05/05/2026
May 5
Conversion of Saint Augustine of Hippo
Also known as Aurelius Augustinus
Doctor of Grace
Additional Memorial
28 August (feast)
Profile
Son of a pagan father who converted on his death bed, and of Saint Monica, a devout Christian. Raised a Christian, he lost his faith in youth and led a wild life. Lived with a Carthaginian woman from the age of 15 through 30. Fathered a son whom he named Adeotadus, which means the gift of God. Taught rhetoric at Carthage and Milan, Italy. After investigating and experimenting with several philosophies, he became a Manichaean for several years; it taught of a great struggle between good and evil, and featured a lax moral code. A summation of his thinking at the time comes from his Confessions: "God, give me chastity and continence - but not just now."
Augustine finally broke with the Manichaeans and was converted by the prayers of his mother and the help of Saint Ambrose of Milan, who baptized him. On the death of his mother he returned to Africa, sold his property, gave the proceeds to the poor, and founded a monastery. Monk. Priest. Preacher. Bishop of Hippo in 396. Founded religious communities. Fought Manichaeism, Donatism, Pelagianism and other heresies. Oversaw his church and his see during the fall of the Roman Empire to the Vandals. Doctor of the Church. His later thinking can also be summed up in a line from his writings: Our hearts were made for You, O Lord, and they are restless until they rest in you.
Born
13 November 354 at Tagaste, Numidia, North Africa (Souk-Ahras, Algeria) as Aurelius Augustinus
Died
28 August 430 at Hippo, North Africa
Patronage
• against sore eyes
*against vermin *brewers
*printers
*theologians
*7 dioceses
*7 cities
Representation
• child
dove
eagle
pen
shell
flaming heart, an allusion to a passage in his Confessions
Readings
Conquer yourself and the world lies at your feet. - Saint Augustine
God has no need of your money, but the poor have. You give it to the poor, and God receives it. - Saint Augustine
The honors of this world, what are they but puff, and emptiness and peril of falling? - Saint Augustine
Daily advance, then, in this love, both by praying and by well doing, that through the help of Him who enjoined it on you, and whose gift it is, it may be nourished and increased, until, being perfected, it render you perfect. - Saint Augustine
What do you possess if you possess not God? - Saint Augustine
Unhappy is the soul enslaved by the love of anything that is mortal. - Saint Augustine
The love of worldly possessions is a sort of bird line, which entangles the soul, and prevents it flying to God. - Saint Augustine
This very moment I may, if I desire, become the friend of God. - Saint Augustine
God bestows more consideration on the purity of the intention with which our actions are performed than on the actions themselves. - Saint Augustine
I will suggest a means whereby you can praise God all day long, if you wish. Whatever you do, do it well, and you have praised God. - Saint Augustine
This is the business of our life. By labor and prayer to advance in the grace of God, till we come to that height of perfection in which, with clean hearts, we may behold God. - Saint Augustine
God in his omnipotence could not give more, in His wisdom He knew not how to give more, in His riches He had not more to give, than the Eucharist. - Saint Augustine
God does not command impossibilities, but by commanding admonishes you do what you can and to pray for what you cannot, and aids you that you may be able. - Saint Augustine
Our life and our death are with our neighbor. - Saint Augustine
