Azione Romana

The Confessions

St Augustine of Hippo (AD 354–430) · Confessiones · PL 32, 659–868

  1. 0. The Confessions
  2. the-opinion-of-st-augustin-con. The Opinion of St. Augustin Concerning His Confessions
  3. 1. Commencing with the invocation of God, Augustin relates in detail the beginning of his life, his infancy and boyhood, up to his fifteenth year; at which age he acknowledges that he was more inclined to all youthful pleasures and vices than to the study of letters
  4. 2. He Deplores the Wickedness of His Youth
  5. 3. Deluded by an Insane Love, He, Though Foul and Dishonourable, Desires to Be Thought Elegant and Urbane
  6. 4. Then follows a period of nine years from the nineteenth year of his age, during which having lost a friend, he followed the Manichæans—and wrote books on the fair and fit, and published a work on the liberal arts, and the categories of Aristotle
  7. 5. That It Becomes the Soul to Praise God, and to Confess Unto Him
  8. 6. His Mother Having Followed Him to Milan, Declares that She Will Not Die Before Her Son Shall Have Embraced the Catholic Faith
  9. 7. He recalls the beginning of his youth, i.e. the thirty-first year of his age, in which very grave errors as to the nature of God and the origin of evil being distinguished, and the Sacred Books more accurately known, he at length arrives at a clear knowledge of God, not yet rightly apprehending Jesus Christ
  10. 8. He finally describes the thirty-second year of his age, the most memorable of his whole life, in which, being instructed by Simplicianus concerning the conversion of others, and the manner of acting, he is, after a severe struggle, renewed in his whole mind, and is converted unto God
  11. 9. He speaks of his design of forsaking the profession of rhetoric; of the death of his friends, Nebridius and Verecundus; of having received baptism in the thirty-third year of his age; and of the virtues and death of his mother, Monica
  12. 10. Having manifested what he was and what he is, he shows the great fruit of his confession; and being about to examine by what method God and the happy life may be found, he enlarges on the nature and power of memory. Then he examines his own acts, thoughts and affections, viewed under the threefold division of temptation; and commemorates the Lord, the one mediator of God and men
  13. 11. The design of his confessions being declared, he seeks from God the knowledge of the Holy Scriptures, and begins to expound the words of Genesis I. I, concerning the creation of the world. The questions of rash disputers being refuted, ‘What did God before he created the world?’ That he might the better overcome his opponents, he adds a copious disquisition concerning time
  14. 12. He continues his explanation of the first Chapter of Genesis according to the Septuagint, and by its assistance he argues, especially, concerning the double heaven, and the formless matter out of which the whole world may have been created; afterwards of the interpretations of others not disallowed, and sets forth at great length the sense of the Holy Scripture
  15. 13. Of the goodness of God explained in the creation of things, and of the Trinity as found in the first words of Genesis. The story concerning the origin of the world (Gen. I.) is allegorically explained, and he applies it to those things which God works for sanctified and blessed man. Finally, he makes an end of this work, having implored eternal rest from God

Read after it was written: the work's reception

St Thomas Aquinas, Summa theologiae 1265–1273 cites it 84 times

I, q. 1, a. 10 · I, q. 12, a. 8 · I, q. 12, a. 11 · I, q. 14, a. 10 · I, q. 26, a. 3 · I, q. 32, a. 1 · I, q. 44, a. 2 · I, q. 54, a. 3 · I, q. 66, a. 1 · I, q. 66, a. 2 · I, q. 66, a. 4 · I, q. 67, a. 4 · I, q. 74, a. 1 · I, q. 84, a. 5 · I, q. 86, a. 4 · I, q. 87, a. 4 · I, q. 88, a. 3 · I-II, q. 3, a. 4 · I-II, q. 4, a. 1 · I-II, q. 5, a. 2 · I-II, q. 17, a. 5 · I-II, q. 17, a. 9 · I-II, q. 19, a. 7 · I-II, q. 27, a. 3 · I-II, q. 28, a. 1 · I-II, q. 29, a. 5 · I-II, q. 32, a. 2 · I-II, q. 33, a. 2 · I-II, q. 35, a. 3 · I-II, q. 38, a. 1 · I-II, q. 38, a. 2 · I-II, q. 38, a. 3 · I-II, q. 38, a. 5 · I-II, q. 42, a. 5 · I-II, q. 45, a. 1 · I-II, q. 46, a. 2 · I-II, q. 69, a. 2 · I-II, q. 77, a. 5 · I-II, q. 87, a. 1 · I-II, q. 92, a. 1 · I-II, q. 94, a. 6 · I-II, q. 113, a. 3 · II-II, q. 15, a. 1 · II-II, q. 24, a. 10 · II-II, q. 34, a. 2 · II-II, q. 36, a. 3 · II-II, q. 47, a. 10 · II-II, q. 91, a. 2 · II-II, q. 95, a. 5 · II-II, q. 106, a. 2 · II-II, q. 142, a. 2 · II-II, q. 146, a. 1 · II-II, q. 148, a. 1 · II-II, q. 150, a. 2 · II-II, q. 153, a. 1 · II-II, q. 154, a. 2 · II-II, q. 154, a. 12 · II-II, q. 162, a. 1 · II-II, q. 167, a. 2 · II-II, q. 169, a. 1 · II-II, q. 171, a. 5 · II-II, q. 173, a. 1 · II-II, q. 180, a. 7 · II-II, q. 180, a. 8 · II-II, q. 186, a. 3 · II-II, q. 189, a. 10 · III, q. 68, a. 12 · III, q. 73, a. 3 · III, q. 88, a. 2

The popes 1920–1955 cite it in 2 documents

Benedict XV, Spiritus Paraclitus 1920 · Pius XII, Musicae sacrae 1955

The Enciclopedia Cattolica 1948–1954 cited in 26 articles

Adeodatus I 9.6 · Augustine of Hippo, Saint, Bishop of Hippo 6.4 · Ambrose, Saint 5.13 · Baptism 1.11 · Bocchi, Girolamo 7.1 · Ancient Christian Cemeteries 9.12 · Pagan Classics, Question of the 1.13 · Creation 12.1 · Natural Desire for God 1.1 · Emulation 8.11 · Faustus of Milevi 5.3 · Finality in Human Activity 13.9 · Matins (Matutinum, Laudes Matutinae, Officium Nocturnum) 5.9 · Ostiariate 6.2 · Procession 9.7 · Rome 8.5 · Salt (In the Liturgy) 1.1 · Skepticism 5.14 · Divine Science 13.38 · Sergius Paulus 8.4 · Milan, Saint Simplician, Bishop of 8.2 · Time 11.14 · Trier (Trevi), Diocese of 8.6 · Amusements 3.1 · Ostia 9.1 · Humility 7.1

From the citations of this work in the texts on this site. More readers will be added as their texts are.

Philip Schaff (ed.), Buffalo/New York: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1886-1889. Public domain: English translation first published 1885-1900 (Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series). Latin: Migne, Patrologia Latina (1844-1855), public domain; transcription from Corpus Corporum (University of Zurich).

Save for later

Enter your email and we will send you a sign-in link. No password. What you save (articles, verses, chapters, documents) follows you to any device.