Saints

St. Augustine
Place: Hippo (now in Tunisia)
Fame: Father and Doctor of the Church

Called Doctor of Grace, he (Augustine) is one of the greatest of the Fathers and Doctors of the Church, and with the possible exception of Thomas Aquinas, the greatest single intellect the Catholic Church has ever produced.” Augustine was born in the small town of Tagaste in the Roman province of Numidia. His parents were his Catholic mother, St. Monica, and his pagan father, Patricius, who converted just before his death in 371.  Raised in the faith, Augustine was not baptized until adulthood, as was the custom. In his adolescent years, while studying sixty miles from home at the university at Carthage, he drifted from the belief in and practice of Catholicism.
Always a serious student in search of the truth, Augustine investigated various philosophical and quasi-religious systems, especially Manichaeanism, but also Aristotelianism, Stoicism, Pythagoreanism, Skepticism, and astrology. This open-ended search resulted in a real but vague belief in God. After a dozen years of teaching at Cathage, where his students were disinterested in learning, he moved to Rome, where his students were dishonest about paying for their classes. One year later, Augustine responded to a job opening for a teaching position at Milan and moved there in 384.
Priesthood was thrust upon Augustine by acclamation of the cathedral congregation at Hippo. Once, when Bishop Valerius was preaching about the community’s responsibility to identify and supply priest for ordination, the congregation responded by seizing Augustine and submitting him for ordination. Valerius and Augustine agreed to this action, but Valerius permitted Augustine to continue his monasticism by providing him with a house and garden near the church. Contrary to custom, the bishop allowed Augustine to preach even though the bishop was present at the same services. This preaching experience made clear to Augustine how much he still needed to learn about the Scriptures. He requested and received permission to continue his education, along with is writing and preaching. Six years later, in 395, he was ordained coadjutor bishop.
            For thirty-five years, Augustine served as bishop of Hippo, the most important see after Carthage in the Roman Empire’s province of Africa. He established residence at the site of the cathedral and there created a community environment for his priests. He received visitors of every station in life, especially other bishops who sought his advice. He attended Church councils in Africa and other provinces. Augustine’s writings that remain extant include almost a hundred treatises, over two hundred letters, over two hundred fifty sermons, and most famous books, Confessions and The City of God.  
     

St. Dionysius of Alexandria

Feast Day November 17

Fame: Father of the Church and archbishop

In his native Alexandria, Dionysius studied literature and philosophy. He converted to Christianity in his youth.  At the catechetical school, he was taught by Origen and, in 232, became head of that school. Fifteen years later, he was ordained bishop of Alexandria.
During the persecution instigated by Decius, Dionysius was arrested, but he escaped and went into hiding in the Libyan desert in 250. One year later, when the anti-Christian action ended, the bishop returned to the capital city. The brief respite ended, the bishop returned to the capital city. The brief respite ended when the persecution under Valerian arose in 257.  This time, rather than flee and hide as before, Dionysius publicly professed his faith. For this display, he was exiled to Libya. Three years later, when he returned to the capital he found a social structure rapidly deteriorating under the weight of civil war. The bishop dedicated his remaining years to caring physically and spiritually for the victims of civil war and religious persecution.
The archbishop involved himself in the major theological disputed of the day: the various Trinitarian heresies, plus Novatianism, Chilianism, and the rebaptism controversy. Pope St. Cornelius appreciated  Dionysius’ supported against the usurping antipope Novatian. The next two popes, however, rebuked Dionysius for his positions: St. Stephen on account of Dionysius’ support of Cyprian in the controversy surrounding the rebaptism of heretics, and St. Dionysius because of the Alexandrian Dionysius’ questionable views on the Trinity.
The writing of this Father of the Church remain extant only in fragmentary form: a book On Nature plus tracts in which he denied the Johannine authorship of both the Apocalypse and two of the three letters ascribed to John.

St. Ammon the Martyr and Companions

Feast Day December 20

Fame: Christian soldiers who died in support of Christian prisoners

Dionysius, the Bishop of Alexandria, wrote to Fabian, the bishop of Antioch, in Syria, about the tragic but heroic situations of Christians having been persecuted in his see during the reign of the Emperor Decius. In one incident, a Christian prisoner who was facing martyrdom shows signs of wavering in his faith. Some soldiers responded by encouraging the man. “Some Christian soldiers who were among the guards, fearing that the man would deny his faith, made signs to him by looks, gestures and nods to stand firm.” When the magistrate observed the encouragement that some of the government’s own soldiers were offering, he ordered them to desist and to step forward. Several soldiers—Ammon, Ingenes, Ptolemy, and Zeno- and the other man, Theophilus, advanced and declared their faith. All the soldiers were beheaded on the spot.