AUGUSTINE'S letters have never been translated into
English as a whole.
Large selections have been trans-
lated
containing what
appeared to the translators the
most
important. But all such selections are liable to
omit
passages of
very great importance. And this is
certainly what has
happened in the
present case. Cun-
ningham's version in the
Edinburgh translation of
Augustine's writings is an admirable
rendering of the
letters which it
gives. But the omissions are
many
and serious.
The
purpose of the
present work is not to translate
but to
give such an account of
Augustine's life and
thought as
may be derived from his letters. A lengthy
correspondence in
any controversy is sure to contain a
great deal of
repetition. The same illustrations, the
same
expositions, the same ideas are certain to be in-
cluded over and over
again. Such repetitions are for
the most
part avoided in the
present work, which
condenses the contents of the letters and
presents
their
principal features.
But since
Augustine often refers his
correspondents
for further information to what he has written en a
particular subject in one of his
larger treatises, it seemed
necessary for
completeness' sake to
reproduce in such
cases the main ideas of the
teaching to which the
Bishop
refers. On no
single subject is the whole of
Augustine's
teaching necessarily to be found in his letters. But if
7
13 &
8
THE LETTERS OF ST. AUGUSTINE
the letters are thus
supplemented by what he has
taught
elsewhere a
fairly full presentation of the
great writer's
mind
may be obtained.
The letters
range over a
period of
forty-three years.
The earliest was written in A.D.
386, the
year before his
conversion ;
the latest in A.D.
429, the
year before
his death. There are
270 letters in the Benedictine
edition. But of these, fifty are addressed to
Augustine ;
so that we have
only 220 from the
Bishop's own
pen.
And these 220 include one or two official letters of
Councils whose
authorship is undoubted.
After all, 220 letters in
forty-three years does not
seem an
unwieldy correspondence. If we omit the
letters written before his consecration this leaves
213
during his
episcopate.
But then in
Augustine's case a letter was often an
elaborate treatise. So
great was his wealth of
thought
that
frequently his
spring became a river and his river
became a sea. These letters
occupy a folio volume
consisting, in Gaume's edition, of
1370 columns.
Moreover, Augustine informs us that he estimated his
writings to extend to
232 treatises, not
including letters
or sermons
(Letter 224, 2).
Augustine's letters were
arranged by the Benedictine
editors as far as
possible in the order in which
they
were written. But there is a
large section of which the
dates are unknown. It has been
thought best in the
present summary of the contents to
arrange the letters
in
groups according to
subjects, preserving the chrono-
logical order, as far as
possible, within each
group.
This
arrangement has the
advantage that
Augustine's
teaching and
development of mind on various doctrines
can be
easily followed. It also enables the reader to
see the
proportion of his
correspondence on the
prin-
cipal subjects which absorbed his attention.
At the same time, it is difficult to
carry out
rigorously
this method of
grouping according to
subjects. For
Augustine's correspondents had a
way of
launching on
INTRODUCTION
9
the
Bishop a host of miscellaneous
inquiries. This
prevents anything approaching to
systematic arrange-
ment, if the contents of each letter are to be
given, as
they must be, in one
place. Biblical
expositions again
form a convenient
group by themselves ; while of course
many an
exposition will be found in other divisions.
It has further seemed best to
group together by itself
Augustine's correspondence with S.
Jerome, although
the letters contained in it
belong in
part to the section on
the doctrine of
grace and in
part to Biblical
exposition.
It is
certainly important to retain the
chronological
order of
Augustine's letters within each
group, as far as
this
might be ;
because this
arrangement enables us to
see the
development of his mind and his
changes of
opinion. For this
great writer
changed his
opinion on
more
subjects than one, and on matters of
very great
importance.
Three instances of this
change have been noted.1
He changed his
opinion about coercion in
religion.
In a letter written
during his
priesthood making over-
tures to the Donatists
(Letter 23, 7, A.D.
