A group for discussion and study of the works, life, philosophy and theology of Saint Augustine of Hippo. Born in 354 A.D. in Tagaste in Northern Africa, he studied such classical authors as Cicero and Vergil, becoming a teacher of rhetoric in Carthage, Milan and Rome. After studying Plotinus and Porphry, in Milan he was converted to Christianity from Manichaeanism (a Gnostic cult of Syrian origin) under the influence of St. Ambrose, later becoming a priest and bishop of Hippo Regius. He is best know for his autiobiographical Confessions and City of God. Augustine was an ardent supporter of Catholic Christianity against the Manichaeans, Donatists and Arians. Pope Benedict XVI has cited Augustine as a major influence.


"Wherefore, as the life of the flesh is the soul, so the blessed life of man is God, of whom the sacred writings of the Hebrews say, "Blessed is the people whose God is the Lord." Miserable, therefore, is the people which is alienated from God." (St. Augustine, City of God)

"Augustine's legacy to the theologians, whose meritorious task is to study more deeply the contents of the faith, is the immense patrimony of his thought, which is as a whole valid even now; above all, his legacy is the theological method to which he remained absolutely faithful. We know that his method implied full adherence to the authority of the faith, which is one in its origin--the authority of Christ--and is revealed through Scripture, Tradition, and the Church."
(Pope John Paul II, apostolic letter Augustinum Hipponensem, 1986)

Key words: Saint Monica, Saint Ambrose of Milan, Augustinians, Augustin, Augustinus, Catholicism, Roman, Christian Platonism, Platonists, Neoplatonism, Neoplatonists.