Saint Augustine

Augustine, the greatest of the Doctors of the Latin Church, was born in Tagaste, North Africa, to a pagan father and a Christian mother, Monica, who raised him in the faith. He quickly distinguished himself from boys his age by his intelligence and talents, but seduced by the Manichaean heresy in Carthage, he soon abandoned Christ. He came to Rome and then to Milan to teach rhetoric. The spectacle of his life, far removed from the Gospel, caused great sorrow to his mother Monica, who ceaselessly prayed and shed tears for her son’s conversion. God, who had placed in his heart the restlessness of the quest for truth, used his readings to progressively draw him to Himself. In Milan, listening to Saint Ambrose, he felt the desire for the Catholic faith grow within him. He was baptized by the holy Bishop on Easter Day in the year 387, at the age of thirty-three. Returning to Africa, he was noticed by Valerius, the Bishop of Hippo, and called by him to the priesthood. He gathered a community of young religious devoted to a semi-contemplative life. Upon the death of Valerius, whom he assisted in his duties, he was elected Bishop of Hippo. Throughout his episcopate, he was concerned with the purity of the faith, tirelessly combating the errors and heresies of his time: Manichaeism, Donatism, Pelagianism. He left to posterity an immense body of work, decisive for the history of Christian thought, from the Middle Ages to the present day. The book of Confessions is the most universally known of his works. In it, one finds this incandescent phrase that could summarize his entire life: “You have made us for Yourself, Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in You.”
This icon depicts Saint Augustine vested in his pontifical vestments, wearing the miter. He holds in his hands the book of Psalms, which he admirably commented on in its entirety. He reads it attentively, seeking the spiritual meaning hidden beneath the letter, and revealing his wonder, as well as his profound love for the Holy Scripture, which has God as its author.