St. Augustine: On Sacred Scriptures

“IT was because we were weak and unable to find the truth by pure reason that we needed the authority of the sacred scriptures; and so I began to see that you would not have endowed them with such authority among all nations unless you had willed human beings to believe in you and seek you through them.

“Having already heard many parts of the sacred books explained in a reasonable and acceptable way, I came to regard those passages which had previously struck me as absurd, and therefore repelled me, as holy and profound mysteries. The authority of the sacred writings seemed to me all the more deserving of reverence and divine faith in that scripture was easily accessible to every reader, while yet guarding a mysterious dignity in its deeper sense. In plain words and very humble modes of speech it offered itself to everyone, yet stretched the understanding of those who were not shallow-minded. It welcomed all comers to its hospitable embrace, yet through narrow openings attracted a few to you—a few, perhaps, but far more than it would have done had it not spoken with such noble authority and drawn the crowds to its embrace by its holy humility." 
─ Confessions, Bk. VI, chap. 5.

“HOW amazing is the profundity of your words! We are confronted with a superficial meaning that offers easy access to the unlettered; yet how amazing their profundity, O my God, how amazingly deep they are! To look into that depth makes me shudder, but it is the shudder of awe, the trembling of love."
─ Confessions, Bk. XII, chap. 5.

Letters from our fatherland: 
"IN what manner in ourselves is formed again the love of our city, which by long sojourning we had forgotten? But our Father has sent from thence letters to us, God has supplied to us the Scriptures, by which letters there should be wrought in us a longing for return: because by loving our sojourning, to enemies we had turned our face, and our back to our fatherland."
─ Enarrations on the Psalms, In Ps. 64 [65], 2.

The Confessions of St. Augustine of Hippo

The Confessions are available through Amazon and Ignatius Press.

St. Augustine: "How have You loved us, O good Father"

"How have You loved us, O good Father, who spared not Your only Son, but delivered Him up for us wicked ones! How have You loved us, for whom He, who thought it no robbery to be equal with You, 'became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross;' (Phil 2:6, 8) He alone 'free among the dead,' that had power to lay down His life, and power to take it again; (Jn. 10:18) for us was He unto You both Victor and Victim, and the Victor as being the Victim; for us was He unto You both Priest and Sacrifice, and Priest as being the Sacrifice; of slaves making us Your sons, by being born of You, and serving us. Rightly, then, is my hope strongly fixed on Him, that You will heal all my diseases by Him who sits at Your right hand and makes intercession for us; (Rom. 8:34) else should I utterly despair. For numerous and great are my infirmities, yea, numerous and great are they; but Your medicine is greater. We might think that Your Word was removed from union with man, and despair of ourselves had He not been 'made flesh and dwelt among us.' (Jn. 1:14)

"Terrified by my sins and the load of my misery, I had resolved in my heart, and meditated flight into the wilderness; but You forbade me, and strengthened me, saying, therefore, 'Christ died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto Him which died for them.' (2 Cor. 5:15) Behold, O Lord, I cast my care upon You, that I may live, and 'behold wondrous things out of Your law.' You know my unskilfulness and my infirmities; teach me, and heal me. Your only Son — 'He in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge' — has redeemed me with His blood. Let not the proud speak evil of me, because I consider my ransom, and eat and drink, and distribute; and poor, desire to be satisfied from Him, together with those who eat and are satisfied, and they praise the Lord that seek him."

~St. Augustine: Confessions, Bk. X, Chap. 43.

Crucifixion, by Alonso Cano. 

Oil on canvas, 1636-38; The Hermitage, St. Petersburg.

St. Augustine: The Confessions

Recommended reading: The Confessions: Saint Augustine of Hippo (Ignatius Critical Editions)

Description: "The Confessions of Saint Augustine is considered one of the greatest Christian classics of all time. It is an extended poetic, passionate, intimate prayer that Augustine wrote as an autobiography sometime after his conversion, to confess his sins and proclaim God's goodness. Just as his first hearers were captivated by his powerful conversion story, so also have many millions been over the following sixteen centuries. His experience of God speaks to us across time with little need of transpositions.

"This acclaimed new translation by Sister Maria Boulding, O.S.B., masterfully captures his experience, and is written in an elegant and flowing style. Her beautiful contemporary translation of the ancient Confessions makes the classic work more accessible to modern readers. Her translation combines the linguistic accuracy demanded by 4th-century Latin with the poetic power aimed at by Augustine, not as discernible in previous translations."

In addition, the majority of pages in this edition contain helpful footnotes; and a separate study guide for this edition of the The Confessions is available through the Ignatius Press website.

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St. Augustine: The Confessions

Recommended reading:

The Confessions: Saint Augustine of Hippo (Ignatius Critical Editions). This edition is an excellent English translation as well as a superb study edition under the editorship of the eminent scholar, Joseph Pearce.  

