Memorial of Saint
Augustine, bishop and Doctor of the Church
(I Corinthians 1:1-9; Matthew 24:42-51)
A seminary professor, accustomed to lecturing sitting
down, said that when teaching today’s patron saint, “I stand for Augustine”! There is certainly reason for such propriety. More than any other thinker, St. Augustine
shaped Christian theology. He was to the
Church what the Federalists -- Jefferson, Hamilton, and Madison, combined -- were
to the government of the United States; that is, the chief commentator of its
ideals.
Augustine’s achievement may be attributed to several
contingent factors. He lived a long life
during a period of many challenges to the faith. Of course, he was a genius, but also he had
an excellent humanistic formation. His
writings were formative because they were directed toward the great theological
controversies of the time. He refuted
Manicheanism, a belief system which attracted Augustine as a young man, that denied
the value of material existence. He also
waged a theological war against Donatism, an error holding that the value of
the sacrament depended upon the holiness of its minister. The end of his life was given to fighting
Pelagianism, which held that a person can achieve salvation with human power
alone. Beyond these controversies
Augustine commented brilliantly in seminal works on the Trinity and the
Christian’s role in the world.
Besides being the greatest theologian of the first
millennium other than the New Testament writers themselves, Augustine also distinguished
himself as a bishop, which occupied the majority of his time. His sermons, four
hundred of which have been preserved, are a testimony to Scriptural insight,
theological acumen, and rhetorical eloquence.
