The Sermons of St. Augustine which, as a group, are here published in English translation for the first time in this country were delivered on the various feasts and seasons of the liturgical year. They include twelve discourses for the feast of Christmas, two for New Year’s Day, six for the Epiphany, fourteen for Lent, five for the Vigil of Easter, five for Easter Sunday, thirty for the Easter season, and five for Ascension Thursday. In the translation an attempt has been made to adhere, as closely as seemed feasible, to the style of St. Augustine, repetitious though it is,...

The birthday of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, on which Truth sprang forth from the earth¹ and the procession of day from day extending even unto our time began, has, with the return of its anniversary, dawned upon us today as deserving of special celebration. ‘Let us be glad and rejoice therein,’² for the faith of Christians holds fast to the joy which the lowliness of such sublimity has offered to us, a joy far removed from the hearts of the wicked, since God has hidden these things from the wise and prudent and has revealed them to the...

The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness.’ Whose ungodliness, if not that of the Jews and Gentiles? Lest any one should object, saying: ‘Why against the ungodliness of the Gentiles? The Gentiles have never received the Law and have they become transgressors? The wrath of God is rightly directed at the Jews, since the Law was given to them and they have refused to observe it. But it was not given to the Gentiles [I give my answer]. Consider the passage, my brethren, and understand that the Apostle declares that all men are indicted, that all...

(1) Recently we celebrated the day on which Christ was born among the Jews; today we celebrate the day on which He was adored by the Gentiles. ‘For salvation is from the Jews,’ but this salvation is ‘even to the farthest part of the earth.’¹ For, on that day shepherds adored; on this day, Magi. To the former, angels made the announcement; a star brought the good tidings to the latter. Both groups were enlightened from heaven so that, when they saw the King of heaven on earth, there might be ‘glory to God in the highest, and on earth...

Today we enter upon the observance of Lent, the season now presented to us in the passage of the liturgical year. An appropriately solemn sermon is your due so that the word of God, brought to you through my ministry, may sustain you in spirit while you fast in body and so that the inner man, thus refreshed by suitable food, may be able to accomplish and to persevere courageously in the disciplining of the outer man. For, to my spirit of devotion, it seems fitting that we, who are about to honor the Passion of our crucified Lord in...

It is time for you to receive the Creed¹ which contains a brief summary of all that you believe for eternal salvation. We call it Creed or symbolum, transferring the term by a kind of simile, because merchants draw up for themselves a symbolum by which their alliance is held bound as by a pact of fidelity. Your union, moreover, is a spiritual fellowship, so that you are like traders seeking a valuable pearl,² that is, the charity which will be poured forth in your hearts by the Holy Spirit who will be given to you.³ One makes progress toward...

The blessed apostle Paul, when exhorting us to imitate him, mentions, among many other manifestations of his virtue, ‘many sleepless nights.’¹ How much more readily, then, ought we to watch on this night, the mother, as it were, of all holy vigils, on which the whole world keeps watch! Not that world of which it was written: ‘If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him; because all that is in the world is the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life; which is not from the...

On this day I address those who have been baptized, reborn in Christ Jesus, and you, my brethren, in them, and they in you. Behold, you have become members of Christ. If you consider what you have become, all your bones will cry out: ‘Lord, who is like to thee?’¹ For that condescension of God, namely, that grace has come gratuitously to you without any antecedent merits on your part, cannot be adequately pondered; all human utterance and feelings fail us. Because it is given gratis, for that very reason it is called grace. What grace? That you should be...

Because He [the Lord] suffered for us, He left us in this Sacrament His Body and Blood which He made even as He made us, also. For we have become His Body, and through His mercy we are what we receive. Remember: once you did not exist; you have been created. You were brought to the threshing floor of the Lord; by the labors of oxen, that is, of those preaching the Gospel, you have been threshed. When as catechumens you were being temporarily deferred, you were under observation in the granary. Then you were enrolled;² the grinding process, achieved...

The resurrection of the Lord is our hope; the Ascension of the Lord is our exaltation. Now, today we are celebrating the feast of the Ascension. If, therefore, we celebrate the Ascension of the Lord with due ceremony, with faith, devotion, holiness, and reverence, let us ascend with Him and let us have our hearts lifted up to Him.² Moreover, though we ascend, let us not be lifted up. Indeed, we ought to have our hearts lifted up, but to the Lord. For, to have the heart lifted up otherwise than to the Lord is called pride; but, to have...