AUGUSTINE, (Aurelius Augustinus), or AUSTIN, ST. the most illustrious of the fathers of the church, was born at Tagaste (Tajelt), a city in Numidia, on the 13th November, A.D. 354. His father, Patricius, was a Burgess of Tagaste, and at that time an unconverted pagan; but his mother, Monica or Monnica, a woman of great piety, instructed their son in the principles of Christianity. In his early youth he fell dangerously ill, and earnestly desired to be baptized; but the danger being past, the rite was deferred. He studied, by his father's desire, at Tagaste, Madaura, and afterwards at Carthage. In his nineteenth year, the perusal of Cicero's Hortensius (a work now lost) made a deep impression on his mind, and he began to entertain a love for wisdom. Accordingly he applied himself with diligence to the study of the Sacred Scriptures; but he soon suffered himself to be seduced by the Manicheans, to whose pernicious doctrines he adhered for nine years. After teaching grammar for some time at Tagaste, he returned to Carthage and became a teacher of rhetoric; but being disgusted with his companions and the manners of the scholars, he formed the resolution of going to Rome, much against the inclination of his mother. In that city he soon attracted many scholars; but finding them no less depraved than his former pupils, he quitted Rome and settled at Milan, where he was elected professor of rhetoric. Here he had the opportunity of hearing the discourses of St Ambrose, whose arguments, together with the study of St Paul's epistles, and the conversion of two of his friends, determined him to retract his errors and quit the sect of the Manicheans. He spent the vacation of the year 386 at the country seat of his friend Verecundus, and applied himself in earnest to the study of the Scriptures, preparatory to his baptism, which took place, together with that of his natural son Adeodatus, and his friend Alypius, at Easter in the following year. Shortly after this event, his mother came to Milan, and invited him to return with her to Carthage; but at Ostia, whither they had gone to embark for Africa, Monica was seized with sickness and died. Augustine arrived in Africa towards the close of 388; and having obtained a small villa beyond the walls of the city of Hippo, he associated himself with eleven other persons of eminent piety, and they dwelt together in a monastic state for the space of three years. Renouncing
Augustus all individual property, they possessed their goods in common, distinguished themselves by wearing leather girdles, and exercised themselves continually in prayer, fasting, study, and meditation. Hence arose the Austin or Augustine friars, or eremites of St. Augustine, who were the first order of mendicants; those of St. Jerome, the Carmelites, and others, being only branches of that of St. Augustine.
It was about this period that Augustine acceded to the urgent solicitations of Valerius, bishop of Hippo, to be ordained a priest; but he still continued to reside with his brethren in their little monastery. In the year 393 he was appointed, though still only a presbyter, to expound the creed before the council of Hippo. Two years after, Valerius, who was very desirous to retain the services of so eminent a person, appointed Augustine his coadjutor or colleague, and succeeded in obtaining his appointment to the bishopric of Hippo, by Megalus, bishop of Calame, who was at that time primate of Numidia. The life of Augustine closed amidst scenes of violence and blood. The Vandals under the fierce Genserich laid siege to Hippo; and during this period of aggravated distress and misery, Augustine breathed his last on the 28th August 430, at the age of 76. The best account of his life is to be found in his own celebrated Confessions, in which he has recorded with manly candour the excesses of his early years, and the progress of his conversion to Christianity. His writings are greatly esteemed, and there are many editions of his separate works. The best complete edition is that of the Benedictines in 11 vols. folio, published at Paris, 1679-1700, and reprinted at Paris in 1836-38, in 22 half volumes. Tillemont, in his Ecclesiastical History, has devoted a quarto volume of 1075 pages to the life and writings of St. Augustine.