聖アウグスティヌスについて
On Saint Augustine
Translation:
Fr. Futoshi Matsuo
In the late fourth century a man, who was a great philosopher, theologian, rhetorician,
and a monk, emerged. He was a Roman in the ancient Africa who had diligently searched f
or the truth, loved Jesus Christ, loved the friends,
and fully acknowledged his own
human weaknesses.
As a great Father of the Church his thoughts have been admired and from his own time
to our age they have significantly impacted on the
Roman Catholic Church.
The treatises and letters he wrote and the sermons he preached
have been read and
loved not only among Christian circles but also by those who are not associated
with the Church or Christianity.
Perhaps it is because of his profound wisdom and spirituality which God
granted him
and because of his cordial, pure and honest way of
life as we can see in his famous book,
Confessions, in which he was able to confess and articulate all of his deeds in the past
and the changes occurred in his interior life.
In the Catholic Church Augustine is known as a saint along with his mother
Monica,
his friends, Alypius and Possidius and his benefactor,
Ambrose
Aurelius Augustine was born in Tagaste (modern Souk Ahras, Algeria)
in North Africa on November 13 in 354 as the first son to Patricius, a Roman officer,
and his devout Catholic wife, Monica.
His father who was a non-believer treated the fame, status and wealth on
earth
and thus he spared no effort to invest for his son’s
earthly achievements.
Later, he was baptised by the prayer and sacrifice of his wife, Monica,
and through her his mother and his son, Augustine,
also responded to God’s call.
At the age of seventeenth Augustine began to cohabitate with a woman from
a
low class and they had a son, named Adeodatus. For
at that time it was not allowed to marry
anyone from a different social class, he was not able to get married with
her. However,
even after she left him he kept her in his heart
for his whole life.
After Augustine was converted to the faith, his son, Adeodatus, also lived
a common life together with Augustine, Monica, Augustine’s
brother Navigius,
and the friends of Augustine such as Alypius. Adeodatus
died
of illness before reaching his eighteenth birthday.
Search
for the truth
Augustine preferred popular and stimulating play and was full of pride.
Under the influence
of his parents he received the good education in
order to achieve the worldly success.
Although he was sometimes not willing to study at school (because he was afraid of punishment
of his Greek teacher), he was gifted with outstanding
intelligence.
One
day he read Hortensius authored by Cicero. While his purpose of reading it was
to refine his rhetorical skill and to feed his vanity, he was in fact impressed not only
by its literal beauty but also the beauty within
it.
Then, he began to desire for the true wisdom. Now he had learned there is something other than
the visible realities which really exists and entered
Manichaeism, which taught of dualistic gods of good,
and evil and he spent some time with them. However,
finally he could find the truth in Manichaeism.
While he was searching for the truth within himself, in his actual life
he had finished school
and become a teacher of rhetoric in Rome. Then, he
left Rome for Milan to obtain a new office there
Tears of
Conversion
In Milan Augustine often went to the church to listen to the homily of
the Bishop Ambrose
so as to learn not the Christian doctrines but his
rhetoric.
Nevertheless, despite of his selfish intention, the truths of God which Ambrose spoke
of had penetrated to the heart of Augustine. After
a while, the dramatic conversion took place in him.
Tolle lege! Tolle lege! (Take and read! Take and read!)
It was not certain whether the words were auditory hallucinations or someone was actually singing them,
but at the moment he surely listened to the singing
voice of children and he was decisively converted.
Until this moment, he had desired for something which could have filled his heart and many times
have been distressed in his searching.
Although there had been signs for conversion, he could not attain this
decisive conversion.
When he listen to the singing voice, without knowing
the meaning of the song he just opened
the Bible and read the verses which caught his eye
first.
There
was written, “not in reveling and drunkenness, not in debauchery and licentiousness,
not in quarreling and jealousy. Instead, put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make
no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.”
(Romans 13:13-14)
Because his heart had been imprisoned in these vices, he broke into tears
when his heart
was finally liberated by the infinite mercy of God.
At this moment his heart had come to desire to for the
truth only Jesus Christ can give rather than worldly affairs.
After the conversion he was baptised by the bishop Ambrose, left the Manichaeism,
and started with his family
and friends to live a contemplative life which is
similar to the religious life.
On one of those days Augustine attended the Mass at the Cathedral in a
port city, Hippo.
Because he was a renowned philosopher, seeing him in church all at once the faithful of the city asked him
to become a priest and took him to the bishop Valerius.
Totally in confusion but at the same time being moved by God’s mercy, he was immediately ordained
to the priesthood. (Such an incident sometimes occurred
at that time.) Five years later he became
the bishop of Hippo and left his great legacy.