392) he
distinctly says that on the Catholic side there shall be
no
appeal to men's fear of the civil
power. There is
to be
nothing but
dispassionate appeal to reason and
Scripture authority. But sixteen
years later
(Letter 93,
17, A.D.
408) he owns that his
original opinion is now
abandoned. The
expediency of coercion has been
proved by its results.
He changed his
opinion also about
predestination.
In his earlier
period he understood the text,
"
Who will
have all men to be saved," as
meaning a universal offer
of salvation. But in his later
period, that is, from
A.D.
417, he was led, by inferences on the doctrine of
grace and Divine Will, to
reject what is the obvious and
natural
meaning of the
passage quoted, and to
deny, in
the interests of a
theory of
predestination, the existence
1
See Rottmanner in Revue Benedictine, pp. 257-261. 1901.
io
THE LETTERS OF ST. AUGUSTINE
of
any sincere will on the
part of God that all men
shall be saved.
He changed his
opinion also on the
authorship of the
Epistle to the Hebrews. Whereas in the
early part of
his career he
always ascribes it to S. Paul
(cf. De
Div.
Q. Ixxxiii., Ixxv. I
; written in A.D.
389), after the
year 409 he ceases to make that
ascription. Thus he
says in one
place simply "scriptum est ad Hebraeos."
(Letter 187, 34, A.D.
417.)
The letters fall
quite easily into certain main divisions:
1. It is natural to
group together the letters of the
early period written while he was a
layman, and as a
priest : all in fact written before the date of his conse-
cration to the
episcopate.
2. Next to this
may be
placed the letters on
Pagan-
ism. These form a suitable introduction to his
great
reply to
Paganism, The
City of God,
It would be
very natural to
suggest that the next
group should be those concerned with Manichaeism
;
that form of Oriental Dualism to which
Augustine was
au adherent for some nine
years, and from which he
escaped with so much
difficulty. But it is a
singular
fact that
nothing survives of
Augustine's correspond-
ence with Manichaeans. There are of course allusions
to the
controversy, and cases noted of its intrusion
into the
Church, even
among the Church's teachers
(cf. Letter
236 and Letter
64, 3). But there is no direct
correspondence with the sect or with its leaders. This
is all the more remarkable because
controversy with
the Manichaeans
occupied a
very important place in
Augustine's early literary labours. There are his five
works
against them which a
correspondent called the
Pentateuch
against the Manichaeans. There is, above
all, the
great treatise in
reply to Faustus. But there
is no
separate letter to Faustus, nor indeed to
any
Manichaean leader. It
may be that in the later
period
of
Augustine's episcopate Manichaeisrn had lost its
INTRODUCTION
n
strength, or that more
urgent controversies absorbed his
attention.
3. Accordingly, passing over the Manichaean discus-
sions, the next
group of
Augustine's letters is that which
is connected with the Christian doctrine of God. These
are his
replies to Arianism and his
exposition of the
doctrine of the
Trinity.
4. Next to these
may be
grouped the
very important
series of letters
dealing with African Church divisions :
the Donatist
controversy with all its discussions on
validity of Sacraments, on schism, and on the conditions
of
ministry. Much in these letters will be found to be
of
living interest, involving principles of ecclesiastical
unity important for all time.
5. Following on these are
grouped the letters on the
doctrine of
grace : that
subject with which, more than
all
others, Augustine was identified.
6. Then there are a number of letters which
may
fairly be
grouped together as Biblical
expositions. It
is
admitted, of
course, that this
arrangement is not
strictly systematic. Letters on
interpretation of
Scripture
will be found in most other
groups. Nevertheless, it is
suitable that
examples of
Augustine's letters as a Biblical
student should be
given by themselves.
7. To this is
naturally appended the celebrated corre-
spondence between
Augustine and
Jerome. It
is, of
course, very largely concerned with Biblical
interpreta-
tion and
study. But it forms also a
group by itself, very
characteristic of both these
great writers. Also it
gains
a
great deal
by being allowed to tell
consecutively its
own
story.
