"is. I who speak to you was in my infancy put into the A. D. 386. "hands of the Manichees by my mother, whom they had "seduced; I have not only read, but transcribed nearly all "their books; and I was, without any argument or proof "from any one, undeceived." St. Monnica would not be persuaded by the words of the holy Bishop, and as she continued, with abundance of tears, to press him to speak with her son, the Bishop replied, with some displeasure, "Go your "way, it is impossible that the son of these tears should "perish;" which she accepted as an oracle from heaven. However, her son continued nine years a Manichee, namely, Confess. 4. from nineteen to twenty-eight years of age. 1 c. 1. c. 2. Confess. 4. c. 6. He kept a concubine, but was faithful to her, as though Confess. 4. she had been his lawful wife. Having finished his studies, Possid. Vit. he taught grammar in his own city Thagaste, and afterwards c. 2. rhetoric. A wizard offered to make him win the prize in a poetical contest, to effect which he would sacrifice certain animals, but Augustine rejected the proposal with horror, refusing to have any intercourse with the evil spirits. However he did not scruple to consult astrologers', and to read 1 [Mathetheir books. But he was persuaded to give it up by an acute matici.] and wise old man named Vindicianus, a famous physician, c. 3. and 7. who knew by experience the vanity of such kind of studies. Augustine had at that time an intimate friend, whom he had 4. c. 4. misled into the heresy of the Manichees; for he took much pains in seducing others. This friend fell sick, and continued senseless a long time, and, as his life was despaired of, he was baptized. When he came to himself, Augustine made a jest of the baptism which he had received in that condition", but the sick man rejected his discourse with horror, and died a few days after, faithful unto grace. Augustine was about 4. c. 13, 14. twenty-six years of age when he wrote two or three books concerning The Becoming and the Beautiful; but this work is lost. ['De PulHe began to be disgusted with the fables told by the Apto.] Manichees, especially concerning the system of the world, L. the nature of the heavenly bodies and the elements. This kind becomes "From the idea which the Manichees had that matter was essentially evil, they would naturally reject Holy Baptism, of which the necessary outward part is water. "They hold that Baptism chro et Augustine disgusted "in water contributes nothing to the with the Hæres. c. 3. A. D. 396. of knowledge, said he, is not essential to religion; but it is Confess. 5. essential not to lie, and not to boast of knowing what we know not; especially when we would be thought like Manes c. 3. § 6. to be guided by the Holy Ghost. He liked much better the accounts which the mathematicians and natural philosophers assigned for the eclipses, solstices, and the course of the stars. c. 3. There was a Manichæan Bishop named Faustus, much boasted of by those of his sect, as a wonderful man, and perfectly skilled in the sciences. After long expectation he came at length to Carthage, where Augustine was teaching c. 6. rhetoric. Augustine found him to be a very plausible man, and a good speaker, but who in the end said nothing more than the rest of the Manichees; he only explained it with greater facility and more gracefully. Augustine wanted something more, and was of too solid a mind to be contented with externals. All the knowledge of Faustus consisted in having read some of Cicero's orations, a very little of Seneca, some of the poets, and the Latin writings of the Manichees. But when Augustine was for examining deeply with him the difficulties which he found in explaining the course of the sun, the moon, and other heavenly bodies, Faustus freely owned to him that he had not studied these questions. Augustine, perceiving how little satisfaction he received from the most famous doctor of the Manichees, was entirely disgusted with them, being then twenty-nine years of age. At c. 8. that time he was persuaded to go and teach at Rome, where scholars were under better discipline than at Carthage. Accordingly he embarked against his mother's inclinations, and deceived her under the pretence of accompanying a friend, and remaining on board with him till a fair wind c. 9. should enable him to set sail. On his arrival at Rome he fell sick of a fever, which reduced him to the utmost exe. 10. tremity, but he did not ask to be baptized. He lodged at the house of a Manichee, and he continued to associate with that sect, being held by the bond of friendship. But he had no longer any hopes of finding the truth amongst them, neither did he think of seeking it in the Catholic Church, so great was his prejudice against her doctrine. He then began to think that the Academics who doubted of every thing might well be the wisest men; and he reproved his host for giving such implicit credit to the fables of the Manichees. A. D. 386. In the mean time the city of Milan sent to Symmachus the c. 13. Præfect of Rome for a professor of rhetoric; and by the interest of the Manichees, Augustine obtained the place, after having given a proof of his ability by an oration. Thus he came to Milan in 384, being thirty years old. c. 1. St. Ambrose received him with fatherly kindness, which LI. Augustine from the first won his affection; and Augustine diligently at Milan. attended his sermons, merely for the sake of the beauty of his style, and in order to discover whether his eloquence answered his reputation. He found what he said less alluring than the discourses of Faustus, but more judicious and infinitely more solid. He at first paid no attention to the c. 14. subjects of St. Ambrose's discourses; but however he was insensibly affected with them whether he would or not, and saw that the Catholic doctrine had at least something to be said for it. He resolved entirely to forsake the Manichees, and to remain in the rank of a Catechumen, as he then was, in that Church which his parents had recommended to him, i. e. in the Catholic Church, until the truth appeared more plainly to him. St. Monnica had come in search of him, Confess. 