E02428: Augustine, probably already bishop of Hippo Regius (North Africa), preaches in Latin a sermon on the feast of *John the Baptist (S00020). Sermon 292, preached c. 397/405, probably in Hippo.

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posted on 2017-02-27, 00:00 authored by robert

Augustine of Hippo, Sermon 292

[In natali Ioannis Baptistae

'On the birthday of John the Baptist']

Diei hodiernae solemnitas solemnem desiderat tanta exspectatione sermonem ... Ioannis ergo non euangelistae, sed baptistae natalem hodie celebramus.

'Today’s solemn occasion calls for a solemn sermon to meet such great expectations … So it’s the birthday of John, not the Evangelist, but the Baptist, that we are celebrating today.'

In what follows Augustine reflects of the relation between John the Baptist and Christ and refutes Donatist views on the Baptism.

Text: Patrologia Latina 38, 1319. Translation: Hill 1994, 137. Summary: Robert Wiśniewski.

History

Evidence ID

E02428

Saint Name

John the Baptist : S00020

Saint Name in Source

Ioannes Baptista

Related Saint Records

https://oxford.figshare.com/articles/John_the_Baptist/13729156

Type of Evidence

Literary - Sermons/Homilies

Language

Latin

Evidence not before

391

Evidence not after

430

Activity not before

391

Activity not after

430

Place of Evidence - Region

Latin North Africa

Place of Evidence - City, village, etc

Hippo Regius

Place of evidence - City name in other Language(s)

Hippo Regius Carthage Carthago Karthago قرطاج‎ Qarṭāj Mçidfa Carthage

Major author/Major anonymous work

Augustine of Hippo

Cult activities - Liturgical Activity

Service for the Saint

Cult activities - Festivals

Saint’s feast

Cult Activities - Protagonists in Cult and Narratives

Ecclesiastics - bishops

Source

The sermon was tentatively dated to the years 391-405 on the basis of intertextual references and its place in the collection of Augustine's sermons, but Augustine, talking about priestly authority seems to be already a bishop, which suggests that the sermon was preached after his episcopal ordination in 397.

Bibliography

Text: Migne, J.P., Patrologia Latina 38 (Paris, 1865). Translation: Hill, E., The Works of Saint Augustine. A Translation for the 21st Century, vol. III 8, Sermons 273-305A on the Saints (New York: New City Press, 1994). Dating: Kunzelmann, A., "Die Chronologie der sermones des hl. Augustinus," Miscellanea Agostiniana, vol. 2 (Rome: Tipografia Poliglotta Vaticana, 1931), 417-452.