Augustine made great use of his talents as a philosopher and rhetorician, he persuaded
and convinced the heretics and those who harshly
criticised Christianity.
At times some opponents contended with him by using
his previous arguments. However,
he was so advanced in rhetoric that he was able to convince them by refining or clarifying
what he had already said.
In writing he developed his own thoughts in theology, the scriptures and anthropology
and with his beautiful Latin wrote many commentaries
on these areas of study.
Later his writings had impacted decisively on the
course of Christianity.
For instance, in spirituality he said, as Christ was gentle and humble, “
the first part is humility; the second, humility;
the third, humility” (Letter 118.22)
in order to walk on the way to the truth.
He who wholeheartedly desired for God who is the way, the light and the
truth also said
“my heart is restless until it rests in you” in his
Confessions (1.1.1) and about the question
of where the truth is: “wherever I have found truth I have found my God who is absolute Truth,
and once I had learned that I did not forget it.
That is why you have dwelt in my memory ever since
I learned to know you, and it is there that I find
you when I remember and delight in you.
” (Confessions 10.24.35)
When Augustine was in distresses and sorrows, it was always friend’s encouragement
that brought him back to himself and help him regain
strength.
There were always friends with him. He stole pears with friends, entered Manichaesm with friends,
and was converted to Christianity with friends. He
lived always with his friends encouraging one another.
After the conversion, he lived a common life and in his priesthood he built a monastery
in the garden of the bishop’s house. He did everything
with friends.
He wrote in Confessions (4,8,13):
“There were other joys to be found in their (friends’) company which still more powerfully
captivated my mind – the charms of talking and laughing
together and kindly giving way
to each other’s wishes, reading elegantly written books
together, sharing jokes and delighting
to honor one another, disagreeing occasionally but without rancor, as a person might disagree with himself,
and lending piquancy by that rare disagreement to our
much more frequent accord. We would teach
and learn from each other, sadly missing any who were
absent and blithely welcoming them when they returned.”
In this way he lived his life together with his beloved
friends in the love of God.
Even at the hour of his death Augustine, while his friend Possidius looking after him,
departed for the heaven. In our time we celebrate the feast of Augustine
on 28th of August and 27th of August, the day before
his feast, is the feast of his mother Monica.
The
birth of Order of Saint Augustine
Augustine had been influenced by Saint Anthony (251–356) who lived in the
desert
of Egypt as a hermit. After his conversion he lived a common life with his friends.
This community vanished soon later because many of
its members were chosen to become bishops
and some passed away.
However, the Rule which Saint Augustine wrote for his community was transmitted
and elsewhere there were a number of groups who lived
according to the Rule.
In the medieval age there were largely five groups who were following the
Rule. Later,
these groups wished to be united and made a request
to the Pope. In reply
to them Innocent IV issued the Bull Incumbit Nobis in 1243, calling them to become one under
the Rule of Saint Augustine. Then, in 1244 they become
one religious Order.
This is the birth of the Order of Saint Augustine
who vigorously combine
the active life with the contemplative life.
In 1255, Pope Alexander IV called out some other groups of hermits who
were under
the Rule of Saint Augustine or Saint Benedict and
order them to join
the Order which had been already established. In 1256 the representatives
from each community met each other, discussed and
then formed what has come
to be known as the Grand Union of the Order so as
to respond more effectively
to the needs of the Church.
With such a background the Augustinians were known as a mendicant order
as well as
the Dominicans, the Franciscans and the Carmelites. The Augustinians rapidly spread all over
the Europe and increased the number of its members
which at one time was as many as the members
of the Jesuit Order which would be founded later.
Few years later the religious order for women were also founded as the
second and
the third Orders of Saint Augustine. Those who belong
to the third order are
not in a religious community but in their family
live out the spirit of Saint Augustine.
Men and women known as saints or blesseds of the Order are for example
Saint
Thomas of Villanova and Saint Rita of Cascia. The
Order have produced many experts as well,
such as Gregor Mendel who discovered the principles of inheritance. By the way,
Martin Luther who is renown as the Reformer and who
cried out for the renewal
of the Church was also an Augustinian priest.
In 1584 Augustinian missionaries landed to Japan for the first time.
At the time of persecution the martyrs of the third
Order of Saint Augustine
were counted up to few hundreds.
Currently, in Tokyo, Nagoya, Fukuoka and Nagasaki the Augustinians work
in schools and parishes and carry out missionary
activities.
The Rule of Saint Augustine is used and observed not only by the Augustinians
but also by many
other religious orders such as the Dominicans, Assumptionists and Maryknoll Sisters
and until now these orders live in common spirit
with the Augustinian brothers and sisters.
