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Saint Augustine in His Study (detail), Sandro Botticelli

Augustine of Hippo

Sandro Botticelli, Saint Augustine in His Study (detail), c. 1480 · Ognissanti, Florence · Public domainSandro Botticelli, Saint Augustine in His Study (detail), c. 1480, Ognissanti, Florence

Church Father354–43024 works in the Library →

Who

Rhetorician from Thagaste in North Africa, converted in Milan under Ambrose in 386, bishop of Hippo from 395 and the most influential of the Latin Fathers. The Confessions, City of God, On the Trinity, the Enchiridion, the Tractates on John, the Expositions on the Psalms and hundreds of sermons come from him, and his controversy with Pelagius fixed the Western doctrine of original sin and grace. On Mary he holds that she conceived Christ in faith before she conceived him in the flesh, that she remained a virgin, and that "for the honour of the Lord" he will not raise the question of sin where she is concerned.

Lineage

In the succession →

See of Hippo, 395–430.

Taught by
Ambrose of Milanc. 339–397

Augustine, Confessions V.13–14 and IX.6 (heard his preaching at Milan and was baptised by him, 387)

Contents

Quoted in

In Jewish Roots of Mary

Who

Bishop of Hippo and the most influential theologian of the Latin West. Pitre notes that when Augustine exempts Mary from sin he is explicit that it is by God's grace, not her own effort.

Quoted works

  • Sermons 51.3 — Eve and Mary (p 37)
  • On Nature and Grace 42 — 'We must except the holy Virgin Mary… for from Him we know what abundance of grace for overcoming sin in every particular was conferred upon her' (p 38)
  • On Holy Virginity 4.4 — on Luke 1:34: 'she certainly would not have responded in such a way if she had not already made a vow of virginity' (p 113)
  • Sermon 215.3 — 'Who could ever comprehend this? Who could tell of it?' — the sealed womb and tomb (p 137)

Connections

Cited by · 8

Verses discussed · 3

See also · 8

Referenced by · 11

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