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The Confessions - Study Guide,
by Joseph Pearce (Ignatius Critical Editions)
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Augustine: "A Catholic believer"

"MY MOTHER had now come to me, resolute through piety, following me over sea and land, in all perils confiding in Thee. For in perils of the sea, she comforted the very mariners (by whom passengers unacquainted with the deep, use rather to be comforted when troubled), assuring them of a safe arrival, because Thou hadst by a vision assured her thereof. She found me in grievous peril, through despair of ever finding truth. But when I had discovered to her that I was now no longer a Manichee, though not yet a Catholic Christian, she was not overjoyed, as at something unexpected; although she was now assured concerning that part of my misery, for which she bewailed me as one dead, though to be reawakened by Thee, carrying me forth upon the bier of her thoughts, that Thou mightest say to the son of the widow, Young man, I say unto thee, Arise; and he should revive, and begin to speak, and Thou shouldest deliver him to his mother. Her heart then was shaken with no tumultuous exultation, when she heard that what she daily with tears desired of Thee was already in so great part realised; in that, though I had not yet attained the truth, I was rescued from falsehood; but, as being assured, that Thou, Who hadst promised the whole, wouldest one day give the rest, most calmly, and with a heart full of confidence, she replied to me, “She believed in Christ, that before she departed this life, she should see me a Catholic believer.” Thus much to me. But to Thee, Fountain of mercies, poured she forth more copious prayers and tears, that Thou wouldest hasten Thy help, and enlighten my darkness; and she hastened the more eagerly to the Church, and hung upon the lips of Ambrose, praying for the fountain of that water, which springeth up unto life everlasting. But that man she loved as an angel of God, because she knew that by him I had been brought for the present to that doubtful state of faith I now was in, through which she anticipated most confidently that I should pass from sickness unto health, after the access, as it were, of a sharper fit, which physicians call "the crisis.""

~St. Augustine of Hippo:  Confessions, VI.

St. Monica (on the pillar), by Bennozzo Gozzoli.
Fresco, 1464-65; Apsidal chapel, Sant'Agostino, San Gimignano.

 

Death of St. Monica (scene 13, south wall),  by Bennozzo Gozzoli.
1464-65; Apsidal chapel, Sant'Agostino, San Gimignano.

Augustine: "Thou hast made us for Thyself"

“THOU hast made us for Thyself, and the heart of man is restless until it finds rest in Thee.” (Confessions: 1,1)

"LATE have I loved thee, O Beauty so ancient and so new; late have I loved Thee! For behold Thou wert within me, and I outside; and I sought Thee outside and in my unloveliness fell upon those lovely things that Thou has made. Thou wert within me and I was not with Thee.” (Confessions: 10, 27)

~St. Augustine, Bishop of Hippo.

St. Augustine, by Vincenzo Foppa.
Wood panel, 1465-70; Castello Sforzesco, Milan.

Augustine: "Too late have I loved you!"

"TOO late have I loved you, O Beauty so ancient, O Beauty so new. Too late have I loved you!  You were within me but I was outside myself, and there I sought you! In my weakness I ran after the beauty of the things you have made. You were with me, and I was not with you. The things you have made kept me from you - the things which would have no being unless they existed in you! You have called, you have cried, and you have pierced my deafness. You have radiated forth, you have shined out brightly, and you have dispelled my blindness. You have sent forth your fragrance, and I have breathed it in, and I long for you. I have tasted you, and I hunger and thirst for you. You have touched me, and I ardently desire your peace."

~St. Augustine of Hippo: Confessions, X, 27, 38.

St. Augustine, by Vincenzo Foppa.
Wood panel, 1465-70; Castello Sforzesco, Milan.

 

The Confessions: Saint Augustine of Hippo
(Ignatius Critical Editions)
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Augustine: "Take up and read; Take up and read"

(Tolle lege, tolle lege)

"SO WAS I speaking and weeping in the most bitter contrition of my heart, when, lo! I heard from a neighbouring house a voice, as of boy or girl, I know not, chanting, and oft repeating, "Take up and read; Take up and read." Instantly, my countenance altered, I began to think most intently whether children were wont in any kind of play to sing such words: nor could I remember ever to have heard the like. So checking the torrent of my tears, I arose; interpreting it to be no other than a command from God to open the book, and read the first chapter I should find. For I had heard of Antony, that coming in during the reading of the Gospel, he received the admonition, as if what was being read was spoken to him: Go, sell all that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven, and come and follow me: and by such oracle he was forthwith converted unto Thee. Eagerly then I returned to the place where Alypius was sitting; for there had I laid the volume of the Apostle when I arose thence. I seized, opened, and in silence read that section on which my eyes first fell: Not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying; but put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, in concupiscence. No further would I read; nor needed I: for instantly at the end of this sentence, by a light as it were of serenity infused into my heart, all the darkness of doubt vanished away."

~St. Augustine of Hippo: Confessions, 8, 12.

St. Augustine Reading the Epistle of St. Paul (scene 10, east wall),
by Benozzo Gozzoli. Fresco, 1464-65;Apsidal chapel, Sant'Agostino, San Gimignano.