8. Another series of
Augustine's letters which deserve
to be
grouped together, especially in view of modern
discussions, is his letters to Women. They will
help
to illustrate the
position then
occupied by educated
women in the Church.
9. Much of
Augustine's Sacramental teaching is
scattered over his letters on Donatism. But they are
12
THE LETTERS OF ST. AUGUSTINE
chiefly concerned with
Baptism and Ordination. It
seems well to
gather in a
special group Augustine's
letters on the Eucharist.
10. From the central act of Christian
worship we
turn to the field of administration. We come to
get
an idea of a
bishop's occupations, his activities, his
practical duties in the fifth
century. An attempt is,
therefore, made to collect the letters on Diocesan affairs.-
n.
Lastly comes the natural and inevitable section,
letters concerned with
Augustine's closing years.
Instruction on almost all the
theological problems
then
agitating the human mind
may be found in the
pages of these letters :
Paganism, Arianism, Sabellian-
ism, Novatianism, are all
represented, as well as Donatism
and
Pelagianism. It is
impossible not to be filled with
profound admiration for thewonderful intellectual
activity
and
comprehensiveness of this
great genius. Never was
there a mind more alert, more sensitive to
contemporary
movements, more
implicated in the life and
thought of
his own time.
Most instructive it is to note the
variety of
persons
who
corresponded with him.
Large numbers of
questions
and difficulties were sent him
by all sorts of
people.
They certainly never
spared him.
They pelted him
with whole
strings of
inquiries. And the
patient Bishop
seldom
spared himself in
answering them. Sometimes
he took the initiative and wrote to
separatists asking
what their
objections were
against unity with the Church ;
or he
propounded some dilemmas which he
requested
them to decide
;
or he invited them to conference and
discussion. He always seemed alert in cases of con-
version to the Church, strengthening the newcomer
by
some
exposition of Catholic
principles.
Quite a number of his letters are directed to
high
officials of the State. This
department of his corre-
spondence naturally belongs to the last
twenty-five
years of his
episcopate. There is
Donatus, Proconsul
INTRODUCTION
13
of Africa
(Letter 100) ; Generosus
occupying a consular
rank in Numidia
(Letter 116) ; Marcellinus the Tribune
(Letters 128, 133, 138, 139, 141), whose
tragic fate was
one of
Augustine's greatest sorrows; Apringius the
Proconsul
(Letter 134); Macedonius Africse Vicarius
(Letter 154, cf. Life
by Possidius, 20) ; Caecilian, sus-
pected of
being implicated in the
judicial murder of
Marcellinus the Tribune
(Letter 151) ; Boniface, Count
of
Africa, whom Augustine instructed in African Church
troubles, and who admitted the Vandals into that un-
happy country, and afterwards
vainly tried to drive
them out
(Letters 185 and
220); Count Valerius, to
whom Augustine sends a
copy of one of his
writings
(Letters 200 and
206) ; the Tribune Dulcitius
(Letter
204) ; Count Darius
(Letter 229), who was sent to Africa
to secure
peace, and who asks for a
copy of
Augustine's
Confessions (Letter 230), which was sent to him
(Letter
231); and Count Pascentius, an Arian, with whom
Augustine conferred at
Carthage, and who went about
boasting that he had refuted the
Bishop, and to whom
the
Bishop wrote a
long and
important exposition of
the Catholic Faith
(Letter 238).
Readers of the letters cannot fail to be
impressed with
Augustine's ascendancy among the
bishops of his time.
He was the
moving spirit in Councils, whether concern-
ing the Donatists or the
Pelagians. Official documents
issued
by African Councils were
composed by him.
Even when
(as several times
occurs) his name is not
mentioned, the
Augustinian authorship is obvious both
in the
arguments and in the
style. His familiar anti-
thesis, his
plays on words, his
dogmatic outlook, all are
there.
