Character Catalog

An autobiographical account in thirteen books tracing Augustine's spiritual journey from birth to conversion. Considered the first great autobiographical text in Western literature, it is still read and studied worldwide today.

A vast apologetic work in twenty-two books written in response to the sack of Rome in 410. Augustine develops a theology of history contrasting the earthly city, founded on self-love, with the heavenly city, founded on the love of God; this text laid the foundations of medieval political thought.

A theological treatise in fifteen books on the mystery of the Christian Trinity, which seeks to find its traces in the structure of the human soul. A landmark work of Latin theology, it profoundly influenced medieval scholasticism.

The most voluminous of Augustine's works, composed of sermons and commentaries on each of the 150 biblical Psalms. It reveals his method of allegorical interpretation of Scripture and his deep piety.

A handbook of biblical hermeneutics and Christian rhetoric defining how to interpret and communicate the Scriptures. This foundational text established the rules of preaching and exegesis for the entire Middle Ages.

A critical review of his entire written output, in which Augustine revisits his texts to correct errors or refine positions. A unique document from Antiquity, it testifies to his commitment to intellectual rigor until the very end of his life.

Our heart is restless, until it repose in Thee. Thou madest us for Thyself, and our heart is restless, until it repose in Thee.

Two cities have been formed by two loves: the earthly by the love of self, even to the contempt of God; the heavenly by the love of God, even to the contempt of self.

For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face. Now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.

What you cannot do, confess it; what you can do, accomplish it. What you do not yet have, ask for it. For without me you can do nothing.

It is for this reason that we pray — so that our desire may be exercised and expanded, that it may be capable of receiving what we are being prepared to obtain.

Augustine's hometown in Numidia, a Roman province in North Africa. He was born there in 354, received his early education, and founded a monastic community upon his return from Italy in 388.

The intellectual and religious capital of Roman Africa, where Augustine studied rhetoric from 370 to 383. He also taught there and took part in the great conference of 411 that condemned Donatism.

Capital of the Western Roman Empire in the 4th century, where Augustine secured a chair of rhetoric in 384. It was in Milan that he met Ambrose, converted in a garden in 386, and was baptized in 387.

A coastal city in Numidia where Augustine was ordained a priest in 391 and then bishop in 396. He led his diocese there for thirty-four years, wrote the bulk of his work, and died there in 430 during the Vandal siege.

The port of Rome where Augustine's mother, Monica, died in 387, shortly after his baptism. He lived there with her and shared a celebrated mystical experience he describes in the Confessions: a joint contemplation by a window, known as the 'Vision of Ostia'.