6. with so much faith, that as she crossed the sea she even comforted the seamen in the greatest dangers, by the assurance which God had given her, that she should come to her son. When he told her he was no longer a Manichee, but that he was not yet a Catholic, she was not at all surprised, but calmly answered him, that she was confident that she should see him a Catholic believer before she departed this life. In the mean time she continued her prayers, and attended the sermons of St. Ambrose, whom she loved as if he had been an Angel of God, knowing that he had brought her son to this doubtful state, which would be the crisis of his distemper. As in Africa she used to carry wine and certain cakes to the c.2. [comp. churches of the martyrs, and once wished to do the same at 8. 27. and Milan, the porter of the church hindered her, and told her ad Aurel.] that the Bishop had forbidden it. She immediately obeyed, without being zealous for her own practice. St. Ambrose had abolished these meals in the churches; because instead [Feasts of of the ancient sober and modest agapa', they were now only St. Jude v. Charity. occasions of intemperance. However he esteemed St. Monnica 12. Comp. De Civit. 1 Cor. xi. 20-22.] A. D. 386. for her piety and good works, and frequently congratulated Confess. 9. St. Augustine for having such a mother; for her whole life 5. c. 9. Lib. had been virtuous. She was born in a Christian family, c. 13. 8, 9. de Ordine p. 327. I. c.xi. to.i. where she had been well educated. She was perfectly obedient to her husband, bearing with his irregularities and passions, with such patience as might give example to other women, and she gained her husband to the faith of Christ towards the end of his life. She had a particular talent in conciliating enemies; and ever since her widowhood she gave herself up entirely to works of piety; she bestowed abundance in alms, served the poor, and no day intermitted the oblation at the altar: came to church twice every day, in the morning and evening, to hear the word of God, and offer her prayers, to which her whole life was devoted. She was very fond of the Holy Scripture; God communicated Himself to her by visions and revelations, and she knew Confess. 6. how to distinguish them from dreams and common thoughts; such was St. Monnica, according to St. Augustine. 13. He thought St. Ambrose very happy as to the world, seeing him honoured by persons of the greatest consideration. But he could not get an opportunity of conversing with him, as he could have wished, on account of the great crowds who came to him, upon various accounts, and he did not venture to interrupt him during the time which the holy Bishop spent in reading. "Frequently," he says, "when we "had come to his house, (for it was not usual to hinder any person from coming in, or to announce him,) we saw him "reading to himself; and after having sat a considerable time "in silence, we withdrew, supposing that he would be loath "to be interrupted in the short space which he had to recruit "his spirits and his voice. I heard him preach to the people every Sunday; I conceived more and more, that the "calumnies, with which impostors attacked the sacred "writings, might be dissipated, and I began to perceive the "necessity of authority and faith." He had with him two intimate friends, Alypius and Nebridius. Alypius was born as well as himself at Thagaste, where his parents were people of the highest rank. He was younger than Augustine, whose disciple he had been at Thagaste, and Carthage. He came to Rome to study law, Academ. c. and was afterwards assessor to the Count of the Italian A. D. 386. treasury. When Augustine came to Rome, Alypius went with him from thence to Milan, not being able to leave him; and continued to perform the same office of assessor or c. 10. counsellor to other magistrates with great integrity; Nebridius came from the neighbourhood of Carthage, and had left his country, his mother, and an excellent estate which he possessed, in order to come to Milan and live with Augustine, and search after the truth, which was the most earnest desire of these three friends. They even resolved to c. 14. make one household, and there were about ten persons who were capable of putting this design into execution; some of whom were very rich, particularly Romanianus, another citizen of Thagaste, and a relation to Alypius, whom his affairs had brought to court. Augustine looked upon him. as his patron; he had assisted him in his youth to support II. contra the expence of his education, particularly after the death of 2. to. i. p. his father, and had afterwards helped him in all his affairs, 262, both with his wealth and his counsel. But this design of living in common was broken off, because some of them had wives already, and others intended to marry; and it was thought that this kind of society would not then be agreeable. Augustine was one of those who intended to marry; c. 12, 13. his mother had found out a proper person for him; but she was so young that he was obliged to wait two years. In the mean time his concubine had left him, and returned into Africa, making a vow of continence for the rest of her life, and leaving him a son, whom he named Adeodatus, i. e. given of God. He took another concubine for the short time that intervened till his marriage, such a slave was he to that c. 16. evil habit. On the first of January 385, he spoke a pane- [Contra Lit. gyric for the Consul Bauto, who on that day entered upon c. 25. to. 9 his office. At that time being thirty-one years old, he began P. 311. F.]. to reject corporeal images, to which he had been accustomed De Vita by the Manichees, and to form juster notions of God, of the to. 1. p. 299. spiritual nature, and of the origin of evil. But he did not Confess. The Lord High Treasurer of the Western Empire was called Comes saerarum Largitionum. His jurisdiction was divided into six provinces, over each of which was a treasurer subordinate to him. One of these was the Treasurer of Italy. The assessor was Petilian. 3 Beata. § 4. Lib. 7. |