St. Augustine, Bishop & Doctor of the Church (28 August): Butler's Lives of the Saints

About this sermon

Discover the extraordinary life of St. Augustine of Hippo, Bishop, Doctor of the Church, defender of the Catholic faith, and one of the most influential Christians in history. In this reading from Butler’s Lives of the Saints, we follow Augustine from his troubled youth, pride, impurity, intellectual ambition, and years among the Manichaeans through the relentless prayers of St. Monica, his encounter with St. Ambrose, and the interior battle that culminated in the famous command: “Take up and read.” Augustine opened the Epistles of St. Paul, resolved to abandon his former life, and eventually received baptism from St. Ambrose. His conversion became a testimony to the transforming power of divine grace. But his story was only beginning. Augustine embraced prayer, penance, study, monastic life, priesthood, preaching, and ultimately the episcopacy. He defended the Church against Manichaeans, Donatists, Pelagians, and other errors while producing works that would shape Western Christianity for centuries. St. Augustine, pray for us. 0:00 St. Augustine — Bishop & Doctor of the Church 1:05 Augustine’s birth and family 1:50 The prodigal son falls into vice 4:41 Augustine becomes a catechumen 8:38 Theater, vanity & worldly pleasures 11:51 The famous theft of the pears 12:21 Augustine falls into impurity 14:27 Student life in Carthage 16:05 Cicero awakens his search for wisdom 17:11 Augustine embraces Manichaeism 18:01 Pride and the search for truth 23:30 St. Monica weeps for Augustine 24:21 “The child of those tears shall not perish” 25:12 Death of Augustine’s closest friend 26:45 Fame, rhetoric & ambition in Carthage 28:28 Augustine meets the Manichaean Faustus 30:03 Augustine leaves for Rome 31:00 Near death & St. Monica’s prayers 32:07 Augustine arrives in Milan 32:24 St. Ambrose enters Augustine’s life 36:25 Augustine discovers St. Paul 39:02 Enslaved by his own will 40:32 Hearing the life of St. Anthony 44:08 “Give me chastity—but not yet” 45:21 Augustine enters the garden 48:22 Tears beneath the fig tree 49:12 “Take up and read” 49:50 Romans changes Augustine’s life 50:45 St. Monica receives the news 51:44 Augustine chooses continence 53:05 The triumph of divine grace 54:00 The conversion of St. Augustine 56:10 “Too late have I loved Thee” 56:49 The meaning of Augustine’s flaming heart 1:01:10 Penance, prayer & the Psalms 1:04:03 Preparing for baptism 1:05:17 Baptized by St. Ambrose 1:06:25 Death of St. Monica at Ostia 1:07:48 Augustine returns to Africa 1:08:35 Augustine’s monastic community 1:10:47 Humility above all things 1:13:01 Augustine is seized for the priesthood 1:14:02 The terrible responsibility of the priesthood 1:15:13 Augustine begins preaching 1:21:49 Penance, death & judgment 1:23:31 Augustine’s tireless preaching 1:28:22 His care for the poor 1:28:40 “I desire not to be saved without you” 1:39:59 Augustine & St. Jerome 1:44:10 Augustine writes the Confessions 1:46:09 Battle against Manichaeism 1:48:23 Public disputations against heresy 1:51:37 The City of God 1:55:34 The Donatist crisis in Africa 1:56:08 Augustine fights for Catholic unity 1:59:00 The great conference at Carthage 2:13:21 The battle against Pelagianism 2:14:33 Council of Carthage 2:20:54 Confessions & Retractations 2:21:11 Augustine reviews and corrects his writings 2:24:43 The Vandals invade Africa 2:30:33 The siege of Hippo begins 2:30:42 Augustine’s final illness 2:33:21 The penitential Psalms beside his deathbed 2:34:02 Death of St. Augustine — August 28, 430 2:35:42 The preservation of his body and library 2:36:05 Augustine’s relics transferred to Pavia 2:37:54 Augustine’s enormous influence on the Church 2:40:11 The foundation of Augustine’s sanctity 2:40:26 First, second & third: humility https://sensusfidelium.com/the-lives-of-the-fathers-martyrs-and-other-principal-saints/august/st-augustine-bishop-c-and-doctor-of-the-church/ Get Butler's Lives of the Saints here: https://loretopublications.idevaffiliate.com/idevaffiliate.php?id=102&url=1 🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴 ✝️ SUPPORT THE MISSION 🙏 Donate https://sensusfidelium.com/donate-support/ 📬 Free Catholic Newsletter https://sensusfidelium.com/newsletter/ 📰 Read on Substack https://sensusfidelium.substack.com/ ──────────────────── 📺 WATCH & READ 📺 Sensus Fidelium App https://sensusfidelium.tv/ 📚 Sensus Fidelium Press https://sensusfideliumpress.com/ 👕 Official Merchandise https://sensusfidelium.com/merchandise/ ──────────────────── 🤝 PARTNER WITH US 📣 Advertise on Sensus Fidelium https://sensusfidelium.com/advertise-with-sensus-fidelium/ 🎤 Invite Steve Cunningham to Speak https://sensusfidelium.com/speaking/ ⛪ Parish Formation & Consultation https://sensusfidelium.com/for-parishes/ ──────────────────── 🌎 CATHOLIC COMMUNITY ✝️ Trusted Catholic Businesses https://sensusfidelium.com/catholic-businesses/ 🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴 #StAugustine #SaintAugustine #AugustineOfHippo #StMonica #CatholicSaints #Lives

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