112 AUGUSTINE and their conversion seems to have been gen- eral ; it is said that 10,000 persons were bap- tized in a single day. Their temples were dedicated to the new faith and used as churches, and many of their rude festivals were converted into religious feasts, without losing their origi- nal social character. Augustin, it is said, al- lowed no coercive measures to be used in prop- agating the gospel. His success caused him to be appointed by the pope archbishop of Canter- bury, with supreme authority over the churches of England. The see of York was soon after- ward established, and a number of other bish- oprics. Augustin wished to establish conform- ity of religious customs over the whole of Brit- ain, and for that purpose appointed several conferences with the British bishops of Wales, who were successors of converts of the 2d cen- tury, and had declared their independence of the church of Rome. The conferences, how- ever, failed of any result. A number of Welsh monks were soon after put to death, and Au- gustin has been charged with the deed, but on no very good authority. His relics were pre- served in the cathedral at Canterbury. AUGUSTINE (AtJEELius AUGUSTINUS), Saint, a doctor of the Latin church, born at Tagaste, a small town of Numidia in Africa, not far from Carthage, Nov. 13, 354, died Aug. 28, 430. His father, Patricius, was a pagan noble- man of moderate fortune, while his mother, Monica, who has been canonized by the church, was an earnest Christian. Augustine was sent to the best schools of Madaura and Carthage. His own " Confessions " tell us that his con- duct at this period of his life was far from exemplary. His studies, chiefly in the heathen poets, were more favorable to the develop- ment of his fancy and his style than to his Christian growth. The death of his father, which threw him upon his own resources, and the influence of some philosophical works, es- pecially the Hortensius of Cicero, roused him to a diligent search after Jruth. Unable to find this in the writings of the Greek and Ro- man sages, and dissatisfied with what seemed to him the crude and fragmentary teachings of the Jewish and Christian Scriptures, he adopted the dualism of the Manichans. At the age of 29 he went to Rome. There his repu- tation as a teacher of eloquence soon rivalled that of Symmachus, then at the height of his renown. On the recommendation of that ora- tor, he was called to Milan as a teacher of rhetoric. Ambrose was then bishop of Milan, and Augustine's first care was to know so famous a preacher. After repeated interviews with Ambrose, the conversion of his own ille- gitimate son, and the entreaties of his mother, he resolved to embrace Christianity. The history of his conversion forms the most striking chap- ter in his " Confessions." After eight months of seclusion, which he spent with his mother and brother and son, preparing for his confir- mation in the church, and maturing his plans for the future, Augustine in the Easter week of 387 was baptized, together with his son and brother, by the hand of Ambrose. He at once set out on his return to Africa. On the way his mother died, and a small chapel among the ruins of Ostia marks the traditional spot of her burial. The death of his son, which took place soon after his return, confirmed his inclination to the monastic life. He retired to Tagaste, and passed nearly three years in studious seclusion, varied only by occasional visits to the neigh- boring towns. On one of these visits, when he was present at the church in Hippo, a ser- mon which the bishop Valerius delivered, ask- ing for a priest to assist him in his church," turned all eyes toward this famous scholar. No refusals were allowed, and Augustine was ordained. Preaching was soon added to his duties, an exception being made in his case to the usual rule, and the periods of the African orator, in harsh Latin or the harsher Punic tongue, were received with vehement applause. He was soon called to be assistant bishop, and then, on the death of the elder prelate, the whole charge of the church of Hippo was in- trusted to his care. He retained the office un- til his death, a period of 35 years. The details of his episcopal life are minutely related by his friend Possidius. He preached every day and sometimes twice in the day ; was frugal in his domestic arrangements, being a strict ascetic, and requiring of his attendant priests and dea- cons an equal simplicity of diet and dress; given to hospitality, yet without display; warmly interested in every kind of charity; courteous in his bearing, welcoming even in- fidels to his table ; bold against all wickedness and wrong, whatever the rank of the trans- gressor; and untiring in his visits to widows and orphans, to the sick and the afflicted. He disputed with Manichojans, Arians, the followers of Priscillian, of Origen, and Tertul- lian, the Donatists, and the Pelagians, and al- lowed no doubtful utterance of doctrine to pass without his questioning. To his industry in controversy must be added his vast corre- spondence with emperors, nobles, doctors, mis- sionaries, bishops, in every quarter of the globe, on questions of dogma, of discipline, and of policy his solid works of commentary, criti- cism, morality, philosophy, and theology, and even his poetry, for to him are attributed sev- eral of the sweetest hymns of the Catholic an- thology. The titles alone of the works of Au- gustine make a long catalogue. The single volume of " Sermons " contains nearly 700 pieces, shorter indeed and less ornate than the celebrated sermons of Basil and Chrysostom, but justifying Augustine's reputation for sa- cred oratory. The volume of "Commenta- ries on the P.salms " is more rich in practical remarks than in accurate learning. His re- marks upon the "Four Gospels" are more valuable. His work on the " Care that should be taken for the Dead" contains some striking views concerning the relation of the living to disembodied souls. The volume of his "Epis-
