Augustine

Augustine, Saint, Lat. Aurelius Augustinus, 354-430, one of the four Latin Fathers, bishop of Hippo (near present-day Annaba, Algeria), b. Tagaste (c.40 mi/60 km S of Hippo).

Life

Augustine's mother, St. Monica, was a great influence in his life. She brought him up as a Christian, but he gave up his religion when he went to school at Carthage. There he became adept in rhetoric. In his Confessions he repents of his wild youth in Carthage, during which time he fathered an illegitimate son. At some time in his youth he became a convert to Manichaeism. After 376 he went to Rome, where he taught rhetoric with success; in 384, at the urging of the Manichaeans, he went to Milan to teach.

His years at Milan were the critical period of his life. Already distrustful of Manichaeism, he came to renounce it after a deep study of Neoplatonism and skepticism. Augustine, troubled in spirit, was greatly drawn by the eloquent fervor of St. Ambrose, bishop of Milan. After two years of great doubt and mental disquietude, Augustine suddenly decided to embrace Christianity. He was baptized on Easter in 387. Soon afterward he returned to Tagaste, where he lived a monastic life with a group of friends. In 391, while he was visiting in Hippo, he was chosen against his will to be a Christian priest there. For the rest of his life he remained in Hippo, where he became auxiliary bishop in 395 and bishop soon after. He died in the course of the siege of Hippo by the Vandals. Feast: Aug. 28.

His Works and Teachings

St. Augustine's influence on Christianity is thought by many to be second only to that of St. Paul, and theologians, both Roman Catholic and Protestant, look upon him as one of the founders of Western theology. His Confessions is considered a classic of Christian autobiography. This work (c.400), the prime source for St. Augustine's life, is a beautifully written apology for the Christian convert. Next to it his best-known work is the City of God (after 412)—a mammoth defense of Christianity against its pagan critics, and famous especially for the uniquely Christian view of history elaborated in its pages.

Augustine regarded all history as God's providential preparation of two mystical cities, one of God and one of the devil, to one or the other of which all humankind will finally belong. His greatest purely dogmatic work is On the Trinity, but much of his theological teaching comes from his polemic writings. His works against the Manichaeans, especially Against Faustus (his Manichaean teacher), are important for the light they throw on this religion. Against Donatism St. Augustine directed two works, On Baptism and On the Correction of the Donatists, in which he formulated the idea, since then become part of Roman Catholicism, that the church's authority is the guarantee of the Christian faith, its own guarantee being the apostolic succession.

The most important and vitriolic controversy in which St. Augustine was involved was his battle against Pelagianism. The Pelagians denied original sin and the fall of humanity. The implication of this aroused Augustine, who held that humanity was corrupt and helpless. From his writings the great controversies on grace proceed, and as professed followers of Augustine, John Calvin and the Jansenists developed predestinarian theologies. Though revering Augustine, many theologians have refused to accept his more extreme statements on grace. Another of St. Augustine's important treatises, On the Work of Monks, has been much used by monastics. He was also a supremely important biblical exegete. His letters are numerous and revealing. His most important works are available in translation.

Augustine, volcano, Alaska: see Augustine Island.

Birrell, Augustine, 1850-1933, English essayist and public official. As chief secretary for Ireland (1907-16) his failure to end the plotting that resulted in the Easter Rebellion of 1916 led to his retirement from politics. His works include the pleasant and urbane critical essays Obiter Dicta (3 vol.; 1884, 1887, 1924) and biographies of Charlotte Brontë (1887), William Hazlitt (1902), and Andrew Marvell (1905).

(born March 12, 1710, London, Eng.—died March 5, 1778, London) British composer. Son of a London upholsterer, he secretly taught himself instrumental skills and composition with the help of an opera musician. Smitten by the opera, he had an early success with his own first opera, Rosamond (1733), and thereafter concentrated almost exclusively on the theatre. As composer to Drury Lane Theatre and London's great pleasure gardens, he became Britain's leading theatrical composer and, after George Frideric Handel, possibly the finest British composer of the century. Of his approximately 90 theatrical works, the best known are Comus (1738), The Judgment of Paris (1740), and Artaxerxes (1762). His song “Rule, Britannia” became an unofficial national anthem. His sister Susannah (1714–66) was the famous singer and actress known as Mrs. Cibber.

Learn more about Arne, Thomas Augustine with a free trial on Britannica.com.

