Pope: Augustine Similar to Youth Today

Saint Fell Away From the Faith as a Student
VATICAN CITY, JAN. 9, 2007 (Zenit.org).- Similar to many young people in the Church today, St. Augustine fell away from the faith as a student, despite admitting later that he always had a love for Jesus, says Benedict XVI.

Returning to his series of reflections during the general audience on figures of the early Church, the Pope spoke today of the bishop of Hippo, who he called "a man of passion and faith, of high intelligence and untiring pastoral zeal." He said the saint, who is even known by those who "ignore Christianity," was influential to the point that it could be said "all the roads of Christian Latin literature lead to Hippo." "Rarely has a civilization encountered a figure so great," said the Pope.

"Moreover, Augustine is the Father of the Church who has left the greatest number of writings. His biographer Possidius says: It seemed impossible that a man could write so much during his life." Promising to touch upon his writings in a future general audience, the Holy Father commented on the life of Augustine, as reconstructed through his writings, particularly the "Confessions."

Benedict XVI noted that Augustine was born in Tagaste, which was located in the Roman province of Africa, in 354, and that his mother, Monica, a "passionate woman, venerated as a saint, was a big influence on her son and educated him in the Christian belief."

"As happens with a lot of young people today," said the Holy Father, the young man, who later admitted that "he had always loved Jesus," fell away from the faith.

Conversion The Pope said that Augustine's road back to the Church began while he was studying in Carthage. Reading the work "Hortensius" by Cicero, which has since been lost, "a love of wisdom" was awakened in the young student. Augustine wrote of the moment in "Confessions": "The book changed my feelings. […] Suddenly, every vain hope became empty to me, and I longed for the immortality of wisdom with an incredible ardor in my heart."

After a first attempt to pursue his rational search for wisdom and truth in sacred Scriptures, which left him "disappointed," the Pontiff said the young man "fell into the net of the Manichaeans, who presented themselves as Christians and promised a totally rational religion."

Augustine eventually distanced himself from the Manichaeans, and after obtaining a post in the imperial court in Milan, he began to attend the lectures of Bishop Ambrose. "He was charmed by his words," noted the Holy Father, "not only because of their eloquence, but because they touched his heart."

Benedict XVI said that after listening to the teachings of the bishop of Milan, Augustine found "the key to understanding the beauty, the philosophic depth of the Old Testament, and he understood the unity of the mystery of Christ in history, as well as the synthesis between philosophy, rationality and faith in the Logos, in Christ, the eternal Word that became flesh." His conversion in 386, said the Pope, was "the apex of a long and tormented inner journey."

Pope: St. Augustine's Faith Is Fresh and Modern

VATICAN CITY, JAN. 16, 2007 - Reading the writings of St. Augustine, the bishop of Hippo who died in the fifth century, one finds a man with a fresh and modern faith, says Benedict XVI.

"When I read St. Augustine's works, I don't have the impression that he died more or less 1,600 years ago," the Pope said today at the general audience in Paul VI Hall. "I feel he is a modern man: a friend, a contemporary who speaks to me, he speaks to us with his fresh and modern faith.

" The Holy Father dedicated his address to the figure of St. Augustine (354-430), the bishop of Hippo. Last week he commented on Augustine's road to conversion, this week he spoke of the bishop's last years of life and his death, which took place during the barbarian invasion of Hippo.

The Pontiff summed up the life of Augustine with a quotation from the bishop's biographer, Possidius: "He left a large clergy to the Church, as well as male and female monasteries with people dedicated to the obedience of their superiors.

"He left us libraries with books and speeches by him and other holy men from which, with God's grace, we can deduce his merit and stature in the Church, and in which the faithful always rediscover him."

"We can associate ourselves with this judgment," Benedict XVI added. "In his writings we also 'rediscover him.'"

The Pope added: "In St. Augustine, who speaks to us -- who speaks to me at us in his writings -- we see the permanent actuality of his faith; of the faith that comes from Christ, eternal word made flesh, Son of God and son of man.

"This faith does not belong to yesterday, though it was preached yesterday. It is always of today, because Christ is truly yesterday, today and always. He is the way, the truth and the life.

"St. Augustine encourages to entrust ourselves to the living Christ and to find through him the way to life."

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