MEMORIAL OF SAINT AUGUSTINE OF HIPPO, BISHOP AND DOCTOR OF THE CHURCH AND SAINT HERMES,  MARTYR ~ FEAST DAY – AUGUST 28TH: Today, we celebrate the Memorial of Saint Augustine of Hippo, Bishop and Doctor of the Church and Saint Hermes, Martyr. Through the intercession of our Blessed Mother Mary and Saints Augustine and Hermes on this feast day, we humbly pray for the sick and dying, especially those who are sick with the eye diseases, mental illnesses, and those suffering from cancers and other terminal diseases. We pray for the repose of the souls of the faithful departed and we pray for those who mourn. We also pray for the poor and needy and for peace, love, and unity in our marriages, our families and our world. And we continue to pray for our Holy Father, the Bishops, the Clergy, for vocations to the priesthood and religious life, for the Church, for persecuted christians, for the conversion of sinners, and Christians all over the world.🙏

SAINT AUGUSTINE OF HIPPO, BISHOP AND DOCTOR OF THE CHURCH: St. Augustine of Hippo (354–430 A.D.) was born in Tagaste (now Souk-Ahras in modern day Algeria), North Africa to a pagan father, Patricius and a devout Christian mother, St. Monica on November 13, 354 A.D. He was the first of three children and grew to become one the most significant and influential thinkers in the history of the Catholic Church. His teachings were the foundation of Christian doctrine for a millennium. His life is one of the greatest sinner-to-saint stories in the history of the Church. St. Augustine eventually became a priest, bishop, theologian, writer, and the founder of a religious order of priests. He was declared a Doctor of the Church and is considered one of the most influential saints and theologians to have ever lived, one whose writings are widely read to this very day. The story of his life, up until his conversion, is written in the autobiographical Confessions, the most intimate and well-known glimpse into an individual’s soul ever written, as well as a fascinating philosophical, theological, mystical, poetic and literary work.

St. Augustine’s mother, St. Monica did her best to raise him in the Christian faith, but St. Augustine, a brilliant and promising young student, was carried away into wordly attractions, lust for women, and pagan philosophies. This put his faith and morals into a state of crisis for many years. In spite of the piety of his holy mother, St. Monica, he fell at an early age into the greatest disorders, and even at a later period became a heretic of the sect of the Manichaeans. Still unbaptized and burning for knowledge, he came under the influence of the Manichaeans, which caused his mother intense sorrow. His waywardness gave his holy mother great pain and anxiety as she watched her son pursue materialistic ambitions and keep company with heretical sects. Unfortunately, his father, Patricius, was then an idolator, so that the youth met with little or no restraint on his side. In the beginning of 370 he continued his studies at Carthage, and the following years his father died, after being converted to Christianity. Some time later, he took up his abode at Carthage and opened a school of rhetoric. Later he left Africa for Rome, deceiving his mother, who was ever anxious to be near him. She prayed and wept. A bishop consoled her by observing that a son of so many tears would never be lost. Yet the evil spirit drove him constantly deeper into moral degeneracy, capitalizing on his leaning toward pride and stubbornness. From Rome he then went to Milan, where he also began to teach rhetoric. Here God’s grace and through the constant prayers of his mother, who had followed him to Italy, as well as the instructions of saintly friends, particularly holy preaching of St. Ambrose, Bishop of Milan, affected his conversion and St. Augustine came to recognize the truth of Christianity; but only after several spiritually tumultuous years of seeking God through his philosophical studies. He abandoned the sect of the Manichaeans, and after some time gave himself entirely to God. He underwent a profound conversion and was baptized, after which he lived a holy life of purity, prayer, and penance. St. Ambrose administered to him the Sacrament of Baptism on Easter eve, 387.

