THE HISTORY OF THE INSTITUTION OF ST. AUGUSTINE’S DAY IN THE CALENDER OF ANGLICAN SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL AND THE LIFE OF THE MAN

November 18, 2011 in Note

The site of Anglican S.H.S was acquired by the English Church Mission (E.C.M) which was part of the Anglican Church Communion in the early 1920’s to train the clergy for the Church. Bishop M.S. O’Rocke with the help of some Monks of the Benedictine Order (O.S.B) from Nashdom, England established St. Augustine’s Theological College in 1925. This influenced the adoption of St. Augustine’s day as important part of the school calendar when the site was finally used for the establishment of Anglican Senior High School after going through different educational process.

Augustine Aurelius was born on 13th November, 354 in Thagastu, North-West Africa which is modern-day Algeria. His mother was called Monica who was married early by her parents to an older pagan man named Patricius. Patricius was quick tempered and unfaithful to Monica who was a devoted Christian. Monica was described by Augustine as being respectful, patient and gentle in character which converted her husband into the Christian faith. Augustine was the eldest of three children born to Monica and Patricius. The family did not have much, but tried to give Augustine good primary education. The parent’s inability to raise the needed fund to help Augustine who was very clever at school to further his education became a worry to him. After praying for months without getting any help, Augustine gave himself up to pleasure and the pagan faith of his father.

The untimely death of Augustine’s father in the year 370 forced him to become a teacher to support the family. He also started living with a girl whose name was never mentioned by Augustine, and did not marry but had a son called Adeodatus with her. In 373, Augustine moved to cartage where he became a professor of rhetoric. His love for philosophy led him to read the books of a pagan philosopher in Rome called Cicero. He went deep into paganism and identified himself with the thought-world of his generation, being Manichaen. Manichaens were Gnostic sect that rejected the Old Testament since they thought it was cruel, violent and unworthy of being believed by a philosopher who took reason as his guide and claimed that they could prove all their doctrines by pure reason. Meanwhile, his mother, Monica prayed increasingly with tears for Augustine’s conversion and tried to persuade a catholic Bishop to convince Augustine to recant paganism. The Bishop rather told Monica that only prayers could convert Augustine. When Monica continued her persuasion of the Bishop while weeping, the Bishop told her “Go, it cannot be that the son of many tears could perish”

Augustine became disenchanted with Manichaen philosophy by saying that “they destroyed everything and build up nothing”. In 383 Augustine, at the age of twenty-nine moved to Rome where he became professor of rhetoric in Milan. He fell under the influence of Bishop Ambrose preaching, which enabled him to understand the Old Testament. According to Ambrose, the Old Testament should not be taken literally but spiritually or be taken in a symbolic sense. Augustine was soon convinced in his mind that the Christian faith was true, but continued to struggle with the attraction of the world and pleasure. At the age of thirty, however he became deeply troubled and unhappy about both his life and his pagan view of life. The conversion of Augustine finally came when he was meditating in a garden in Milan over the great questions of human nature and the destiny of man. He thought he heard some children singing Tolle, lege in Latin which means “take up and read”. Feeling that it was a divine guidance, he found a New Testament document nearest to him. He then opened and read Paul’s letter to the Romans which states “cloth yourself with the lord Jesus Christ” (Rom. 13:14). From that moment onward, Augustine dedicated his enormous intellectual abilities to the defense and consolation of the Christian faith. He and his son Adeodatus were all baptized by Ambrose of Milan on Easter Sunday in 387 at the age of 33years. After Monica had seen his son baptized she planned going to Africa but died at 56yrs in Ostia, near Rome. The following year Augustine returned to his native land Thagaste (modern-day Algeria), sold all his land and founded a monastery after being ordained priest by Valerius during the time of Aurelius who was the primate of Africa. Augustine greatly assisted Bishop Valerius to interpret Greek into Latin and succeeded him after his death as Bishop of Hippo (present-day Annaba in Algeria).

In acknowledging his works according to Robert (1992: 172) Augustine is generally recognized as the founder of Christian theology, second only to St. Paul. Augustine developed the idea of “the city of God”. He distinguished between two cities which are secular and divine, and attacked the pagan philosophers and Aristotle for their belief that the highest good (the Summum bonum) is to be found in this life rather than in the City of God. He is of the view that faith is the most important virtue, but faith alone is not sufficient to account for the details of ethical life concerning what is good and what is evil. He therefore holds God himself as the highest good. Augustine then defended the Christian faith with his treatise De Civitate Dei, “on the city of God”, against those who were of the view that the fall of Rome was due to its rejection of paganism in favour of Christianity.

He traces the problem of evil back to Adam and Eve, whose willfulness brought about the world of calamity and misery in which we now live. His key argument was that, “human suffering is as result of human choice, not the doing of God as such”. Augustine argues that God cannot be blamed for creating us with wills that make the wrong choices. Therefore to create a will is to ensure independent choices. Augustine’s intention was to separate completely the existence of evil from God’s creation and rest the responsibility with humanity. He further argues that much of the suffering in the world-including sufferings imposed on other people- is due to our own freewill, our own decisions; many of which are motivated by greed and impiety. He concludes by saying that God is just, but we are not and the world is unjust for that reason.

Augustine wrote his autobiography in a form of prayer to God in a book called “Confession” which states, “you have created us for yourself and our hearts cannot be quieted unless it finds rest in you”, which relate the story of the struggle of his own soul. He also wrote the “Retractions” which gives the thought of his mind. Augustine was stricken with a fatal illness and after three months of patience and fervent prayers he departed from this land on 28th August, 430 at the age of seventy-six.

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
ROBERT, S. (1992: 172). Morality and the Good Life. New York: McGraw-Hill, Inc.
NEEDHAM, N. (2002). 200 Years of Christ Power. Britain: Creative Print and design group.
Monica (Christian Saint). Wikipedia http:// 74.6.23967/search/cache?

MOTION FOR DEBATE:
ACCORDING TO AUGUSTINE, “HUMAN SUFFERING IS THE RESULT OF HUMAN CHOICE, NOT THE DOING OF GOD AS SUCH”.
SPEAK FOR OR AGAINST THE MOTION.

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