo, and he told people to take good care of the books there.

Augustine died on 28 August 430. Soon after, the Vandals stopped attacking Hippo for a while, but later they came back and burned the city. They destroyed almost everything except Augustine’s cathedral and the church library, which they left safe.

Augustine became very famous after his death. People thought of him as a saint, and in 1298, Pope Boniface VIII officially made him a Doctor of the Church, a special title for important teachers. Augustine’s feast day (a day to remember him) is on 28 August, the day he died.

He is known as the patron saint of brewers, printers, theologians (people who study God), and several cities and church areas. People also pray to him when they have sore eyes.

In the Church of England, Augustine is remembered with a smaller festival on 28 August.

## Works
**Books**:
* *On Christian Doctrine,* wrt397-426
* *Confessions,* 397-398
* *The City of God,* begun ca. 413, finished 426
* *On the Trinity,* 400-416
* *Enchiridion*
* *Retractions*: At the end of his life (ca. 426-428) Augustine revisited his previous works in chronological order and suggested what he would have said differently in a work titled the "*Retractions*", giving the reader a rare picture of the development of a writer and his final thoughts.
* *The Literal Meaning of Genesis*
* On Free Choice of the Will

**Letters**:

## Related pages
* Augustinianism
* Free will
* Original sin
* Pelagianism
* Filioque clause
* Truth

## References
* *The Story of Thought*, DK Publishing, Bryan Magee, London, 1998, 
: aka *The Story of Philosophy*, Dorling Kindersley Publishing, 2001, 
::(subtitled on cover: *The Essential Guide to the History of Western Philosophy*)
:: g Saint Augustine, pages 30, 144; *City of God* 51, 52, 53 and *The Confessions* 50, 51, 52
:: - additional in the Dictionary of the History of Ideas for Saint Augustine and Neo-Platonism 

## Bibliography 
* Brown, Peter. *Augustine of Hippo*.  Berkeley: University of California Press, 1967.  
* Gareth B. Matthews.  *Augustine*.  Blackwell, 2005.  
* O'Donnell, James J. *Augustine: A New Biography*. New York:  HarperCollins, 2005. 
* Ruickbie, Leo. *Witchcraft Out of the Shadows*. London: Robert Hale, 2004. , pp.&nbsp;57–8.
* Tanquerey, Adolphe. *The Spiritual Life: A Treatise on Ascetical and Mystical Theology*.  Reprinted Ed. (original 1930).  Rockford, IL: Tan Books, 2000. , p.&nbsp;37.
* von Heyking, John. *Augustine and Politics as Longing in the World*. Columbia:  University of Missouri Press, 2001.  
* *Orbis Augustinianus sive conventuum O. Erem. S. A. chorographica et topographica descriptio*  Augustino Lubin, Paris, 1659, 1671, 1672.
* 
* 
* René Pottier. *Saint Augustin le Berbère*. Fernand Lanore, 2006.  
*   
*     Preview from Google

## Other websites 
* General:
** University of Pennsylvania, Augustine of Hippo - Texts, translations, introductions, commentaries (Webarchive), 2006-10-22
** EarlyChurch.org.uk Extensive bibliography and on-line articles.
** Life of St. Augustine of Hippo, from the *Catholic Encyclopedia*
** Augstine of Hippo  , at Centropian
* Texts by Augustine:
** 
** In Latin, at *The Latin Library*: books and letters by Augustine
** At "Christian Classics Ethereal Library" Translations of several works by Augustine, incl. introductions
** Sant'Agostino - Vita, Scritti, Pensiero, Santità, Attualità Full Latin and Italian text resource
** At "IntraText Digital Library": Works by Augustine in several languages, with concordance and frequency list
** St. Augustine's Multilingual Opera Omnia
* Texts on Augustine:
** Augustine and 'other Catholics' 
** Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy entry
** "Augustine's Concept of Freedom: The Dynamic of Sin and Grace" from *Grace Incarnate* (1989) 
** Augustine's Heavenly City and the Western Mind Pgs 22-24
* On Music
** Augustine on Hymns 
* On Original Sin ask Dan Santos
** Augustine and Pelagius
** Augustine and Thomas Aquinas on Original Sin 
** Original sin: a disputation 
** The Cambridge Companion to Augustine; 3 Augustine on evil and original sin  
* Links to the Augustinian Order
** Augustine's writings 
* Audio books
** City of God, Confessions, Enchiridion, Doctrine 
* Augustine and Orthodoxy
** Blessed Augustine of Hippo: His Place in the Orthodox Church
** St Augustine the Bishop of Hippo Orthodox icon and synaxarion