The Importance of St Augustine

Dr. Pius Parsch considers St. Augustine's importance as the founder of a religious Order, doctor of the Church and above all a man.

1. St. Augustine's ideal was a common life for clerics in imitation of the apostles, which became the norm for cathedral canons and clerks regular. In celebrating his feast we are united with all his spiritual children who have observed or are observing his rule, whether already in glory or still labouring on earth.
2. St. Augustine ranks among the greatest doctors because he was a teacher according to the liturgical sense, for God "opened his mouth in the midst of the Church." Most of the great feasts contain excerpts from his homilies and commentaries in the Office of Matins, especially those on the Psalms which are among the most profound.
3. St. Augustine as a man is unique because in his life we can easily observe the workings of divine grace and the struggle between the good and evil. When he became a Manichean it caused his mother intense sorrow, she prayed and wept constantly. A bishop consoled her that a son of so many tears would not be lost. Yet the evil spirit, capitalizing on his passion and pride, led him into moral degeneracy. It seemed that God was playing a waiting game, allowing him to plunge into the depths of sin that he might rise stronger in sanctity. Augustine soon realised that a heart is restless unless it rests in God and through St. Ambrose allowed God to enter the depths of his heart and give him the peace he sought.