AUGUSTINE
AUGUSTINE
and «;!.■* ordained in 391. The new priest looked
upon liis ordination as an additional reason for re-
suming religious life at Tagaste, and so fully did
Valerius approve that he put some church property
at Augustine's disposal, thus enabling him to es-
tablish a monastery — the second that he had founded.
His priestly ministry of five years was admirably
fruitful, Valerius had bidden him preach, in spite
of the deplorable custom which in Africa reserved
that ministry to bishops. Augustine combated
heresy, especially Manichaeisni, and his success was
prodigious. Fortunatus, one of their great doctors,
whom Augustine had challenged in public conference,
was so humiliated by his defeat that he fled from
Hippo, .\ugustine also abolished the abuse of hold-
ing bamiuet.^i in the chapels of the martyrs. He took
part, S October, 393, in the Plenary- Council of Africa,
presided over by .\urelius. Bishop of Carthage, and,
at the request of the bishops, was obliged to deliver
a discour.se which, in its completed form, afterwards
became the treatise " De Fide et .symbolo.
(3) {From 396 to 4.30).— Enfe"ebled by old age, Valerius, Bishop of Hippo, obtained the autlmri-
But he was above all the defender of truth and
the shepherd of souls. His doctrinal activities, the
influence of which was destined to last as long as
the Church itself, were manifold: he preached fre-
quently, sometimes for five days consecutively, his
sermons breathing a spirit of charity that won
all hearts; he wrote letters which scattered broadcast
through the then knowii world his solutions of the
problems of that day; he impressed his spirit upon
divers African councils at which he assisted, for in-
stance, those of Carthage in 398, 401, 407, 419 and
of Mileve in 416 and 418; and lastly struggled in-
defatigably against all errors. To relate these
struggles were endless; we shall, therefore, select
only the chief controversies and indicate in each
the doctrinal attitude of the great Bishop of Hippo.
(a) The Manicha-ati Controversy and the Problem oj Evil. — After Augustine became bishop the zeal which, from the time of his baptism, he had mani- fested in bringing his former co-religionists into the true Church, took on a more paternal form without losing its pristine ardour — "Let those rage against U.S who know not at what a bitter cost truth is at-
St. ArcrsTiN'E ox th
zation of Aurelius, Primate of Africa, to associate
Augustine with himself as coadjutor. Augustine had
to resign himself to consecration at the hands of
Megalius, Primate of Numidia. He was then forty-
two, and was to occupy the See of Hippo for thirty-
four years. The new bishop understood well how to
combine the exercise of his pastoral duties with the
austerities of the religious life, and although he left
his convent, his episcopal residence became a monas-
ter}' where he lived a community life with his clerg}',
wlio bound themselves to observe religious poverty.
Was it an order of regular clerics or of monks that
he thus founded? — This is a question often asked,
but we feel that Augustine gave but little thought
to such distinctions. Be that as it may, the episcopal
house of Hippo became a veritalile nursery which
supplied the founders of the monasteries that were
soon spread all over Africa and the bishops who oc-
cupied the neighbouring sees. Possidius (Vita S.
August., xxii) enumerates ten of the saint's friends
and disciples who were promoted to the episcopacy.
Thus it was that Augustine earned the title of pa-
triarch of the religious, and renovator of the clerical,
life in Africa.
HciRR (Pinturicchio)
tained. ... As for me, I should show you the same
forbearance that my brethren had for me when I,
blind, was wandering in your doctrines" (Contra
Epistolara Fundamenti, iii). .Among the most mem-
orable events that occurred during this controversy
was the great victory won in 404 over Felix, one of
the "elect" of the Manidueans and the great doctor
of the sect. He was propagating his errors in Hippo,
and Augustine invited him to a public conference
the issue of which would necessarily cause a great
stir; Felix declared himself vanquished, embraced
the Faith, and, together with Augustine, subscribed
the acts of the conference. In his writings Augustine
successively refuted Mani (397), the famous Faustus
(400), Seciindinus (405), and (about 415) the fa-
talistic Priscillianists whom Paulus Orosius had de-
nounced to him. These writings contain the saint's
clear, unquestionable views on the eternal problem
of evil, views based on an optimism proclaiming,
like the Platonists, that every work of God is good
and that the only .source of moral evil is the liberty
of creatures (De Civitate Dei, XIX, c. xiii, n. 2).
Augustine takes up the defence of free will, even in
man as he is, with such ardour that his works against
