St AUGUSTINE

There are no less than seventeen St Augustines listed in the Patron Saints index; Hedon's parish church is however dedicated to St Augustine of Hippo.

He was born in 354 at Tagaste in the Roman province of Numidia, north Africa (now Souk-Ahras, Algeria) as Aurelius Augustinus and was the son of a pagan who converted to Christianity on his death bed. His mother was Saint Monica, a devout Christian, who brought her son up as a Christian. Augustine, however, lost his faith in youth and led a wild life. He lived with a Carthaginian woman from the age of 15 until 30 and fathered a son whom he named Adeotadus, which means the gift of God. He taught rhetoric at Carthage in north Africa and also travelled to Milan in Italy, where he continued teaching.

After investigating and experimenting with several philosophies, he became a Manichaean for several years; it was a new religion which combined Oriental philosophies with Christian teachings and taught of a great struggle between good and evil, and featured a lax moral code. A summation of his thinking at the time comes from his Confessions: "God, give me chastity and continence - but not just now."

Augustine finally broke away from the Manichaeans and was converted by the prayers of his mother and the help of Saint Ambrose of Milan, who baptized him. On the death of his mother he returned to Africa, sold his property, gave the proceeds to the poor and founded a monastery. He became Bishop of Hippo (modern Bone, Algeria) in 396 and founded many religious communities. Augustine was bishop during a very turbulent period of history and fought against many of the heresies prevalent at the time, and oversaw his church and his see during the fall of the Roman Empire to the Vandals.

He died in 430 at Hippo. St Augustine of Hippo is patron saint of a number of causes : brewers, printers, theologians and sore eyes, and also of a number of places : the diocese of Bridgeport, Connecticut, Cagayan de Oro, Philippines, the diocese of Kalamazoo Michigan, the city of Saint Augustine, Florida, the diocese of Saint Augustine, Florida, the diocese of Superior, Wisconsin, and the diocese of Tucson, Arizona.