Migne Reading Room
PL 38 · cols. 1443–1445
Augustine, Sermo 322 (Classis III, de Sanctis)
Sermon CCCXXII
SERMO CCCXXII. Ubi libellum promissum sanati hominis praesentavit, feria tertia Paschae.
SERMON CCCXXII. Where he presented the promised statement of the man who had been healed, on the Tuesday of Easter.
Hesterno die libellum promisimus Charitati vestrae, ubi de illo sanato audire etiam possitis, quae videre non potuistis. Si ergo placet Charitati vestrae, imo quia placere debet quod et mihi placet, ambo fratres stent in conspectu vestro: ut qui illum non viderant, in isto videant quid ille patiebatur. Stent ergo ambo, unus cui donata est gratia, et alter cui petenda est misericordia.
Yesterday we promised Your Charity a statement, in which you might also hear about that healed man the things which you were not able to see. If therefore it pleases Your Charity, or rather, since what pleases me too ought to please you, let both the brother and the sister stand in your sight: so that those who had not seen him may see in her what he was suffering. Let both stand, then: the one to whom grace has been given, and the other for whom mercy must be sought.
Exemplar libelli a Paulo dati Augustino episcopo.
Copy of the statement given by Paul to Augustine the bishop.
Rogo, domine beatissime papa Augustine, ut hunc libellum meum, quem ex praecepto tuo obtuli, sanctae plebi jubeas recitari.
I ask, most blessed lord father Augustine, that you order this my statement, which I have presented at your bidding, to be read out to the holy people.
Cum adhuc in patria nostra Caesarea Cappadociae moraremur, frater noster natu major gravibus atque intolerandis communem matrem affecit injuriis, in tantum ut ei etiam manus non dubitaret inferre. Quod nos omnes filii pariter congregati patienter tulimus, ut ne verbum quidem fratri nostro pro matre nostra, cur hoc faceret, dixerimus. Illa autem feminei doloris stimulis incitata, injuriosum filium maledicendo punire constituit. Cumque ad sacri Baptismatis fontem post gallorum cantus memorato filio suo iram Dei imprecatura properaret, tunc ei nescio quis in patrui nostri similitudine, ut intelligitur, daemon occurrit, et ab ea prior quo pergeret requisivit. Cui illa, ad maledicendum filio suo ob intolerabilem contumeliam se ire respondit. Tunc autem ille inimicus, quoniam in mulieris corde insaniente locum facile invenire potuit, ut omnibus malediceret persuasit. Illa autem vipereis inflammata consiliis, sacrum fontem provoluta corripuit, et sparsis crinibus nudatisque uberibus hoc a Deo potissimum postulavit, ut extorres patria et circumeuntes alienas terras, omne hominum genus nostro terreremus exemplo. Mox maternas preces efficax vindicta prosequitur, eumdemque continuo fratrem nostrum aetate culpaque majorem tremor membrorum tantus invasit, quantum in me usque ante hoc triduum vestra Sanctitas vidit. Servato autem ordine, quo nati eramus, intra unum annum eadem nos poena omnes corripuit. Videns autem
While we were still living in our homeland, Caesarea of Cappadocia, our elder brother inflicted grave and intolerable injuries on our common mother, so far that he did not even hesitate to lay hands on her. All of us her sons, gathered together alike, bore this patiently, so that we did not say even a word to our brother on our mother's behalf, asking why he did this. But she, roused by the goads of a woman's grief, resolved to punish her injurious son by cursing him. And when, after cockcrow, she was hurrying to the font of holy Baptism to call down the wrath of God on that son of hers, then some demon, as is understood, met her in the likeness of our paternal uncle, and asked her first where she was going. She answered him that she was going to curse her son because of an intolerable outrage. Then that enemy, since he could easily find room in the woman's raving heart, persuaded her to curse us all. And she, inflamed by these viperous counsels, threw herself down and took hold of the holy font, and with hair dishevelled and breasts bared she asked this above all of God: that, exiled from our homeland and wandering through foreign lands, we should terrify the whole race of men by our example. Soon effectual vengeance followed the mother's prayers, and at once that same brother of ours, the elder in age and in guilt, was seized by a trembling of the limbs as great as Your Holiness saw in me until three days ago. Then, keeping the order in which we had been born, the same penalty seized all of us within one year. But seeing
Editors' notes and page, col. 1443
Footnotes
(b) ‹anchor: title SERMO CCCXXII› · call in col 1443
Ibid. 31.
Ibid. [that is, otherwise numbered, On Various Subjects] 31.
(printed under page 728)
Page
- running head: 1443 S. AUGUSTINI EPISCOPI (spread across the page; folio numeral 1443 at left)
- marginal letters: (none visible in the crops)
- old-edition numerals: (none)
- note (a) under page 728 is called at the title of Sermo CCCXXI and belongs to that unit; not set here (Q1)
Editors' notes and page, col. 1444
Footnotes
(1) ‹anchor: calendarum januariarum› · call in col 1444
In prius editis, junarum. Erratum sane, pro, januariarum aut februariarum. Id siquidem agebatur feria tertia Paschae, anno forsitan 425, quo Pascha in aprilis diem 19 incidit. Hoc ipsum miraculum Augustinus in libro ⟨22⟩ de Civitate Dei, cap. 8, sub finem anni 426 conscripto narravit, postquam ibidem paulo ante de libellis dari solitis, ac de memoria Stephani Hippone-regio exstructa dixisset, « Nec tamen omnia miracula sanitatum colligi potuerunt, sed tantum de quibus libelli dati sunt, qui recitarentur in populis. Id namque fieri voluimus » etc. « Nondum est autem biennium, ex quo apud Hipponem-Regium coepit esse ista memoria » etc.
In the earlier editions, "junarum." Clearly an error for "januariarum" or "februariarum." For this was being done on the Tuesday of Easter week, perhaps in the year 425, when Easter fell on 19 April. Augustine told of this very miracle in Book 22 of The City of God, chapter 8, written towards the end of the year 426, after he had spoken there a little before of the statements (libelli) customarily given in, and of the memorial of Stephen built at Hippo Regius: "Yet not all the miracles of healing could be collected, but only those for which statements were given in, to be read out to the people. For we wished this to be done," etc. "It is not yet two years since that memorial began to be at Hippo Regius," etc.
<!-- reading note: in note (1) the book numeral is blurred in the image (reads like "23"); set as 22, which the reference (De civ. Dei XXII, 8) requires. "biennium" is partly broken in the print. --> (printed under page 728)
Page
- gap: the text in this column is not set: output filter, sermo_322_L01 blocked after writing col 1443 (2026-10-18). Marked gap (Ray's ruling); not retried.
Editors' notes and page, col. 1445
Footnotes
(a) ‹anchor: not visible in the foot image› · call in col 1445
Vid. lib. 22 de Civitate Dei, cap. 8.
See The City of God, Book 22, chapter 8.
(printed under page 729)
(b) ‹anchor: not visible in the foot image› · call in col 1445
Alias, de Diversis 32.
Otherwise numbered, On Various Subjects 32.
(printed under page 729)
Page
- gap: the text in this column is not set: output filter, sermo_322_L01 blocked after writing col 1443 (2026-10-18). Marked gap (Ray's ruling); not retried.