(born , Rome?—died May 26, 604/605, Canterbury, Kent, Eng.; feast day May 26 in England and Wales, May 28 elsewhere) First archbishop of Canterbury. A Benedictine prior in Rome, he was chosen by Pope Gregory I to lead 40 monks as missionaries to England. They arrived in 597 and were welcomed by King Ethelbert of Kent, at the behest of his queen, and he gave them a church in Canterbury. Augustine converted the king and thousands of his subjects and was made bishop of the English. On the pope's instructions he purified pagan temples and consecrated 12 other bishops. He founded Christ Church, Canterbury, as his cathedral and made Canterbury the primary see in England. He tried unsuccessfully to unify his churches with the Celtic churches of northern Wales.

Learn more about Augustine of Canterbury, Saint with a free trial on Britannica.com.

City (pop., 2000: 11,592), northeastern Florida, U.S. It is the oldest continuously settled U.S. city. In 1513 Juan Ponce de León landed there in search of the Fountain of Youth and claimed the territory for Spain. It became part of the U.S. in 1821. The Castillo de San Marcos, now a national monument, is a symbol of the era of Spanish control. During the American Revolution the city was a refuge for loyalists, and during the Indian Wars it was the place of imprisonment for Osceola and other Seminoles. It is a winter and summer resort and a port on the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway. The economy is based on tourism and fishing.

Learn more about Saint Augustine with a free trial on Britannica.com.

(born Feb. 2, 1882, Dublin, Ire.—died Jan. 13, 1941, Zürich, Switz.) Irish novelist. Educated at a Jesuit school (though he soon rejected Catholicism) and at University College, Dublin, he decided early to become a writer. In 1902 he moved to Paris, which would become his principal home after years spent in Trieste and Zürich. His life was difficult, marked by financial troubles, chronic eye diseases that occasionally left him totally blind, censorship problems, and his daughter Lucia's mental illness. The remarkable story collection The Dubliners (1914) and the autobiographical novel Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (1916), his early prose volumes, were powerful examples of his gift for storytelling and his great intelligence. With financial help from friends and supporters, including Ezra Pound, Sylvia Beach (1887–1962), and Harriet Shaw Weaver (1876–1961), he spent seven years writing Ulysses (1922), the controversial masterpiece (initially banned in the U.S. and Britain) now widely regarded by many as the greatest English-language novel of the 20th century. It embodies a highly experimental use of language and exploration of such new literary methods as interior monologue and stream-of-consciousness narrative. He spent 17 years on his final work, the extraordinary Finnegans Wake (1939), famous for its complex and demanding linguistic virtuosity.

Learn more about Joyce, James (Augustine Aloysius) with a free trial on Britannica.com.

(born Feb. 2, 1882, Dublin, Ire.—died Jan. 13, 1941, Zürich, Switz.) Irish novelist. Educated at a Jesuit school (though he soon rejected Catholicism) and at University College, Dublin, he decided early to become a writer. In 1902 he moved to Paris, which would become his principal home after years spent in Trieste and Zürich. His life was difficult, marked by financial troubles, chronic eye diseases that occasionally left him totally blind, censorship problems, and his daughter Lucia's mental illness. The remarkable story collection The Dubliners (1914) and the autobiographical novel Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (1916), his early prose volumes, were powerful examples of his gift for storytelling and his great intelligence. With financial help from friends and supporters, including Ezra Pound, Sylvia Beach (1887–1962), and Harriet Shaw Weaver (1876–1961), he spent seven years writing Ulysses (1922), the controversial masterpiece (initially banned in the U.S. and Britain) now widely regarded by many as the greatest English-language novel of the 20th century. It embodies a highly experimental use of language and exploration of such new literary methods as interior monologue and stream-of-consciousness narrative. He spent 17 years on his final work, the extraordinary Finnegans Wake (1939), famous for its complex and demanding linguistic virtuosity.

Learn more about Joyce, James (Augustine Aloysius) with a free trial on Britannica.com.

(born Jan. 11, 1897, Ogden, Utah, U.S.—died Nov. 13, 1955, New York, N.Y.) U.S. journalist, historian, and critic. De Voto taught at Northwestern and Harvard universities, briefly edited The Saturday Review (1936–38), and wrote a column for Harper's (1935–55). Known for his works on American literature and the history of the western frontier as well as for his vigorous, outspoken style, he was one of the most widely read critics and historians of his day. Among his nonfiction works are Mark Twain's America (1932), Across the Wide Missouri (1948, Pulitzer Prize), and The Course of Empire (1952).

Learn more about De Voto, Bernard (Augustine) with a free trial on Britannica.com.

