St. Augustine of Hippo

St. Augustine of Hippo

The girls will hopefully forgive me for breaking the trend of female saints we’ve explored here so that I can post on one of my favorite saints of all time: St. Augustine. And considering I posted on St. Monica a few weeks ago, I thought it’d be fitting to continue.

I like saints who are writers. As a writer myself, I tend to have a soft spot for other saints who've taken up the craft (St. Paul and St. John, to name a few); and St. Augustine's story is so hopeful to me. To reiterate what I mentioned about St. Monica (his mother), he was born into a position of wealth to a Christian woman and a pagan father (who was also an official). St. Augustine’s youth was anything but holy. He lived a worldly, materialistic life that included adultery, persecution of the Christian faith and a rejection of his mother’s Catholic beliefs. Later, in his writings “The Confessions of St. Augustine”, he would talk about the struggles with purity he’d fought his whole life, even after his conversion in his thirties. We all know one quote associated with St. Augustine: “Give me chastity and continence, but not yet,” which I think is an accurate representation of how a lot of us approach our sins, whether they’re against chastity or anything else we find ourselves repeating again and again in that confessional to the priest who’s heard us sigh and confess to the same sins (sometimes in the same order even).

And that’s why St. Augustine’s such an inspiration to me: he gives me hope. Here’s an extreme sinner that was able to find love and peace through faith. I’ve read “Confessions” a few times (one of my favorite books of all time), and the sense I get from St. Augustine is this: “If I can find peace and commit myself to a life of holiness, there’s hope for anyone.” Not to put him down, but it’s true!

I think we all know someone in our lives who seems to be a St. Augustine figure, someone who’s turned away from the Church, or maybe never was part of the Church at all, but lives a life of unhappiness and self-destruction. I know someone, fitting that description, who’s gone through hell and high water, and every time I hear an update on his life, all I can think of is how there must be a plan or purpose for all this.

St. Augustine, pray for us!