Very significantly we find at the end of one
such document the endorsement of the Primate :
"
I,
Aurelius, Bishop of the Catholic Church of
Carthage,
have
signed this letter"
(Letter 128).
It was the
Pelagian controversy which drew Augustine
into most intimate relations with Rome and its
Bishops.
We find him
giving expositions of the doctrine of
grace,
14
THE LETTERS OF ST. AUGUSTINE
in deferential terms
indeed, to
Pope Innocent. We find
him
delivering Pope Zosimus from a total
misappre-
hension of the real
opinions of
Pelagius. We find him
instructing and, after some
misgivings, congratulating
the future
Pope Sixtus on his
energetic defence of the
traditional faith.
Particularly informing is the
recognition at Rome of
Augustine's pre-eminence as a
theologian. He receives
Innocent's letters as a member of the Councils of Car-
thage and of Milevis. He receives another letter from
Innocent as one of the five chief African defenders of
the doctrine of Grace. But Innocent went further still.
When he wrote to the Primate of
Carthage there was
only one other
person to whom a letter was directed,
and that other
person was the
Bishop of
Hippo.
So far as ecclesiastical status is concerned
Augustine
was
only Bishop of a
very third-rate
seaport in an
inferior
province. He was not the Primate of one of the
African
provinces, still less did he
occupy the chief
place
in the African
hierarchy. Nevertheless it is he who is
the mind of the African
clergy. He is in
correspond-
ence with all
parts of the Church : with
John, Bishop
of
Jerusalem, with
Simplician of Milan, with Paulinus
in
Spain, with
Jerome at
Bethlehem, with Gaul and
Marseilles, and with Rome.
The literature mentioned or
quoted in
Augustine's
letters is considerable.
Among Pagan writers the favourites are Cicero, Virgil
and Terence. Like
many another reader since his
time,
Augustine was
deeply impressed by the famous line :
"
Homo sum, humani nil a me alienum
puto." 1
(Letter 155.)
Horace is also
quoted (Letter 143).
Reference is made to letters written
by Seneca to the
Apostle S.Paul (Letter 153, 14). Among philosophers
Democritus, Plato and Plotinus are mentioned : the last
1
Terence Heaut, 77.
INTRODUCTION
15
repeatedly (Letter 118, 33), as was to be
expected,
seeing that
Augustine's obligations to the
Neoplatonists
are obvious
everywhere. Porphyry and his
impressions
on
Christianity (Letter 102, 8) ; Apollonius of
Tyana,
and
Apuleius of Madaura are often named (Letter 102,
8), the two latter
frequently together. Apuleius being
an African would be familiar to the
Pagans with whom
Augustine corresponded (Letter 102, 32; Letter
138,
18).
In Christian literature
frequent reference is made
naturally to S.
Cyprian. Tertullian is also mentioned.
Seven
Scripture expositors are enumerated
by Jerome
in a letter to
Augustine. They are
Origen, Didymus,
Apollinaris of
Laodicea, Alexander, Eusebius of
Emesa,
Theodore of
Heraclium, and
John Chrysostom (Letter 75) .
Augustine makes remarks on these, but without
showing
any particular knowledge of them
(Letter 82). We
know from other
parts of his
writings that he was
acquainted with works of S.
John Chrysostom. Else-
where four authors are
quoted :
Ambrose, Jerome,
Athanasius and
Gregory. It
appears, however, that the
last is
not, as
Augustine supposed, Gregory Nazianzen,
nor indeed a Greek writer at
all, but a Latin :
perhaps,
as the Benedictines
suggest, Gregory of Elvira in
Spain.1
There is also a reference to Philastrius
(Letter 222).
But
Augustine's favourite author is
certainly S.
Ambrose. To
appreciate the
deep veneration for the
Bishop of Milan which
appears repeatedly in
Augustine's
letters we must bear in mind the
pages of the
Confessions.
