Saint of the Day - St. Augustine

Augustine was born on November 13, 354 in Tagaste, Numidia, North Africa, the son of Patricius and St. Monica. Though his mother did her best to raise the boy as a Christian, his studies in Carthage were determined to pull him in the opposite direction.

Away from the influence of his mother, Augustine began to live recklessly. He began drinking and carousing and fathered a son, Adeotadus, out of wedlock. He fell in with the Manicheaen sect, and remained in this moral state for eleven years.

When Augustine returned to his mother in this state she became alarmed and began to pray fervently for her son's conversion. After nine years of anguish, Monica's prayers were answered and her son turned to the faith and was baptised by St. Ambrose. His mother passed away shortly thereafter.

Augustine had long been noted as a scholar and orator and he now used these talents on behalf of the Gospel. After returning home and dividing his property amongst the poor he entered a monastery and began to write treatises culminating in his Confessions, a powerful autobiography, City of God, and Retractiones. He was eventually ordained a priest and, in 396, Bishop of Hippo. As bishop he fought heresies, including Manichaeism and founded religious communities.

He perished during the siege on the Roman empire by the vandals on August 28, 430. He has since been declared a Doctor of the Church.

St. Augustine is the patron saint: against sore eyes; of brewers; of the diocese of Bridgeport, Connecticut; of Cagayan de Oro, Philippines; the diocese of Ida, Philippines; of the Isleta Indian Pueblo; of the diocese of Kalamazoo, Michigan; of Ponte Nizza, Italy; of printers; of the city and diocese of St. Augustine, Florida; of the diocese of Superior, Wisconsin; of theologians; of the diocese of Tucson, Arizona; and of Valletta, Malta.