The main issue, a massive stroke against the life of his soul, was his blooming sexual life. After grade school, his father sent him to Carthage to get a “good education” in liberal studies. As soon as he arrived in Carthage, it appears he got in with the wrong crowd. Augustine began living a sexually immoral series of habits. He says at first his relationships were begun out of his essential desire to love and be loved. Instead of finding this love in God, he found it in an unnamed woman, who many scholars believe to have been the long-term concubine of Augustine and the mother of Adeodatus. In his autobiography, he reports that he continued living more and more into this licentious lifestyle as his teen years went on. He says peer pressure had a big part of it; he would always report his escapades, and exaggerate them when necessary so as to not come off as naïve.…
Augustine - important figure in the history of Christianity, wrote of predestination and original sin.…
He was a Manichee because Manicheism offered more concert answers. However he is challenged, “I then expended much mental efforts on trying to discover if I could in any way convict the Manichees of falsehood by some definite proofs” (5.14.25). Augustine did thought at some point that Manichaeism can offer what he wanted, but because he was too ignorant and he never saw what really was Manicheism. While his time in Milan, he becomes a skeptic where he begins to question everything. He now believes that’s there is no truth to the question of God, but an understanding of him. He meets bishop named Ambrose, which his mother becomes happy because maybe he can convert back to Catholicism. During his time with Ambrose, Augustine starts to believe that Catholicism can offer him the understanding he has been…
Have you ever wanted to pray before a test, but didn’t know who to pray to? Saint Thomas Aquinas is the patron saint of students and education. Throughout his life, he taught us various ways on how to believe in what we believe in. He also taught us to chase our dreams, even when it is not approved by the people around us.…
The way humans perceive this mystical power is known as “the light”. This light is very different from regular light because regular light is seen by the eyes and is simply just imagery. On the other hand, the spiritual light is emanated by God, but interpreted by the mind. It guides us to the way of living that is spiritual and free of sin. When we do not let that light into our minds, we ultimately close off God from our lives and become more materialistic. Thus, we begin to sin. The reason this resonated so well with Augustine is because this is what he devoted his life to. His objective was to find a source of sin and figure out a way to prevent it. Furthermore, when he achieved his objectives, he integrated them with his lifestyle in order to stay connected with God and all the good he stands for. However, the light’s purpose was not only used by Augustine to secure his future with God, but also to reflect on all he experienced as an…
Augustine, although recognized as a saint today, was not always a man of great faith. For most of his life, he was tempted with sin, and he struggled to figure out who God was. In the earlier part of his life, he was fascinated by rhetoric. He admired famous rhetoricians, and he even wrote some works of his own, including The Confessions, in which he reveals the struggles he faced. Augustine’s attraction to rhetoricians is not something unfamiliar to a modern audience, as today it is something called “celebrity worship”.…
Saint Anthony was born Fernando Martins de Bulhoes, on August 15, 1195 in Lisbon, Portugal where he was raised by a wealthy family. At the age of 15 he entered the religious order of St. Augustine and two years later, he was sent to the Abbey of Santa Cruz in Coimbra, where he began nine years of intense study of Theology and Latin. He was ordained to priesthood and placed in charge of hospitality and named guest master of his Abbey. Attracted to the simple Gospel lifestyle of the Franciscan Order, Fernando obtained permission from his superiors to join the order. He invested the Franciscan habit and lifestyle and began to learn the teachings of the holy founder, St. Francis and took the name “Anthony”. Upon his travels to Morocco to fulfill…
For what our human nature wants is opposed to what the Spirit wants, and what the Spirit wants is opposed to what our human nature wants,’” [Galatians, 5:16-17]. The material world represents the “evil” master, and Augustine’s inner weakness expresses the “good” slave. Book II of Confessions focuses on his sexual sins from his adolescent years. In Augustine’s time, complete celibacy was the ultimate goal. Marriage was for the weak who could not fully control their sexual desires, but sex was used only for the conception of children never pleasure. His urges become problematic, and his final obstacle to conversion is giving up sex. His parents only see success for their son in the shallow material world. His love and ease for learning drive both of his parents’ actions. They insist on sacrificing financial obligations to put him the best school only to drive his success. When confesses his sexual sins, they feel the need to marry him off as soon as possible. But they soon realize marriage will only affect his studies. Augustine’s rejection for the material world’s impulses leads toward his acceptance of Christianity. In essence, this realization symbolizes a Nietzschean “slave…
Augustine believed God didn’t create evil but it came about when the angels and humans tuned their back on the higher good and settled for the lower good because of their free choices used with free will. Augustine believed the sin of Adam was passed on though all humans and was called the original sin, moreover Augustine believed God sent Jesus down to die for our sins instead of sending everyone to hell.…
“He who knows the truth, knows the light, and he who knows it knows eternity.” (171). Saint Augustine explains throughout The Confessions the challenges he faced in search for the divinity truth. The struggles and triumphs Saint Augustine conquered at each level of the Divided Line presented in Plato’s The Republic.…
One may wonder why Augustine seems to dwell on such an apparent insignificant event in his life. The story appears to be a mere indiscretion from his childhood. However, the essence of the…
St. Francis of Assisi, was a very Godly, and righteous man, and in the books, I read, (St. Francis of Assisi, Francis) portrays that clearly. He was one of the most influential monks/ friars of that era, and possibly of the world, and made many contributions during the medieval ages. During his lifetime, he established many lasting orders (Order of Friars Minor, Order of Saint Claire, Third Order of Saint Francis, Custody of the Holy Land) that has much influence during that time, like the well-known St. Dominic.…
St. Francis has a large impact on me. He is the patron of animals, merchants and ecology. Because Francis and I both have a connection to animals it seems only fitting that I choose him as my saint for this project.…
St. Thomas Aquinas, or Thomas of Aquin or Aquino, scholastic philosopher, known as Doctor Angelicus, Doctor Universalis, was of noble descent, and nearly allied to several of the royal houses of Europe. He was born in 1225 or 1227, at Roccasecca, the castle of his father Landulf, count of Aquino, in the territories of Naples. Having received…
Saint Francis was a very interesting person. He went from being a spoiled, wild child to devoting his life to God. He gave up his lavish lifestyle, parties, dream of becoming a knight, and his family for a new life with God. Francis had become a new, religious man.…