Works and
Treatises of Saint Augustine
Augustine was a prolific writer. He wrote a number of books and left hundreds
of letters
and sermons. Besides all around the world approximately three hundreds articles
and books are written on Augustine every year.
(The following list is chronological.)
·
386 Against the Academics
·
386 On the Blessed Life
·
386 On Order
·
386/387 The Soliloquies
·
386/387 On the Immortality of
the Soul
·
386-429 Letters
·
387/391 On Music
·
387/389 On the Catholic and the
Manichaean Way of Life
·
387/388 On Magnitude of the
Soul
·
388/389 On Genesis, Against the
Manichees
·
388-395 On Free Choice
·
388/395 Eighty three Different
Questions
·
389 The Teacher
·
389/391 On True Religion
·
391 On the Usefulness of
Believing
·
392 Debate with Fortunatus the
Manichee
·
392/393 On the Two Souls,
Against the Manichees
·
393 On Faith and Creed
·
393/394 Alphabetical Psalm
Against the Donatists
·
393/394 On the Literal
Interpretation of Genesis. (An unfinished book)
·
393/394 On the Sermon of the
Mount
·
393-430 Sermons
·
394 Against Adimantus
·
394/395 Explanation: Epistle to
the Galatians
·
394/395 Incomplete Explanation:
Epistle to the Romans
·
395 On Continence
·
395 On Lying
·
396 To Simplicianus, On
Different Questions
·
396 On the Christian Struggle
·
396-426 On Christian Teaching
·
396-420 Expositions on the
Psalms
·
397 Against the Basic Letter of
the Manichees
·
397-401 Confessions
·
397-398 Against Faustus the
Manichee
·
397/398 Against Felix the
Manichee
·
398 Sermon on Christian
Discipline
·
399 On the Nature of the Good
·
399 Against Secundinus the
Manichee
·
399 Questions on the Gospels
·
399-419 The Trinity
·
400 On Faith in Invisible
Realities
·
400 Consensus of the
Evangelists
·
400 Against the Letter of
Parmenian
·
400 On the Work of Monks
·
400 On Catechizing Beginners
·
400 Comments on Job
·
400 On the Inquiries of
Januarius (Letters 54-55)
·
400/401 On Baptism Against the
Donatists
·
401 On the Good of Marriage
·
401 On Holy Virginity
·
401/405 Against the Letters of
Petilianus
·
401-415 On the Literal
Interpretation of Genesis
·
401 Against Cresconius the
Grammarian
·
405 On the Unity of the Church
·
406 On the Divination of Demons
·
406/412 Exposition on Six
Questions - Raised by Pagans
·
406-430 Tractates on the Gospel
of John
·
407/409 Tractates on the First
Epistle of John
·
410 On the Destruction of the
City of Rome
·
411 Concerning the One Baptism,
Against Petilian
·
412 On the Merits and
Forgiveness of Sins and infant.baptism
·
412/413 On Faith and Works
·
412 On the Spirit and the
Letter
·
412 Brief Meeting with the
Donatists
·
412 On the Grace of the New
Testament (Letter 140)
·
413 On Seeing God (Letter 147)
·
413-427 City of God
·
414/415 On Nature and Grace
·
414 On the Good of Widowhood
·
415 Against the Priscillianist
and the Origenists
·
415 To Jerome (Letters 166-167)
·
415/416 On the Perfection of
Righteousness
·
417 On the Proceedings
concerning Pelagius
·
417 On the Presence of God
(Letter 187)
·
418 On the Grace of Christ and
Original Sin
·
418 On Patience
·
418 Proceedings with Emeritus
·
418 Reply to the Caesarians
·
418/419 Against an Arian Sermon
·
419 Eight Questions on the Old
Testament
·
419 Questions on the Heptateuch
·
419/420 On Marriage and
Concupiscence
·
419/420 On Adulterous Marriages
·
419/420 Against Adversaries of
the Law and the Prophets
·
419-420 Against Gaudentius a
Donatist Bishop
·
419-421 On the Soul and Its
Origin
·
420 Against Two Letters of the
Pelagians
·
420 Against Lying
·
420-422 On the Care of the Dead
·
421 Against Julian
·
421-422 Enchiridion (Faith,
Hope, & Love)
·
422-425 On the Eight Questions,
from Dulcitius
·
425 On the Creed, to the
Catechumens
·
426/427 On Grace and Free
Choice
·
426/427 On Admonition and Grace
·
426/427 Retractions
·
427/428 Discussion with Maximus
the Arian Bishop
·
428 Against Maximinus
·
428/429 On Heresies
·
428/429 On the Predestination
of the Saints
·
428/429 On the Gift of
Perseverance
·
429/430 On the Usefulness of
Fasting
· 429-430 Incomplete Works Against Julian