St. Augustine

Augustine was born in Thragaste, North Africa (present-day

Algeria) in November, 354, the son of Patricius and Monica, natives, it is thought, of North Africa, which was ruled at the time by the Romans. His parents, according to Augustine's own account, were moderately prosperous, enough so to give the young man a solid training in the liberal arts. When Augustine was 17 he went to Carthage to begin his training in rhetoric. A few years later, in 373 A.D., he returned to his native town to open a school of rhetoric. Up to the time of his conversion he remained a teacher of rhetoric, maintaining a school in Carthage in 376 A.D. but later in Rome and Milan in 373-386 A.D.

As a philosopher-theologian he had a profou

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iographical account. He says of his interest in rhetoric: "My studies, which were called honorable, were directed to the practice of law, so that I might excel at it and become so much more distinguished because so much the more crafty" (p 80). It would be a mistake to take these lamentations out of their context in the Confessions. Augustine is looking at his early life from the perspective of one who is singing a hymn to God, of one who has found his soul happy and at rest as a Christian. It is clear from the text of the work that Augustine as a Christian did not lose his love of rhetoric or the use of his training in the discipline (the Confessions alone is testimony to this fact). Nor did Augustine lose his fine taste for things beautiful, which he expressed in his poetry and his philosophy. Augustine's aim is not to depreciate man and his talents; it is, rather, to put man where he thinks he belongs --in the spotlight of God, the source of all life and gifts, and one who forgives the repentant sinner his errant ways. Augustine writes: If you find pleasure in bodily things, praise God for them, and direct your love to their maker, lest because of things that please you, you may displease him. If you find pleasure in souls
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Approximate Word count = 2503
Approximate Pages = 10 (250 words per page)

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