St. Augustine's Character as Revealed in His Confessions

Introduction: Augustine's Midlife Turning Point

The character of St. Augustine (354–430), as seen within his Confessions (begun 397 CE) — which he wrote as a long epistle to God in midlife — marks a distinct turning point in his life, attitudes, and values. The content of the Confessions itself points to several defining personality traits: honesty, sincerity, humility, piety, a capacity for self-reflection, and a desire for self-improvement. Augustine spent his youth licentiously, and up to the midpoint of his life remained far more interested in hedonistic pursuits than in being of service to God. All of that changed, however, precipitated by what we might today call a "midlife crisis." At around the age of 43, Augustine realized that none of the activities from which he had derived temporary pleasure were genuinely fulfilling, and that genuine fulfillment came to him only from service to God.

Augustine was also strongly affected, in a spiritual sense, by his mother's death at around this time. His mother had been a devout Christian — far more so than his father — and she had always hoped that her son would follow her own spiritual path. St. Augustine's own Christian beliefs were not especially strong until after her death, at which point he converted to Christianity, taking the core value of his beloved mother into himself.

The Confessions as Self-Revelation and Catholic Cornerstone

Augustine's Confessions is, first and foremost, a work of self-revelation. As such, it shows the vulnerability of its author and, in particular, Augustine's strong and sincere desire to repent of and learn from his sins. The Confessions in fact forms the cornerstone of the Catholic belief that, whatever one's stage in life or past sins, it is never too late to repent and to seek forgiveness and redemption. This cornerstone belief likely indicates that Augustine was, himself, a forgiving individual — since one must first possess the capacity to forgive oneself in order to truly forgive others.

The Individual Soul and Humility Before God

The text of the Confessions also indicates that Augustine believed deeply in the importance of the individual, the individual soul, and the individual's relationship to God. According to Lawall et al., Augustine was "responsible for the consolidation of the Church in the West, especially for the systemization of its doctrine and policy," and he "set down, for the benefit of others, the story of his early life and his conversion to Christianity . . . which proclaims the value of the individual soul and the importance of its relation to God." They further note that "Augustine talks directly to God, in humility, yet conscious that God is concerned for him personally" (p. 1221).

Augustine's humility toward God is shown by his willingness to give God credit for everything that has happened to him in life — good, bad, or neutral. He credits God for his education, his experiences (even the ones he now regrets, so that he might come to know better), and indeed for his very existence on earth. Furthermore, none of this is random, Augustine observes within his epistle, but instead part of God's plan for him. In Book I of his Confessions [Childhood], Augustine states:

"For my sustenance and my delight I had woman's milk; yet it was not my mother or my nurses who stored their milk for me: it was Yourself, using them to give me the food of my infancy, according to Your ordinance and the riches set by You at every level of creation." (p. 1222)

Augustine further confesses within Book I that he disliked learning, but that it was God's will that he learn what, and as, he did — although he did not understand this at the time. As he tells God, all that he learned as a child, adolescent, and young man, however uninteresting or irrelevant it seemed then, was in fact part of God's plan to prepare him for the service to God that is his real purpose on earth.

Conclusion: Augustine's Character in His Own Words

Throughout the words of his Confessions, St. Augustine shows his character to be one of honesty, sincerity, humility, piety, a capacity for self-reflection, and a desire for self-improvement. St. Augustine also makes it clear, throughout his Confessions, that these character traits are not of his own design, but rather the result of his having at last given himself over to God and to God's plan for him.

Works Cited

Augustine, Aurelius. Confessions. In The Norton Anthology of World Literature, Vol. B (Pkg. 1), 2nd ed. Sarah Lawall et al. (Eds.). New York: Norton, 2002. 1222–1249.

Lawall, Sarah, et al. "Augustine 354–430." The Norton Anthology of World Literature, Vol. B (Pkg. 1), 2nd ed. Sarah Lawall et al. (Eds.). New York: Norton, 2002. 1221–1222.