Ambrose was the
living embodiment of
priestly ideals
;
at once
attracting and
repelling by his entire unworldli-
ness and
self-denying life. It was Ambrose's character
even more than his
exposition of the Faith which con-
tributed so
largely to
Augustine's conversion. No
1
See note
by Benedictines to Letter 148, 10. Gaume's edit.
II.
746. A treatise, possibly by Gregory of
Elvira, on the Orthodox
Faith
against the Divine is
printed in
Appendix to S. Ambrose, ed.
Migne, ii.
549-568.
16
THE LETTERS OF ST. AUGUSTINE
wonder we find
eager inquiries after some of Ambrose's
writings which
Augustine does not
yet possess (Letter
31). No wonder he is
quoted as a
guide and
appealed
to as an
example in matters of
practical religion.
"
Ambrosius noster "
is one whose
insight is decisive
(Letter 82, 21). Beatus Ambrosius, expounding the
Gospel of S. Luke, lives in
Augustine's glowing memories
(Letter 147, 17). "Ambrose that
saintly man" is
quoted again, half
apologetically, with an assurance that
his
opinion is not valued
only because
through his
ministrations the
saving Baptism was bestowed
upon
Augustine, but for the intrinsic excellence of his
exposi-
tions (ib.
52). Again "
the aforesaid
Bishop of Milan "
is
quoted (Letter 148, 12); and the
practical question
how to conduct oneselfwith
regard to unfamiliar
practices
when
worshipping in a church
away from home, is settled
at once
by appeal to Ambrose's
example.
A quantity of
religious literature of an unorthodox
and debased
description found its
way to the
Bishop's
house at
Hippo. Many a
copy of heretical
writings was
sent for
Augustine's opinion, or to induce him to make
reply. Many of the documents of the Donatist con-
troversy were in his
possession ; so were the
writings of
the
Pelagians. Reference to these and
many a
quotation
are to be found in the course of the letters.
Augustine
has immortalised them
by his
quotations. There are
also
references, although not
very numerous, to
Apocry-
phal writings. One of the
strangest of these is a
hymn
which was
being circulated
by a
Spanish sect, the
Priscillianists, who asserted that it had been
composed
by the Lord
Jesus Christ and
given to His
Apostles on
the
night of the
Betrayal ;
being in fact the
hymn
referred to in the
Gospel as
sung before
they went out
to the Mount of Olives. A copy of this document was
sent
by a
Spanish Bishop to
Augustine for his criticism.
The
hymn is as follows :
"
I desire to set free and I desire to be set free.
I desire to save and I desire to be saved.
INTRODUCTION
17
desire to be born. Dance all of
you.
desire to lament. Mourn
ye all of
you.
desire to adorn and I desire to be adorned,
am the
lamp to thee who seest me.
am the door to thee whosoever knocks at me ;
Thou who seest what I
do, be silent
concerning my works."
(Letter 237.)
Augustine was familiar with these words and
says
that
they were common
among apocryphal writings.
They were
accepted by certain sects which
accepted
the canonical
writings also. The Priscillianists who
accepted them accounted for their omission from the
Canon on the
ground that
they were
kept secret from
the natural man and reserved for the
spiritually minded.
They justified this exclusion
by an
appeal to the Book
of Tobit, where it is written
(xii. 7) :
"
It is
good to
keep
close the secret of a
king ;
but it is honourable to reveal
the works of God."
Accordingly this secret of the
king,
this "sacramentum
regis," was concealed from those
who walked after the flesh, and not after the
Spirit.
Augustine points out that this statement
implies that
the canonical
scriptures are not
according to the
Spirit.
Further he calls attention to the inextricable confusion
in which this
theory involved the Priscillianists. For
when
they proceeded to
explain what these
mystic
sentences mean they quoted texts from the New
Testament to throw
light upon them. For
example
the line :
"
I desire to set free and I desire to be set free"
was
explained by a reference to Galatians v.
