# Matins Nocturn 2 reading for St. Augustine, Bishop, Confessor,
# Doctor (Aug 28) — SanctiM/08-28.txt inherits the whole day
# (`@Sancti/08-28`) with no Nocturn 2/3 override, so this saint's own
# vita is sourced from the Tridentine track exactly as for a pre-1955
# saint (see memory vu-matins-pre1955-saints, vu-matins-sanctim-saints).
# web/www/horas/Latin/Sancti/08-28.txt, English/Sancti/08-28.txt.
# Lectio4-6 combined into one reading, one continuous vita, no genuine
# source break. No responsory given in the source.
id: st-augustine
readings:
  - nocturn: 2
    isGospel: false
    text:
      la: >-
        Augustinus, Tagaste in Africa honestis parentibus natus, ac puer docilitate ingenii
        æquales longe superans, brevi omnibus doctrina antecelluit. Adolescens, dum esset
        Carthagine, in Manichæorum hæresim incidit. Postea Romam profectus, inde Mediolanum
        missus ut rhetoricam doceret, cum ibi frequens Ambrósii episcopi esset auditor, ejus
        opera incensus studio catholicæ fidei, annos natus triginta tres ab ipso baptizatur.
        Reversus in Africam, cum religione vitæ sanctimoniam conjungens, a Valerio notæ
        sanctitatis episcopo Hipponensi presbyter factus est. Quo tempore familiam instituit
        religiosorum, quibuscum victu communi eodemque cultu utens, eos ad apostolicæ vitæ
        doctrinæque disciplinam diligentissime erudiebat. Sed cum vigeret Manichæorum hæresis,
        vehementius in illam invehi cœpit, Fortunatumque hæresiarcham confutavit.


        Hac Augustíni pietate commotus Valerius, eum adjutorem adhibuit episcopalis officii.
        Nihil illo fuit humilius, nihil continentius. Lectus ac vestitus moderatus, vulgaris
        mensa, quam semper sacra vel lectione vel disputatione condiebat. Tanta benignitate
        fuit in pauperes, ut, cum non esset alia facultas, sacra vasa frangeret ad eorum
        inopiam sustentandam. Feminarum, et in eis sororis, et fratris filiæ, contubernium
        familiaritatemque vitavit: quippe qui diceret, etsi propinquæ mulieres suspectæ non
        essent, tamen quæ ad eas ventitarent, posse suspicionem efficere. Nullum finem fecit
        prædicandi Dei verbum, nisi gravi morbo oppressus. Hæreticos perpetuo insectatus et
        coram et scriptis, ac nullo loco passus consistere, Africam a Manichæorum,
        Donatistarum, Pelagianorum, aliorumque præterea hæreticorum errore magna ex parte
        liberavit.


        Tam multa pie, subtiliter et copiose scripsit, ut christianam doctrinam maxime
        illustrarit. Quem in primis secuti sunt, qui postea theologicam disciplinam via et
        ratione tradiderunt. Wandalis Africam bello vastantibus, et Hipponem tertium jam
        mensem obsidentibus, in febrim incidit. Itaque cum discessum e vita sibi instare
        intelligeret, Psalmos David qui ad pœnitentiam pertinent, in conspectu positos profusis
        lacrimis legebat. Solebat autem dicere neminem, etsi nullius sceleris sibi conscius
        esset, committere debere, ut sine pænitentia migraret e vita. Ergo sensibus integris,
        in oratione defixus, astantibus fratribus, quos ad caritatem, pietatem, virtutesque
        omnes erat adhortatus, migravit in cælum. Vixit annos septuaginta sex, in episcopatu
        ad triginta sex. Cujus corpus primum in Sardiniam delatum, deínde a Luitprando,
        Longobardorum rege, magno pretio redemptum, Ticinum translatum est, ibique honorifice
        conditum.
      en: >-
        Augustine was born of honourable parents at Tagaste in Africa. As a boy his great
        intellectual sharpness caused him to distance all his companions in learning. When he was
        living at Carthage as a young man, he fell into the heresy of the Manichaeans. He
        afterwards went to Rome, and was thence sent to Milan to teach Rhetoric. At Milan he
        often went to hear the sermons of Bishop Ambrose, by whose labours he was drawn to the
        Catholic Church, and by whom he was baptized, at the age of thirty-three. After his
        return to Africa, Valerius, the illustrious and saintly Bishop of Hippo, finding him to
        unite holiness of life, with Catholic profession, made him a Priest. At this time he
        founded a sort of family of godly men, who lived and worshipped in common with him, and
        whom he earnestly formed upon the model of the Apostolic life and teaching. The
        Manichaean heresy flaming forth with violence, he began strongly to attack it, and
        confounded the arch-heretic Fortunatus.


        Valerius, moved by the godly zeal of Augustine, joined him with himself as an assistant
        in his duties of Bishop. He was lowly and pure in the highest degree. His furniture and
        dress were plain, and his food of the commonest sort, which he always seasoned when at
        table by either reading some religious book, or arguing upon some religious subject. His
        tenderness to the poor was such that, failing all other resources, he broke up the
        hallowed vessels to relieve their wants. It was his rule not to dwell or be very close
        friends with any woman, a rule which he did not relax even in the case of his sister and
        niece, for he was accustomed to say, that although no scandal could arise in the case of
        such near kinswomen, yet it might arise concerning the women friends who sought their
        company. He never ceased to preach the Word of God, until he was disabled by heavy
        sickness. He was always an hard follower after heretics, and by his words and his
        writings never suffered them to rest anywhere. In great measure, he purged Africa of the
        Manicheans, Donatists, Pelagians, and other heretics.


        He wrote so much, and that with such godliness and understanding, that he is to be held
        among the very chiefest of them by whom the teachings of Christianity have been shown
        forth. He is one of the first of those whom later theologians have followed, in method,
        and in argument. He fell sick of a fever what time the Vandals were laying Africa waste,
        and when they were busy in the third month of besieging Hippo. When he understood that
        his departure from this present life was at hand, he caused the Psalms of David which
        most speak the language of repentance to be placed before him, and read them with tears,
        for he was wont to say that even if a man's conscience were to accuse him of no sin, he
        should not dare to leave this world except as a penitent. His senses remained vigorous to
        the last, and it was while rapt in prayer, in the presence of the brethren whom he had
        exhorted to love, godliness, and all goodness, that he departed for heaven. He lived 76
        years, whereof he had been a Bishop nearly thirty six. His body was first carried to
        Sardinia, but Luitprand, King of the Lombards, afterwards bought it for a great price,
        and took it to Ticino, where it is honourably buried.
    status: { la: verified, en: verified }
