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August 2020 www.miamiarch.org
YOUR MIAMI COMMUNITY
CORAL GABLES St. Augustine didn't swing a sword or strap on ar- mor. Instead, he used intellect and rhetoric to defend the borders of Christian belief. Augustine, who lived in the fourth and fifth centuries, opposed the Manichaeans, who set reason over faith and taught a divided world of dark versus light. He fought Pelagianism, which denied the doctrine of original sin and taught that people could reach perfection without God's help. He defended orthodoxy against the Donatists, a separatist sect of northern Africa, who fixated on sin more than God's grace. Centuries after his death, he is still revered as one of the Church's greatest thinkers. Born in 354 in Tagaste in what is now Algeria, northern Africa, Au- gustine at first showed little sign of his future greatness. He was raised as a Christian, and his parents gave him a first-class education in Mad- auros, then in Carthage. As a young man, however, he plunged into a life of women, the- aters and parties - so thoroughly that he is still known as the patron saint of brewers. He even took a mistress and sired a son, who died in adolescence. He became a professor of gram- mar and rhetoric, the art of persua- sive speaking and writing. In 384 he taught in Milan, where he was cap- tivated by the powerful, eloquent sermons of St. Ambrose, bishop of the city. He was also swayed by the New Testament command to "put on the Lord Jesus Christ" and for- sake fleshly lusts. Augustine regained his faith in 386 and was baptized the following year. The decision fulfilled years of prayer by his mother, Monica, who is herself honored as a saint. Returning to north Africa, Au- gustine became a preacher in the coastal city of Hippo. The city's bishop made him coadjutor; then Augustine succeeded him as bishop in 395. As much as Augustine had thrown himself into hedonism, he served Christ with equal zeal. He gave his goods to the poor and founded a laymen's monastery in one of his former family estates. He wrote and spoke against her- esies of his day, sometimes win- ning public retractions from his opponents. He preached often and prayed with fervor. "Too late have I loved you!" he famously cried out in one prayer. Augustine held out to the end against his last two enemies. One
Art at St. Augustine Church and Student Center, Coral Gables
was an army of Vandal barbar- ians, who laid an 18-month siege of Hippo. The other enemy was a fatal illness, which took him in 430 at the age of 76. But his writings - an estimated 5 million words' worth - survived and fortified the Church. His best- known works include "On the Trin- ity," discussing the nature of God; Confessions," on his journey from love of the world to love for God; and the monumental "City of God," a 22-volume treatment of philosophy, theology and history. His single best-known quote: You have formed us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you." Even the Protestant Reformation benefited from Augustine's teach- ings. Two pioneers of the move- ment, Martin Luther and John Cal- vin, incorporated his emphasis on God's grace in offering salvation. The saint's intellectual legacy is well suited for St. Augustine Church and Catholic Student Center, which borders the Universi- ty of Miami. The student outreach, in fact, came first; the late Bishop Coleman F. Carroll broke ground for it back in 1959. It didn't become a parish until a decade later. St. Augustine parish holds events like student retreats and small group meetings, and even teaching series via social media. The youths of St. Augustine have served as well, building homes, schools and orphanages around the Caribbean. They've also helped build houses in Miami in cooperation with Habitat for Humanity.
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Above are mosaic images of saints Augustine and Monica. At left, this paint- ing, a gift from a pa- rishioner, places St. Augustine on a Florida beach, with an egret as his com- panion. At top left, as worshipers leave St. Augustine Church, a transom win- dow reminds them of the triune nature of God: a hand representing the Father, a chalice and bread for the Son, and a dove for the Holy Spirit. At top right is a bust of a thorn-crowned Christ, nearly two and a half feet tall, that was carved from a single piece of wood. Above, the cross-shaped spire of St. Augustine Church faces the University of Miami. (PHOTOS BY JIM DAVIS FC)
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