E04446: Augustine of Hippo preaches in Latin a sermon, possibly of a feast of martyrs, in which he rejects the cult of the schismatic (e.g. Donatist) martyrs. Sermon 335G, delivered in an unspecified location in North Africa, possibly in the 410s.

Augustine of Hippo, Sermon 335G

[De martyribus

'On some martyrs']


1. Itaque martyres nostri multum amauerunt Deum. Quia perfectam in se habebant caritatem, propterea non timuerunt saeuitiam persecutoris.

'And so our martyrs loved God very much. It's because they had in themselves perfect charity, that they didn't fear the savagery of the persecutor.'

In what follows Augustine evokes the scene in which the judge threatens a martyr-to-be with death and his wife prays him not to abandon his family. Still, the martyr stands firm.

2. Ergo ut dicere coeperam, quid iactas poenam tuam malam, o schismatice, quae non habet causam bonam? Martyres itaque intus honoremus in ecclesia catholica habentes gratiam non audaciam, pietatem non temeritatem, constantiam non pertinaciam, collectionem non dispersionem.

'So, as I had begun to say, why boast of your bad punishment, o Schismatic, when it does not have a good cause? So let us honour the martyrs inside, in the Catholic Church, who have grace not effrontery, piety not temerity, constancy not obstinacy, who represent gathering not scattering.'

Text: Patrologiae Latinae Supplementum, 803-804. Translation: Hill 1994, 243-244. Summary: Robert Wiśniewski.