28 August 2010

PORQUE HOJE É O DIA DE SANTO AGOSTINHO,
DOUTOR DA IGREJA, AQUI SE RECORDA COM A
MÁXIMA DEVOÇÃO UMA SANTÍSSIMA TRADIÇÃO
CRISTÃ POR ELE JÁ PRATICADA E APROVADA E
QUE CONTINUA BEM VIVA NA CASA DO SENHOR



Santo Agostinho - Philippe de Champaigne, 1645-1650

"Augustine, as bishop of Hippo, appointed his monk, Antoninus in the 410s to be bishop of a subordinate diocese in Fussala, one of Africa's relatively few villages, in the hills of what is now eastern Algeria. Antoninus turned out to be a bad man - he was young and from a poor family, he was promoted too fast - and he terrorized the village, extorting money, clothing, produce and building materials. He was also accused of sexual assault. Augustine removed him, but did not depose him, and tried to transfer him to the nearby estate of Thogonoetum. Here, the tenants told Augustine and their landowner that they would leave if he came. (...) Augustine was very embarrassed, as indeed he should have been ('I did not dare look the people of Fussala in the eye'). (...) It is not surprising that Augustine's main fear was that the peasants would revert to the Donatist church, abandoning Catholic Christianity altogether" (The Inheritance Of Rome/A History Of Europe From 400 To 1000 - Chris Wickham)

(2010)

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