(born Jan. 11, 1897, Ogden, Utah, U.S.—died Nov. 13, 1955, New York, N.Y.) U.S. journalist, historian, and critic. De Voto taught at Northwestern and Harvard universities, briefly edited The Saturday Review (1936–38), and wrote a column for Harper's (1935–55). Known for his works on American literature and the history of the western frontier as well as for his vigorous, outspoken style, he was one of the most widely read critics and historians of his day. Among his nonfiction works are Mark Twain's America (1932), Across the Wide Missouri (1948, Pulitzer Prize), and The Course of Empire (1952).

Learn more about De Voto, Bernard (Augustine) with a free trial on Britannica.com.

(born Nov. 13, 354, Tagaste, Numidia—died Aug. 28, 430, Hippo Regius; feast day August 28) Christian theologian and one of the Latin Fathers of the Church. Born in Roman North Africa, he adopted Manichaeism, taught rhetoric in Carthage, and fathered a son. After moving to Milan he converted to Christianity under the influence of St. Ambrose, who baptized him in 387. He returned to Africa to pursue a contemplative life, and in 396 he became bishop of Hippo (now Annaba, Alg.), a post he held until his death while the city was under siege by a Vandal army. His best-known works include the Confessions, an autobiographical meditation on God's grace, and The City of God, on the nature of human society and the place of Christianity in history. His theological works On Christian Doctrine and On the Trinity are also widely read. His sermons and letters show the influence of Neoplatonism and carry on debates with the proponents of Manichaeism, Donatism, and Pelagianism. His views on predestination influenced later theologians, notably John Calvin. He was declared a Doctor of the Church in the early Middle Ages.

Learn more about Augustine (of Hippo), Saint with a free trial on Britannica.com.

(born , Rome?—died May 26, 604/605, Canterbury, Kent, Eng.; feast day May 26 in England and Wales, May 28 elsewhere) First archbishop of Canterbury. A Benedictine prior in Rome, he was chosen by Pope Gregory I to lead 40 monks as missionaries to England. They arrived in 597 and were welcomed by King Ethelbert of Kent, at the behest of his queen, and he gave them a church in Canterbury. Augustine converted the king and thousands of his subjects and was made bishop of the English. On the pope's instructions he purified pagan temples and consecrated 12 other bishops. He founded Christ Church, Canterbury, as his cathedral and made Canterbury the primary see in England. He tried unsuccessfully to unify his churches with the Celtic churches of northern Wales.

Learn more about Augustine of Canterbury, Saint with a free trial on Britannica.com.

(born March 12, 1710, London, Eng.—died March 5, 1778, London) British composer. Son of a London upholsterer, he secretly taught himself instrumental skills and composition with the help of an opera musician. Smitten by the opera, he had an early success with his own first opera, Rosamond (1733), and thereafter concentrated almost exclusively on the theatre. As composer to Drury Lane Theatre and London's great pleasure gardens, he became Britain's leading theatrical composer and, after George Frideric Handel, possibly the finest British composer of the century. Of his approximately 90 theatrical works, the best known are Comus (1738), The Judgment of Paris (1740), and Artaxerxes (1762). His song “Rule, Britannia” became an unofficial national anthem. His sister Susannah (1714–66) was the famous singer and actress known as Mrs. Cibber.

Learn more about Arne, Thomas Augustine with a free trial on Britannica.com.

Augustine or Augustin may refer to:

People

• Augustine of Hippo (354-430), the Church Father and patron of the Augustinians
• Augustine of Canterbury (d. 604), the first Archbishop of Canterbury
• D. J. Augustin (b. 1987), American basketball player
• Jerry Augustine (b. 1952), American baseball player
• Kathy Augustine (1956–2006), first female state controller of Nevada
• Mar Augustine Kandathil (1874-1956), first Indian Archbishop and first Metropolitan of the Catholic St. Thomas Christians
• Norman Ralph Augustine (b, 1935), American aviation engineer/businessman
• Augustine Huy Viet Phan, Augustine Moi Van Nguyen, and Augustine Schoffler, three of the Vietnamese Martyrs

Places

• Augustine Volcano, volcano on Augustine Island
• Sankt Augustin, town in Germany
• Augustine Heights, a suburb in Ipswich, Australia

Other

• oh du lieber Augustin, Viennese folk song
• Augustine (given name), the name
• St. Augustine, disambiguation page for St. Augustine
• Augustin, King of Kung-Fu, 1999 French movie
• Augustinians, Catholic monastic order

Augustin may also be:

• Augustin, a commune in Braşov County, Romania