The West's primary threat still lies in the East. And yet, like the late Romans and Byzantines—and the Roman captives whom Saint Patrick encountered—we are poised to surrender people, churches, monuments, and lands rather than stand our ground. Last Spring, I read a biographical novel about Saint Patrick. We do not have much firsthand information [...]
As one of the greatest bridges from the ancient world to the medieval, St. Augustine of Hippo’s "Confessions" illuminates the path forward through the gloom of the modern world. And C.C. Pecknold's new book, "Fire on the Altar" is a wonderful guide to this masterpiece. Fire on the Altar: Setting Our Souls Ablaze through St. [...]
It is a truth of the Church universally acknowledged that loving God is the end for which we are created. God’s love alone makes sense of and makes meaningful my life, your life. And yet loving God can seem difficult—not, to be sure, because God has loved us too little but rather because we have [...]
Saint Augustine was the first Christian to offer a comprehensive Philosophy of History, which the Russian Orthodox writer Nicholas Berdyaev called nothing short of “ingenious.”[1] One of his greatest accomplishments was the sanctification of Plato’s understanding of the two realms: the perfect Celestial Kingdom and the corrupt copy. One finds this tension and conflict between [...]
Throughout the Middle Ages, to cherish and respect sanctuary was seen as the sign of a pious and powerful ruler. This was not some arbitrary custom, but an extension of the love and logic of the family into the world at large. Now if sanctuary seems unreasonable to moderns, it cannot be because we think [...]
Charlie Kirk's assassin symbolizes a subculture of rebellion found in recent shooters: full of dark, video-gaming, and Satanic themes. Indeed, like the biblical Cain, the assassin took his rage against the moral law to the point of killing one who embodied the ideal of that law. The assassination of Charlie Kirk is forcing the nation [...]
Clearly, after God, it is to Monica his mother that Augustine owes everything. And he heaps upon every memory he has of her, of the great goodness of her life and example, all possible praise. It has long been a commonplace among commentators of the Confessions that the first nine books are about Augustine’s ardent search for truth, [...]
Augustine passed on to us, and all posterity, prescient words of wisdom: that even in the most disconcerting and dark of times, beauty, compassion, truth, love, and happiness abound. When the Visigoths sacked Rome in 410, the city that had taken the world captive had fallen into captivity. The event was a transformative moment in [...]
Grief is a gift, not given for its own sake, but to lead us to an ever-deeper peace. It’s often said that saints beget saints. August 27th the Church honors Saint Monica, and the 28th Saint Augustine, her son. But what we now celebrate in joy Monica first sought with tears, with sorrow that begot [...]
There can be little doubt that of the nine books set down to describe Augustine’s life, Book VIII is everyone’s favorite. It is the centerpiece of the story, the necessary hinge on which all the action turns. Not the least of the many astonishing things to be said about Augustine is the fact that it should [...]
It was never mere proof of God’s existence that set Augustine on fire; it was, rather, the grace to remain steadfast in following the Lord, indeed, in falling in love with the Lord. A deist, it may fairly be said, is someone who hasn’t yet found the time to become an atheist. But he will, [...]
In hearing St. Ambrose, St. Augustine began to distinguish between mere eloquence and the real truth. The Manichees had always been eager to enlist a bright young fellow like Augustine to help spread the word. And for a period of nine years, first in Carthage, then later in Rome, he remained one of their star [...]
Not only does the example of Saint Monica illustrate the power of prayer but it reaches into the very meaning of motherhood as well. You did not choose me, but I chose you…” (John 15:16) Despite all the steps people will insist on taking to create union with God, clearing away whole lumberyards of spiritual debris [...]
What was it about the temptation to Manichaeism, the allure it offered a young man like Augustine, that proved so powerful, so seductive that it nearly did him in? The trouble with Manichaeism, some wag once wrote, is that it won’t let you eat a Big Mac. At least not without having to bear a [...]