The pioneer and pattern-setting treatiseDe bono coniugalihas been called the most complete patristic consideration of the duties of married persons.¹ Theologians considered it most authoritative down to the time of St. Thomas Aquinas; as late as 1930, Pope Pius XI quoted from it in his encyclical,Casti Connubii.

St. Augustine wroteDe bono coniugaliin 401, as an answer to the false teaching of Jovinian which considered the married state equal to that of virginity. Pope Siricius and St. Ambrose had condemned this heresy before him, but it still was so rampant that many consecrated virgins were leaving...

While considering the state of marriage as a natural contract and a social institution regulated by the Gospel, as well as the sacramental character of matrimony in a special way, Augustine systematized the rather elementary doctrine which preceded him and developed it by establishing it on a firm foundation, largely in the course of his struggles against the Manichaean and Pelagian heretics.

The first book of the present treatise was occasioned by a letter received by Augustine from a certain Pollentius, who had some erroneous notions concerning divorce and remarriage and who had asked Augustine to answer and resolve his...

Augustine’s treatises,The Good of MarriageandHoly Virginity, constitute his answer to the heresy of Jovinian.¹ This monk, whose early life was characterized by austerity, gained notoriety during the pontificate of Pope Siricius (384-398). He left his monastery in 385 and went to Rome, where he became a scandal to the Church both by his conduct and his teaching. His writings are entirely lost. Their contents are known only through the answers of his opponents. From these we learn that he centered his attack principally on the practice of virginity, denying its superiority over marriage, and accusing the Catholics...

I received letters,’ St. Augustine wrote in theRetractations, ‘from certain brethren—of the laity to be sure, but nevertheless, well advanced in religious studies—who so divorce Christian faith from good works that they are convinced that one is able to attain eternal salvation, not without faith, of course, but without good works. I wanted to answer these brethren and, accordingly, wrote a book entitledFaith and Works. In that book I have not only set forth how Christians should live who through the grace of Christ have been regenerated in baptism, but also what manner of persons are...

Very little is definitely known about theDe symbolo ad catechumenos. Possidius, in hisIndiculum, merely notes three sermons on the Creed.¹ InPL38 there are four sermons attributed to St. Augustine in which the Creed is expounded to catechumens. Sermons 212, 213, and 214 were delivered on the occasion of thetraditio symboli, that is, the imparting of the Creed,² and Sermon 215 on theredditio symbolior the rectitation of the Creed.³

Of the four sermonsDe symbolo ad catechumenosinPL40 that are there associated with the name of St. Augustine, the Benedictines of St....

The short work entitledFaith and the Creedwas occasioned by the Plenary Council of Hippo celebrated in October, 393.¹ The task of addressing the Council on the subject of the Creed was entrusted to Augustine, who had been ordained priest scarcely two years before by the aging Valerius, Bishop of Hippo. The choice of Augustine as spokesman for the Council is all the more significant when it is recalled that local custom in Africa reserved to bishops the right of preaching to the faithful. This action of the African bishops in making Augustine their spokesman shows clearly the esteem...

St. Augustine, Bishop of Hippo in North Africa, wroteThe Care to be Taken for the Deadprobably in 421, as he seems to indicate in hisRetractations. The work is addressed to Paulinus, Bishop of Nola.

At Nola there was a church dedicated to St. Felix the Confessor, who had brought a great blessing to the people of Nola by his appearance during an attack on the town. This church had become a popular shrine for many of the devout of southern Italy. In the neighborhood lived a very devout lady, Flora, of noble birth. She had requested permission...

St. Augustine does not mention theTractatus adversus Judaeosin hisRetractations. This omission raises two obstacles to any agreement upon a probable date of composition. If the treatise were written as a book, then its probable date would be after theRetractations, that is, 428-429. This theory Blumenkranz sees as the only basis for the traditional date 428 or 429.¹ On the other hand, if theTractatusis a sermon, it would have no place in theRetractations, which was restricted to books, as St. Augustine had reserved the review of his epistles and sermons for later consideration.² Portalié,³...

Mention is made of theThe Divination of Demonsin the second book of theRetractationsamong the works written after Augustine was elevated to the episcopacy: ‘About the same time I was constrained, in consequence of a discussion, to write a brief work, which, as is indicated by its title, deals with the divination of demons. In a certain passage of this book I wrote: “Sometimes, too, the demons with all ease discern the intentions of men, not only as they are expressed by the voice, but also as they are conceived in reflection, when certain phases of thought...