Saint Augustine, also known as Augustine of Hippo, was born in the fourth century in present day Algeria. His feast day is celebrated on August 28th, and he is sometimes called the Doctor of the Church. Saint Augustine was an extremely intelligent man and educated many people. This is why Augustine is known as the patron saint of teachers and educators.
Augustine, along with Saint Paul, was known for his energetic attitude. Augustine devoted his energy and time to spreading the word of God and helping people choose the path to conversion into the Catholic faith. However, Augustine’s energy was not always dedicated to Christ.
Augustine is said to have had some crazy times growing up. A quote most often tied to Augustine is, “Grant me chastity and continence, but not yet…”. Augustine was wild in his younger years, and it is shown through that quote which he said during his early thirties.
In due time, Augustine came to realize his unruly way of life was not the way, and converted to Catholicism. Augustine’s conversion to the faith has been told as follows. One day Augustine was walking though a garden in Milan, and said to his companions he heard a child’s voice tell him to, “take up and read. He followed the child’s plea, and began to read the nearest thing he could find. This just happened to be Saint Paul’s Letter to the Romans.
Augustine would eventually come to enjoy writing very much in his later years. He wrote his book “Confessions” about his wild youth and consequent conversion to the Catholic faith. The book told many experiences he had in his younger days, and the lessons he learned from his mistakes. He told mainly of the shame and regret that many of his hasty actions had brought to him. The book also is considered an important theological work due to his delve into the areas of “God’s intentions” and its place next to people’s thoughts and society as a whole.
Augustine had been born in North Africa, and after his conversion to Catholicism he decided to return to his place of birth from his home in Milan. On the journey Augustine’s mother Monica, and his son both passed away. Augustine was left to return to Africa all alone. This affected him greatly because his mother was a huge influence in his life.
From then on Augustine devoted all of his time to God, and became a full time student of the lord. He did his best to convert all he met in Africa to Catholicism through many riveting speeches he gave to enormous crowds at a time. Augustine became a priest, and was later made into a Bishop. He stayed in this position until he passed away in 430.
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