Augustine in His Own Words
The Bishop 81
St. Augustine (Vita s. Augustini), authored by his friend and editor Possidius of Calama.7 Possidius's account provides a frame for the chapter as a whole and punctuates the flow. Second, I draw on a handful of sermons, not to illustrate his preaching (for that, see Chapter Four), but rather to highlight aspects of his social world. Let me encourage readers to read these sermons aloud. They were originally delivered orally, of course, and their oral character comes through, even in translation. Finally, I draw selections from Augustine's more than 300 surviving letters to illustrate various pastoral quandaries and crises. Of special interest are 31 letters, lost for centuries but rediscovered and published in 1981 by Johannes Divjak.8 The excerpts in this chapter do not, for the most part, provide a continuous narrative. Think of them, instead, as snapshots in a photo album. They offer vivid, though disconnected, glimpses into his life and world. Some illustrate the humdrum ordinary; others, headlinemaking events.
possidius on augustine's ordination
In 391, Augustine traveled to Hippo Regius to convince a friend to join his monastic community in Thagaste. He happened to attend liturgy just as Bishop Valerius asked the congregation to nominate a new presbyter. Augustine found himself dragged to the front of the church and ordained on the spot. From Possidius of Calama, Life of St. Augustine:
(4) Now, at this time, holy Valerius was bishop of the Catholic Church at Hippo. Because of the pressing duties of his ecclesiastical office, this man addressed the people of God, encouraging them to provide and ordain a presbyter for the city.9 Consequent-
7. On Possidius and the Vita, see Erika T. Hermanowicz, Possidius of Calama: A Study of the North African Episcopate, OECS (New York: Oxford University Press, 2008).
8. The Benedictines of St. Maur, who edited the classic edition of Augustine's Latin works between 1679 and 1700, numbered his letters between 1 and 270. These include not only letters that Augustine wrote but also ones he received (e.g., ep. 135 from Marcellinus, ep. 136 from Volusianus). In the 200 years after the Benedictine edition, six others were discovered and inserted into this numbering scheme (e.g., ep. 173A to Deogratias, ep. 250A to Classicianus). The recently discovered Divjak letters have not been inserted into this numbering; instead, an asterisk has been added (e.g., ep. 10* and ep. 22*, cited in this chapter). For an overview, see Henry Chadwick, "The New Letters of St. Augustine." Journal of Theological Studies 34 (1983): 425– 52. See also works in the bibliography. 9. "Presbyter" (presbyter, "elder"): While the Latin term is translated by many as "priest," that is somewhat inaccurate for this period. The local church in Christianity's early centuries had a threefold hierarchy: the bishop (episkopos, "overseer") was the leader; presbyters were next in rank; below them were deacons (diakonoi, "servants"). The epithet "priest" (sacerdos) was initially applied only to the bishop. Only in Augustine's time does one begin to see a shift in application, so that here and there one finds the term "priest" applied to presbyters. My translation here and throughout reflects this terminology.