I, "Stand
fast therefore in the
liberty wherewith Christ hath made
us free." If thus the obscurities of this
hymn are to be
explained by the clearer utterances of the New Testa-
ment, what becomes of the Priscillianist
theory that the
hymn was excluded from the Canon in order that
spiritual truths should be concealed from the
carnally
minded? (Letter 237).
i8
THE LETTERS OF ST. AUGUSTINE
Many details
concerning the Councils of the Church
are
given in
Augustine's letters. The famous African
Code of Canons is in
process of formation. Councils
held in the time of
Cyprian are
appealed to as
pre-
cedents, and evaded. Much stress is laid on "
instituta
majorum" (Letter 36,
2). The different kinds of
Councils are
carefully discriminated, and the
authority of
each is discussed. An accusation
against a
presbyter must
be
finally settled
by a Council of six
Bishops. This was
a Canon of the Council of
Carthage in
348 (Letter 65).
There were in Africa Provincial Councils. For instance
the Council of
Milevis, which was the Council of the
Province of Numidia
(Letter 176). There were Councils
of the entire "
Africana Ecclesia "
(Letter 22, 2). These
were held under the
presidency of the
Bishop of Car-
thage as Primate. The Councils of
Carthage were
very
independent and influential in their
dealings with the
Popes, especially with
Pope Zosimus. The right of
appeals to Rome was a
burning question in the fifth
century, a
subject of
expostulation, and of careful
restriction. Caecilian
Archbishop of
Carthage possessed
the
right of
appeal from the African Council to the
Bishops beyond the seas
;
because the Church is not
confined to Africa
(Letter 43, n). The ultimate
decision
belonged, in the Donatist case, after it had been
tried before the
Pope and his
assessors, to a
plenary
Council of the Universal Church
(Letter 43, 19) ; that
is to
say, to the collective
episcopate.
The African Church divisions and the action of the
imperial authorities
naturally compelled discussion on
the relations between Church and State. We find the
maxim formulated that a
Bishop ought not to be
tried before a
proconsular tribunal
(Letter 43, 13).
Augustine reminds the Donatists that
by this maxim
they are self-condemned ; for it was they who made the
appeal to the
authority of the State
(Letter 43, 13).
Doubtless the distinction between the secular and the
spiritual powers was clear
enough to a
disciple of
INTRODUCTION
19
S. Ambrose.
Augustine could
certainly never
forget
the
principle formulated
by the
Bishop of Milan that
the
Emperor is within the Church but not above it.
Certainly also the author of the treatise on The
City
of God was not
likely to confuse the State with the
Church. But
yet it must be
acknowledged that the
appeals of the African Church to the State in the matter
of the Church divisions, and the fact of a conference of
bishops, over which an
imperial lay official
presided
as Moderator, must have done much to confuse the
distinction in the
popular mind.
Moreover we find
Augustine asking for
copies of
imperial decisions
against the Donatists in order to have
them read in all the churches of his diocese
(Letter 139).
The rights of a
bishop within his diocese were some-
times ill-defined and
constantly subject to
irregularities.
The
right of a
bishop to choose his own successor was
prohibited and exercised.
Augustine was
actually con-
secrated to a see not vacant, in
ignorance of Canons
forbidding this.
Augustine complains that a man has
been ordained sub-deacon in the diocese of
Hippo with-
out the
Bishop's consent
(Letter 63). On the other
hand there was no
difficulty in
sub-dividing a diocese.
Augustine decreed the consecration of a
Bishop to a
portion of the diocese of
Hippo. The consecration was
the Primate's act. The new
bishop's misconduct made
his
deprivation necessary, and that
part of the diocese
apparently reverted to
Augustine's control.
Augustine's way of
addressing his ecclesiastical
inferiors is to
identify himself with their level. Thus
a deacon is the
bishop's fellow-deacon
(Letter 149, i),
and a
presbyter is his
fellow-presbyter (ib.
