St. Augustine's Accomplishments

Much of what we know about St. Augustine comes from his autobiographical works. Between 397 and 400, St. Augustine of Hippo wrote a series of thirteen books, which he called Confessions (Dyson, R. W, 2005). This was one of his most important texts; it influenced western Christianity and western Philosophy for thousands of years to come. St. Augustine was born in Thagaste, a Roman colony located in North Africa, in 354 (Dyson, R. W, 2005). His mother, Monica, was a Christian. He portrays his mother as “a gentle soul with a scrupulous conscience, worried endlessly about her son's spiritual welfare” (Dyson, R. W, 2005). His father, Patricius, was a Pagan who converted to Christianity at the end of his life. St. Augustine describes his father as being blunt and insensitive (Dyson, R. W, 2005). Patricius was unfaithful to his wife and reproached her for her piety. St. Augustine's father did not play a role in his spiritual development, he

Augustine taught rhetoric at Thagaste, Carthage, and Milan. It was in Milan where Augustine met Simplicianus, Pontitianus, and St. Ambrose (Dyson, R. W, 2005). They were well-know members of the Christian community. Augustine was impressed and inspired by their intellect; he was baptized by St. Ambrose in 387 at the age of thirty-one (Dyson, R. W, 2005). St. Augustine retired from teaching and began writing his first works as a Christian. He became a priest in 391 and in 396 he became the bishop of Hippo Regius (modern Algeria), where he remained for more than thirty years (Dyson, R. W, 2005). He believed that the grace of God was essential to human freedom (“St. Augustine of Hippo”). St. Augustine also “helped formulate the doctrine of original sin and made seminal contributions to the development of just war theory” (“St. Augustine of Hippo”). When the western Roman empire began to break apart, the concept of the pre-Schism Catholic Church as a spiritual City of God was developed by St. Augustine (“St. Augustine of