St. Augustine of Hippo

The restless sinner whose Confessions became the West's greatest conversion story, and whose theology shaped the Church for a millennium.

The story

Augustine lived with a mistress, fathered a son, joined the Manichees, and taught rhetoric in pursuit of ambition, all while his mother Monica prayed. In a Milan garden he heard a child sing "Take and read," opened Romans 13, and surrendered. Baptized in 387, he became bishop of Hippo and wrote the Confessions, the City of God, and hundreds of sermons, dying as the Vandals besieged his city.

What Augustine teaches

You were made for God, and nothing less will satisfy you. The whole of Augustine is in that one insight.

Patronage

theologians, printers, brewers.

Prayer

St. Augustine, you sought truth everywhere and found it in Christ. Pray that our restless hearts may rest in God. Amen.