34 :
con-
diaconus, conpresbyter).
Much is
incidentally revealed
concerning African
Church life and its customs. The Church had deve-
loped a considerable amount of external
dignity since
the
days of Constantine. We read of the
episcopal
thrones ascended
by flights of
steps, the
canopied seats,
20
THE LETTERS OF ST. AUGUSTINE
the
pulpits (Letter 23, "absidae
gradatae . . . Cathedrae
velatae "
; Letter
29,
"
exhedram ascenderemus
"J.
1
We
read of several churches in the town of
Hippo belong-
ing to the Catholics ; also of ecclesiastical houses and
buildings. There was also a church of the Donatists
to
which, at the
beginning of
Augustine's ministry, the
majority of the
population belonged. Evening service
was
daily said in the church of
Hippo (Letter 29).
But the moral level was
deplorably low.
Augustine's
energies as
preacher were first directed
against the
drunkenness which
prevailed in his own congregation
at the festival of the
Martyrs (Letter 22). We find that
it had not been usual before
Augustine's time for a
priest to
preach when the
Bishop was
present. This
innovation was introduced
by Bishop Valerius at
Hippo,
who was thankful to avail himself of
Augustine's ability.
And the
example was followed
by the Primate Aurelius
at
Carthage (Letter 41). Extraordinary local incidents
of church life are found in these letters. There is a
weird account of the
outrageous attempt of the con-
gregation at
Hippo to
compel a
wealthy laymen who
was there on a visit to take an oath that he would be
ordained
among them. It has been
cynically observed
that when the
layman had
impoverished himself
by his
charity the
people's interest in him ceased. The con-
gregation at
Hippo do not shine in this incident. With
this should be
compared the curious scene in church at
the selection of a
coadjutor to
Augustine with the
right
of succession
(Letter 213).
North Africa in
Augustine's time was a
strange
mixture of
languages and nationalities, as
appears in
the
proper names. Valerius, Bishop of
Hippo before
Augustine, was a Greek who
preached with
difficulty in
Latin. Whether a
priest was able to
preach in Latin or
in Punic was of
great importance. The question is
several times mentioned in the Letters. It has been
1
Letter
29.
INTRODUCTION
21
thought that the difficulties between Catholic and
Donatist were
partly created
by racial
differences, the
Latin colonists on the one side, the
early inhabitants on
the other. We find uncouth Punic names
among the
Church's
martyrs, provoking the ridicule of the cultivated
Roman Pagan, who could not stand such
proper names
as
Mygdon, Sanais, and, worst of
all, Namphanio
(Letter 16). Then
again we find
apparently a
Jewish
element
among the
Clergy. Lazarus is a
Bishop of the
African Church (Letter 175).
Among the
Bishops a different
origin is
suggested by
the names Chrisimus
(Letter 244), Pancarius
(Letter
251), Eufrates
(Letter 142), Gignantius (Letter 176).
Then
again there is
Bishop Pontican
(Letter 247)
and Classician
(Letter 250).
What strikes all students of the Letters is the curious
anticipation in North Africa of the Puritan form of
Christian names. Thus we find
Bishop Benenatus
(Letter 253), and
Bishop Adeodatus. Three
Bishops in
one Council share the name of
Quodvultdeus. Among
Augustine's correspondents is a
priest named
Deogratias
(Letter 102). Bishop Habetdeus
figures in the Confer-
ence of
410.
The work of the Church in North Africa was hindered
by lack of
clergy acquainted with the
language of the
people. Augustine's predecessor in the
Bishopric of
Hippo was
imperfectly acquainted with the Latin
language. Hippo was a Roman colony, but contained
also a Punic
population. Augustine's sermons
give at
times Punic words. In a letter still extant
(Letter 84)
Augustine refuses to
give up his deacon, Lucillus, for
work in another diocese on the
ground that the deacon
was able to talk Latin. This is the
reading in the text
of the letter. But it has been
thought much more
probable that the deacon's usefulness consisted in his
ability to talk Punic.
