St. Augustine of Hippo
Patron of brewers
Died: 430
St. Augustine of Hippo is the patron of brewers because of his conversion from a former life of loose living, which included parties, entertainment, and worldly ambitions. His complete turnaround and conversion has been an inspiration to many who struggle with a particular vice or habit they long to break.
This famous son of St. Monica was born in Africa and spent many years of his life in wicked living and in false beliefs. Though he was one of the most intelligent men who ever lived and though he had been brought up a Christian, his sins of impurity and his pride darkened his mind so much, that he could not see or understand the Divine Truth anymore. Through the prayers of his holy mother and the marvelous preaching of St. Ambrose, Augustine finally became convinced that Christianity was the one true religion. Yet he did not become a Christian then, because he thought he could never live a pure life. One day, however, he heard about two men who had suddenly been converted on reading the life of St. Antony, and he felt terrible ashamed of himself. "What are we doing?" he cried to his friend Alipius. "Unlearned people are taking Heaven by force, while we, with all our knowledge, are so cowardly that we keep rolling around in the mud of our sins!"
Full of bitter sorrow, Augustine flung himself out into the garden and cried out to God, "How long more, O Lord? Why does not this hour put an end to my sins?" Just then he heard a child singing, "Take up and read!" Thinking that God intended him to hear those words, he picked up the book of the Letters of St. Paul, and read the first passage his gaze fell on. It was just what Augustine needed, for in it, St. Paul says to put away all impurity and to live in imitation of Jesus. That did it! From then on, Augustine began a new life.
He was baptized, became a priest, a bishop, a famous Catholic writer, Founder of religious priests, and one of the greatest saints that ever lived. He became very devout and charitable, too. On the wall of his room he had the following sentence written in large letters: "Here we do not speak evil of anyone." St. Augustine overcame strong heresies, practiced great poverty and supported the poor, preached very often and prayed with great fervor right up until his death. "Too late have I loved You!" he once cried to God, but with his holy life he certainly made up for the sins he committed before his conversion. His feast day is August 28th.
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St Augustine i have been given you by God pray for me that I may be successful in the work of God
St Augustine, pray for me for the conversion of my ex-husband to turn away from a godless lifestyle and to return to the matrimonial home to lead a life which is God-centered. Like St Monica, I pray that Jesus touched Christopher's heart soon.
St. Augustine of Hippo, Please pray for me and for my family to lead a life pleasing to God and not succoumb to the many temptations that confront us in our day to day life..
St. Augustine through your prayers iam asking God to help my brother and his son to have strong faith in god and go to church to praise God Amen.
Dear St.Augustine! I am inspired by your miraculous conversion to Christian faith and the way you become seedling for the faithfulI all over,and you have been the treasure and resource person for the FAITH preachers and practitioners. I have been praying for my sons and I ask you to intercede for my children to grow in staunch faith in catholicism.,Amen.
A great Saint, who had a great Mother and who needs to be studied and re-studied.
A great mind, an unique soul and an oustanding teaching hierarch of the Universal Church, Orthodox and Catholic.
St.Augustine is a great saint ,the treasure of catholic faith. He is a role model even to the present day youth to convert themselves to the devout life.I pray St.Augustine for the intersession of my sons to dedicate their lives for the LORD,s mission.
Great and Dear St.Augustine! pray for us.
Happy feast day St. Augustine. thank you for aiding me in turning my life around
Why do you all pray to St. Augustine? He is just a person that followed God with all of his heart and God worked through him to do some pretty amazing things. Pray to Jesus, not the people that followed him hole heartily, that are now dead and happy in heaven and therefore can't hear our depressing prayers. Pray to God; he hears us and answers because he loves us all. Just like how much He loved St. Augustine to forgive and forget all of his past sins. God loves everyone no matter what. He's always waiting for those who aren't following Him to turn around. God loves you!
I'm about to be Confirmed with St. Augustine as my saint. This article really helped me understand the life of him fully :)
I need help on Augustine's teaching on evil. Thank very much!
My Dear Augustine, how do I begin to thank you for the countless blessings and graces Christ the Risen Lord showered me from my early life all because of you. Our Holy Mother Church has been greatly influenced by your writings and for this alone we shoiuld thank God daily. My life is a living testimony of your presence and power of prayer without which I would not be here to write this note of gratitude. Today I come to you for help, and it is very urgent because my close friend wants to commit suicide, so let me very briefly tell you his story. Timmy was born on Sunday, 4th April 1976, to a Finnish family who immigrated to Sydney, Australia in 1970. Timmy's father was a hopeless alcoholic drinking his wages in filthy pubs and his mother a sober and hardworking woman struggling to feed her family of 6 children from a small salary she earned from cleaning a house of a wealthy but kind Jewish lady in the affluent Sydney suburb of Elizabeth Bay. Life was far from cozy and every day was a struggle to get by with meagre means. Timmy was 16 years old when his elder brother, a hopeless heroin addict, talked him into smoking heroin telling him that it wasn't addicitve if he smoked it as it was like smoking marijuana. Well, it didn't take long for Timmy to develop a $400 a day heroin habit. In 2004 his family funded his drug treatment and Timmy lived a clean life with a well paid job, played sport and restored classic BMW cars 1962-1965 series with great success until 13 months ago when he fell deeply in love with a young spunky girl (22 years old) who was a heroin addict. Timmy is now sleeping on park benches frequently assaulted by drunks and he's now soliciting gold coins from pedestrians and patrons in pubs. My Dearest Augustine, where there is life there is hope, so please storm Heaven to rescue Timmy from HELL, his heroin hell. May the Risen Lord rescue and restore Timmy back to his terrified and torn family. AMEN
what is the copyright and sponsor of this amazing article!
augustine is my homeboy
Augustines my boy, we go way back
I'm to give a presentation on St.Augustine as an example to Africa. I have read and understand the life of St.Augustine, i pray through him to help me spread this that i have learned, also may the mercyful God for give my sin,so as to LOVE HE...in Jesus name,Amen.
I'm to give a presentation on St.Augustine as an example to Africa. I have read and understand the life of St.Augustine, i pray through him to help me spread this that i have learned, also may the mercyful God for give my sin,so as to LOVE HE...in Jesus name,Amen.
this is all the information i needed and more! : )
I was looking for Saint Augustine's way of arguing the existence of God from assuming first that God exists then working out that everything else fits perfectly, or something to that intent. Have I got the wrong Augustine? Can you give me a two sentence quote I can use for this argument for the existence of God that I can use to people of reading age 11 yrs in English?
Wow, I am not Catholic but Saint Augustine is definitely a great example and a very influential person, no doubt. Might I suggest for all you people praying to him, why don't you follow his example and pray to Heavenly Father yourselves? Augustine is not God and can't create miracles, he was just a servant of Him.