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ER 836
Augustine, bishop of Hippo Regius (North Africa), recounts his presbyterial ordination and the beginning of the monastic community at Hippo in AD 391. Augustine, Sermon 355, AD 425/426.
Sermon 355
 
2. [...] Apprehensus, presbyter factus sum, et per hunc gradum ad episcopatum perueni. Non adtuli aliquid, non ueni ad hanc ecclesiam, nisi cum his indumentis quibus illo tempore uestiebar. Et quia hoc disponebam, esse in monasterio cum fratribus, cognito instituto et uoluntate mea, beatae memoriae senex Valerius dedit mihi hortum illum, in quo est nunc monasterium. Coepi boni propositi fratres colligere, compauperes meos, nihil habentes, sicut habebam, et imitantes me: ut quomodo ego tenuem paupertatulam meam uendidi et pauperibus erogaui, sic facerent et illi qui mecum esse uoluissent, ut de communi uiueremus. [...]
 
(ed. Lambot 1950: 125)
Sermon 355
 
2. […] I was caught, I was made a presbyter, and by this grade I eventually came to the episcopate. I brought nothing with me; I came to this Church with only the clothes I was wearing.  And because what I was planning was to be in a monastery with the brothers, the elderly Valerius of blessed memory, having learned of my purpose and desire, gave me that plot where the monastery now is. I began to gather together brothers of good will, my companions in poverty, having nothing just like me, and imitating me. Just as I had sold my slender poor man's property and distributed the proceeds to the poor, those who wished to stay with me did the same, so that we might live on what we had in common. […]
 
(trans. E. Hill, slightly altered)

Discussion:

Sermons 355 and 356 were delivered by Augustine in 425/426 when it turned out that some of the clerics of the monastery of Hippo had retained some private property (see 843).

Place of event:

Region
  • Latin North Africa
City
  • Hippo Regius

About the source:

Author: Augustine of Hippo
Title: Sermons, Sermones, Homilies
Origin: Hippo Regius (Latin North Africa)
Denomination: Catholic/Nicene/Chalcedonian
Copies of between 400 and 500 of Augustine`s sermons have survived to our times. Most of these 400-500 sermons were taken down by scribes as he preached without the use of a prepared script. They are a faithful stenographic record of what Augustine actually said, with probably no subsequent editing of them by himself.
They cover a wide range of topics. They are usually based on the Scripture passage read during the liturgy. The homilies on the Psalms and the Gospels have been preserved in separate collections.
Edition:
C. Lambot ed., Sancti Aurelii Augustini Sermones selecti duodeviginti, Stromata Patristica et Mediaevalia 1, Utrecht - Brussels 1950.
 
Translation:
 
Saint Augustine, Sermons (341-400) on Various Subjects, trans. E. Hill, New York 1995.

Categories:

Food/Clothes/Housing - Clothes
Further ecclesiastical career - Bishop
Described by a title - Presbyter/πρεσβύτερος
Monastic or common life - Cenobitic monk
Monastic or common life - Clerical community
Economic status and activity - Buying & selling
Economic status and activity - Indication of poverty
Economic status and activity - Gift
Relation with - Bishop/Monastic superior
Former ecclesiastical career - None
Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL: S. Adamiak, Presbyters in the Late Antique West, ER836, http://presbytersproject.ihuw.pl/index.php?id=6&SourceID=836
Record by: Stanisław Adamiak
last edited: 2017-04-25 14:29:39
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