The Presbyters Project

Book 22

8. [...] Apud Carthaginem autem quis nouit praeter admodum paucissimos salutem, quae facta est Innocentio, ex aduocato uicariae praefecturae, ubi nos interfuimus et oculis aspeximus nostris? Venientes enim de transmarinis me et fratrem meum Alypium, nondum quidem clericos, sed iam deo seruientes, ut erat cum tota domo sua religiosissimus, ipse susceperat [...].

He suffered from what was probably a deeply embedded anal fistula.

Visitabant eum cotidie sancti uiri, episcopus tunc Vzalensis, beatae memoriae Saturninus, et presbyter Gulosus ac diaconi Carthaginensis ecclesiae [...]. Qui cum eum, sicut solebant, uespere uisitarent, rogauit eos miserabilibus lacrimis, ut mane dignarentur esse praesentes suo funeri potius quam dolori. [...] Consolati sunt eum illi et hortati, ut in Deo fideret eiusque uoluntatem uiriliter ferret. Inde ad orationem ingressi sumus; ubi nobis ex more genua figentibus atque incumbentibus terrae ille se ita proiecit, tamquam fuisset aliquo grauiter inpellente prostratus, et coepit orare [...].

Next day the surgeon who arrived found Innocentius to be healed.

(ed. Dombart - Kalb 1955, 816-818)

Book 22

8. […] At Carthage, in contrast, who but a very few know of the healing of Innocentius, a former advocate of the vice-prefecture? I myself was present at the event and saw it with my own eyes. For when brother Alypius and I came from across the sea – we were not yet clerics then but were already in God's service – Innocentius has received us […].

He suffered from what was probably a deeply embedded anal fistula.

Certain holy men visited Innocentius each day – Saturninus of blessed memory, who was at that time bishop of Uzalis, the presbyter Gulosus, and the deacons of the church of Carthage. […] When these holy men visited Innocentius that evening, as was their custom, he begged them to be good enough to come next morning to be present not for his suffering but for his funeral. […] They comforted him and urged him to trust in God and submit to God's will like a man. Then we started to pray; and, while in the customary way, we were kneeling and bowing to the ground, he threw himself down, as if someone had knocked him flat by force, and began to pray.

Next day the surgeon who arrived found Innocentius to be healed.

(trans. W. Babcock, slightly altered)

Discussion:

See also the discussion in [480]. The healing took place when Augustine and Alypius were on their way back from Italy to Africa, in AD 388.

Place of event:

Region

Latin North Africa

City

Carthage

About the source:

Author: Augustine of Hippo
Title: The City of God, De civitate Dei, On The City of God
Origin: Hippo Regius (Latin North Africa)
Denomination: Catholic/Nicene/Chalcedonian

“The City of God” was meant by Augustine to provide the Christians with the arguments against the accusations, raised especially after the sack of Rome in 410 AD, that their religion was inferior to the pagan cults that protected the Roman state in a better way. The first ten books of the “City of God” are a critique of the Roman religion and philosophy. The next twelve discuss the relation between the eternal City of God and the Earthly City.

Augustine probably started writing this work in 412 AD. The books appeared gradually. Book 10 was finished by 417 AD, and the whole work by 426/427.

The last book deals with the eternal happiness of the saints and explains the resurrection of the body, hence numerous miracle stories are contained here.

Edition:

B. Dombart, A. Kalb edd., Sancti Aurelii Augustini De Civitate Dei libri XI-XXII, Corpus Christianorum. Series Latina 48, Turnhout 1955.

Translation:

Saint Augustine, The City of God XI-XXII, trans. W. Babcock, New York 2013.

Categories:

Described by a title - Presbyter/πρεσβύτερος

PR480.

Ritual activity - Presiding at prayer

PR480.

Relation with - Noble

PR480.

Devotion - Supernatural experience

PR480.

Pastoral activity - Visiting the sick

PR480.

Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL: S. Adamiak, Presbyters in the Late Antique West, ER886, http://presbytersproject.ihuw.pl/index.php?id=6&SourceID=886