Another feature of Church life which
Augustine's
letters
display is the constant intercommunication
22
THE LETTERS OF ST. AUGUSTINE
between different
portions of the Church. Correspond-
ence is, indeed, often difficult. One letter-carrier is
delayed, consecrated to the
episcopate, and dies with-
out
delivering his letters. Letters sometimes miscarried
(Letter 149), and were circulated
among people for
whom they were not meant, while
failing to reach the
persons for whom they were intended. This
happened
with letters sent
by Augustine to
Jerome. Correspond-
ence was also at times
fearfully belated.
Augustine
complains that he wrote a letter while still
juvenis, and
has not
yet received an answer
though he has become
senex. But if
years at times
elapsed between a letter
and its
reply the fault was not
always with the bearer
of the letter.
By way of
precaution Augustine mentions
that he has sealed his letter with a seal
representing the
profile of a man's face
(Letter 59).
In
spite of all these drawbacks and difficulties the
reader of
Augustine's letters is
constantly reminded how
closely the various
portions of Christendom are linked
together. Travellers are
continually moving from one
country to another. A Spanish priest, Orosius, visits
Augustine at
Hippo and is sent on to Bethlehem, almost
certainly commissioned to find out what the
Pelagians
are about, and to neutralise the leader's influence with
such
bishops as
John of
Jerusalem, who
may not be
equal to his
subtlety. No part of Christendom seems
isolated from the rest.
Pope Zosimus sends the
Bishop
of
Hippo on a mission to another
part of Africa, on
some business connected with the
Holy See.
Bishop
Augustine informs and instructs the successive
occupants
of the Roman See on the nature of the
Pelagian dis-
putes. The Roman bishop misunderstands, through
inadequate knowledge, an
appeal made to him
by an
African
priest, and
requires to be better informed.
But there is no isolation
; no mere
insularity. The
Church is one vast
organism.
A study of
Augustine's letters is also a
study in
character. His
extraordinary ascendancy over his
INTRODUCTION
23
contemporaries ;
the
uniqueness of his
genius ;
his
intellectual
power, of which he could not
possibly be
unconscious
;
the deference with which the leaders of
the Church
regarded his utterances
might easily have
had disastrous effect
upon the individual himself.
What strikes the student of these letters is the writer's
profound consciousness of the limitations of human
knowledge ; his readiness to confess his
ignorance ; his
emphatic refusal to be
regarded as an oracle ; his in-
sistence that all
theologians are liable to error and
require correction
;
his
willingness to be instructed ;
his submission to the
authority of the world-wide
Church.
From the use sometimes made of
Augustine's theo-
logical opinions it seems
necessary to make what is
nevertheless an
exceedingly obvious remark that the
opinions of a
theologian are
by no means
necessarily
accepted by the Church.
Augustine's predestination
theories, which are in these letters carried to
rigorous
extremes, have never been endorsed
by the Catholic
Church.
No introduction to
Augustine's correspondence would
be
complete without
drawing attention to his constant
references to the
Scriptures. Considerable
portions of
the Bible could be
reproduced from his letters. His
teaching is
continually founded
upon prophetic and
apostolic utterances. The
quotations are
profuse. The
use made of them is most
penetrating ;
so
obviously
the result of
deep and continued
study.1
This
appears
chiefly in the
teaching on Sacrament and Schism. But
above all is the wonderful
exposition of the Christian
doctrine of Grace.
1
Cf.
Bossuet, Defense de la
Tradition, Pt. I. iv.
cap. xvi.
[The Letters have been studied in the Benedictine text, and in
Gaume's edition, Paris
1836. But reference has been made to the
Vienna edition
by Goldbacher, 4 vols., 1895-1911. The references
to S.
Jerome are to Vallarsi's edition, Verona
1735.]
CHAPTER I
