Augustiniana
I’m not going to be able to continue sending daily snippets from the sermons and writings of St. Augustine, although if I come upon a particularly bright gem, I may send it on. For those of you interested in delving deeper into the great bishop’s work, here are some websites you may find helpful.
Here is a website where you can find a quotation and a prayer from St. Augustine for every day of the year. http://www.artsci.villanova.edu/dsteelman/augustine/ These are also available as a book, by John E. Rotelle, Augustine day-by-day (Catholic Book Publishing Co.)..
There is another recent book that does the same thing: Donald X. Burt, Day by Day with St. Augustine (Liturgical Press).
And there is an Italian site with the same purpose, based, it seems, on a work first published in 1932: http://www.augustinus.it/varie/annus/anno_mistico_03.htm#D_03_23
The site that hosts the last of these–http://www.augustinus.it/–is available in several languages and provides his complete works in both Latin and Italian, with a fine search-engine and links..
James O’Donnell has put on line his critical text and close verbal analysis of Augustine’s Confessions: http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/jod/augustine.html Excellent links here, too.
Finally, as I’ve mentioned before, the project of publishing, for the first time ever, the complete works of Augustine in English translation is well underway.
https://ssl25.mysecureserver.com/newcitypresscom/productslist.aspx?CategoryID=33&selection=1
The first volume of his Sermons contains an excellent introduction, well worth reading.
The best biography of Augustine remains that of Peter Brown, now available in a second edition that contains an appendix about sermons and letters discovered since it first appeared. Still very much worth reading is a classic work by F. van der Meer, Augustine the Bishop, which might have been subtitled “Everyday Life in Hippo,” it is so full of illuminating detail. (The story I heard was that during the Second World War, van der Meer was stuck in a convent somewhere that had a complete set of Augustine, and that he spent the war reading Augustine and writing this book.)
To Joe Komonchak:
I’m sure I’m speaking for a lot of others, as well as myself, when I say, “Thanks very much for all these posts. They’ve been very valuable.”
They have been more than valuable; they have been wonderful. For the past month or so, they have been the best part of this blog.
I have saved and will treasure those rich, amazing posts. They came, like bolts from the blue, as quite a revelation to someone who had never really appreciated Augustine as he clearly deserved. Many thanks.
Joe K:
I just came across this post at the Dallas Morning News about a conference of black pastors talking about Jeremiah Wright, etc.
http://religionblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2008/03/the-long-christian-prophetic-t.html
And as you see Jeff Weiss of the DMN refers to someone’s citation of Augustine’s quote in apparent defense of Wright, and the importance of distinguishing between hate and anger:
“Hope has two beautiful daughters. Their names are anger and courage; anger at the way things are, and courage to see that they do not remain the way they are.”
I’d heard it before, but hadn’t thought of it. I wondered if you knew the context (I couldn’t find it)…I’m not sure it exculpates Wright at all, but it’d be interesting to know how Augustine intended it, if indeed it’s not apocryphal. I hope this isn’t a fool’s errand.
Thanks. David
David:
I tried every likely search-possibility to find this quote in the Latin texts of Augustine and didn’t find anything close to it. A website of Augustine-quotes gives it but lists it among the quotes “unsourced”. Sorry.