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biography
| name: |
Augustine, St
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originally Aurelius Augustinus, also known as Augustine of Hippo
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pronunciation:
[awguhstin]
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| male
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| lived:
| (354–430)
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| biography:
| The greatest of the Latin Fathers of the Church, born in Tagaste, Numidia (modern Algeria). His father was a pagan, but he was brought up a Christian by his devout mother, Monica. He went to Carthage to study, and had a son (Adeonatus) by a mistress there. He became deeply involved in Manicheanism, which seemed to offer a solution to the problem of evil, a theme which was to preoccupy him throughout his life. In 383 he moved to teach at Rome, then at Milan, and became influenced by Scepticism and then by Neoplatonism. After the dramatic spiritual crises described in his autobiography, he finally became converted to Christianity and was baptized (together with his son) by St Ambrose in 386. He returned to N Africa and became Bishop of Hippo in 396, where he was a relentless antagonist of the heretical schools of Donatists, Pelagians, and Manicheans. The Confessions (400) is a classic of world literature and a spiritual autobiography, as well as an original work of philosophy. The City of God (412–27) is a work of 22 books presenting human history in terms of the conflict between the spiritual and the temporal. Feast day 28 August. |
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