On his return to Africa, to his hometown of Tagaste, St. Augustine lost his mother at Ostia in the same year, and in 388 he arrived at Carthage. He distributed his goods to the poor and lived a common life with his friends, “having now cast off from himself the cares of the world, he lived for God with those who accompanied him, in fasting, prayers, and good works, meditating on the law of the Lord by day and by night.” On a visit to Hippo, in 391 he was ordained priest at Hippo, in 394 made coadjutor to bishop Valerius, and then from 396 to 430 bishop of Hippo at the age of 41 against his will. He later accepted it as the will of God and spent the rest of his life as the pastor of the North African town, where he spent much time refuting the writings of heretics. He became a great luminary of the African Church, one of the four great founders of religious orders, and a Doctor of the universal Church. From this period until his death St. Augustine’s life was one of ceaseless activity. He governed his church, preached to his people, and wrote voluminous works that have received the admiration of the ages. His humility prompted him to write his Confessions about the year 397, from which we have a detailed account of his early years. St. Augustine also wrote, The City of God, against the pagans who charged that the fall of the Roman empire, which was taking place at the hands of the Vandals, was due to the spread of Christianity. On August 28, 430, as Hippo was under siege by the Vandals, St. Augustine died, at the age of 76. His legacy continues to deeply shape the face of the Church to this day. St. Augustine is the Patron Saint of Brewers; sore eyes; printers; diocese of Bridgeport, Connecticut; Cagayan de Oro, Philippines; diocese of Kalamazoo, Michigan; city of Saint Augustine, Florida; diocese of Saint Augustine, Florida; diocese of Superior, Wisconsin; theologians; diocese of Tucson, Arizona. His feast day is celebrated on August 28.

QUOTES OF SAINT AUGUSTINE: ☆”Pray as though everything depended on God. Work as though everything depended on you.” ☆”Faith is to believe what you do not see; the reward of this faith is to see what you believe.” ☆”God loves each of us as if there were only one of us.” ☆”It was pride that changed angels into devils; it is humility that makes men as angels.”☆”The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page.” ☆Our hearts are made for you O Lord and they are restless until they rest in you.”

PRAYER: Lord, renew in Your Church the spirit that You inspired in St. Augustine, Your Bishop. Filled by this spirit, may we thirst after You as the true Source of wisdom and seek after You as the Author of Heavenly love. Amen 🙏
 

SAINT HERMES, MARTYR: St. Hermes was born in Greece, died in Rome as a martyr in 120, probably in Diocletian’s persecution. The Acts of Pope St. Alexander I depict St. Hermes as a wealthy freedman who with his companions was martyred in Rome, being killed on the orders of a judge named Aurelian. He is mentioned in the Depositio Martyrum of the year 354. He was buried in a cemetery on the Salarian Way. There was a large basilica over his tomb that was built around 600 by Pope Pelagius I and restored by Pope Adrian I. A catacomb in the Salarian Way bears his name. His existence is attested by his early cult. However, his Acts, included in those of Pope Alexander I, are legendary.

Some of the relics of St. Hermes were given to Spoleto by Pope Gregory the Great. Other relics went to Lothair I by  Pope Leo IV; Lothair brought them first to  Cornelismünster, near Aachen. The relics later came to Ronse in the 9th century. During those times, Viking raids forced the monks to flee the town more than once, and the monastery was burnt by the Normans in 880. The relics were recovered in 940 and housed in a Romanesque-style crypt in 1083. The church of Saint Hermes, which was later built on top of the crypt, was consecrated in 1129. A pilgrimage in honour of the saint, who had by then become known for curing mental illnesses, sustained the local economy. There is still a   French saying today which translates as “Saint Hermes cures the area’s madmen but keeps the Ronse dwellers as they are”. Although he is recognized as a saint of the Catholic Church, the commemoration of Saint Hermes in the General Roman Calendar was removed in 1969 because of the paucity of information about him. Their cult was confined to local calendars in 1969. St. Hermes is a Patron Saint invoked against mental illnesses; Forte dei Marmi; Ronse; Acquapendente.

Saint Hermes, Martyr ~ Pray for us 🙏