PL 38 · cols. 995–997

Augustine, Sermones 179-184 (Classis I, de Scripturis)

Sermon CLXXXIV

S. AURELII AUGUSTINI HIPPONENSIS EPISCOPI SERMONES AD POPULUM. CLASSIS II. DE TEMPORE.

SERMONS TO THE PEOPLE OF ST AURELIUS AUGUSTINE, BISHOP OF HIPPO. CLASS II. ON THE SEASONS.

SERMO CLXXXIV. In Natali Domini nostri Jesu Christi, I.

SERMON CLXXXIV. On the Nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ, I.

CAPUT PRIMUM.—1. Incarnationis mysterium sapientibus mundi absconditum. Natalis Domini et Salvatoris nostri Jesu Christi, quo Veritas de terra orta est, et dies ex die in nostrum natus est diem, anniversario reditu nobis hodie celebrandus illuxit: exsultemus et jucundemur in eo. Quid enim nobis praestiterit tantae sublimitatis humilitas, fides habet Christianorum, remotum est a cordibus impiorum; quoniam abscondit Deus haec a sapientibus et prudentibus, et revelavit ea parvulis (Matth. XI, 25). Teneant ergo humiles humilitatem Dei: ut in hoc tanto adjumento, tanquam in infirmitatis suae jumento, perveniant ad altitudinem Dei. Sapientes autem illi et prudentes, dum alta Dei quaerunt, et humilia non credunt, ista praetermittentes, et propter hoc nec ad illa pervenientes; inanes et leves, inflati et elati, et tanquam inter coelum et terram in ventoso medio pependerunt. Sunt enim sapientes et prudentes, sed hujus mundi, non illius a quo factus est mundus. Nam si esset in eis vera sapientia, quae Dei est et Deus est, intelligerent a Deo carnem potuisse suscipi, nec eum in carnem potuisse mutari: intelligerent eum assumpsisse quod non erat, et permansisse quod erat; et in homine ad nos venisse, et a Patre non recessisse; et id eum perseverasse quod est, et nobis apparuisse quod sumus; et corpori infantili potentiam esse inditam, et mundanae moli non esse subtractam. Cujus opus est apud Patrem manentis mundus universus,

CHAPTER I.—1. The mystery of the Incarnation hidden from the wise of the world. The birthday of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, on which Truth sprang from the earth, and Day from Day was born into our day, has dawned, to be celebrated by us today in its yearly return: let us exult and be glad in it. What the humility of such great sublimity has bestowed on us, the faith of Christians holds; it is far removed from the hearts of the ungodly; for God has hidden these things from the wise and prudent, and has revealed them to little ones (Matt. 11:25). Let the humble, then, hold fast to the humility of God: that by this so great help, as on the beast of burden of their own weakness, they may come to the height of God. But those wise and prudent men, while they seek the high things of God and do not believe the lowly ones, passing these by, and on this account not reaching those either, empty and light, puffed up and lifted up, have hung as it were between heaven and earth in the windy middle. For they are wise and prudent, but of this world, not of Him by Whom the world was made. For if there were in them the true wisdom, which is of God and is God, they would understand that flesh could be taken up by God, and that He could not be changed into flesh: they would understand that He took up what He was not, and remained what He was; and that He came to us in man, and did not withdraw from the Father; and that He continued to be what He is, and appeared to us as what we are; and that power was put into an infant's body, and was not withdrawn from the mass of the world. He Whose work, abiding with the Father, is the whole world,

Editors' notes and page, col. 995

Footnotes

(1) ‹anchor: in nostrum natus est diem› · call in col 995

Isthaec verba, in nostrum natus est diem ; et paulo infra, tanquam in infirmitatis suae jumento ; et aliquanto post, a viro praegnans inventa, etc., itemque ad Sermonis finem, et cujus ubera sugebat, eam veritate pascebat ; aliaque passim in ante editis omissa, restituimus ad veterum codicum fidem.

These words, "He was born into our day"; and a little below, "as on the beast of burden of their weakness"; and somewhat later, "found with child by a man", etc.; and likewise at the end of the sermon, "and her whose breasts He sucked He fed with truth"; and other things here and there left out in the earlier editions, we have restored on the authority of the old manuscripts.

(printed under page 504)

(2) ‹anchor: in ventoso medio› · call in col 995

Lov., invento medio. Sed Mss. concinnius, in ventoso medio.

Louvain: invento medio. But the manuscripts read more aptly: "in the windy middle".

(printed under page 504)

(3) ‹anchor: non esse subtractam› · call in col 995

Sic manuscripti. At editi, et apud Patrem perseverasse quod sumus, et corpore infantili esse indutum, et mundanae moli non esse subtractum. Caetera quae hic manuscriptorum subsidio redintegrantur loca nihil juvat referre.

So the manuscripts. But the printed editions: "and that He persevered with the Father in being what we are, and was clothed in an infant's body, and was not withdrawn from the mass of the world". It serves no purpose to list the other places restored here with the help of the manuscripts.

(printed under page 504) (*) ‹anchor: sermon title, SERMO CLXXXIV› · call in col 995 Emendatus est ad cl. r. v. et Lov.

Corrected against [the manuscripts] cl., r., v., and the Louvain edition.

(printed under page 504)

(a) ‹anchor: sermon title, SERMO CLXXXIV› · call in col 995

Alias, de Diversis 58.

Formerly [numbered] Sermon 58 de Diversis.

(printed under page 504)

(b) ‹anchor: sermon title, In Natali Domini nostri Jesu Christi, I› · call in col 995

Sermones de Natali Domini habitos ab Augustino Possidius in Indiculo, cap. 9, testatur ; et rursum, cap. 10, notat de hoc eodem festo septem, ubi sermonem tamen aliquem distincte non designat.

Possidius in his Indiculus, chapter 9, testifies to sermons preached by Augustine on the Lord's Nativity; and again, in chapter 10, he notes seven on this same feast, though there he does not identify any sermon individually.

(printed under page 504)

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UNSURE (QA Q2): footnote (a) numeral still not certain at this resolution (58 or 56).

PL 38:996

hujus opus est ad nos venientis Virginis partus. Dedit quippe indicium majestatis ejus Virgo mater, quam virgo ante conceptum, tam virgo post partum; a viro praegnans inventa, non facta: gravida masculo, sine masculo: felicior atque mirabilior fecunditate addita, integritate non perdita. Hoc tam grande miraculum malunt illi fictum putare, quam factum. Ita in Christo homine et Deo, credere quoniam non possunt humana, contemnunt; quoniam non possunt contemnere divina, non credunt. Nobis autem quanto illis abjectius, tanto sit gratius in humilitate Dei hominis corpus: et quanto illis est impossibilior, tanto sit divinior in hominis nativitate virginis partus.

is He Whose work, as He comes to us, is the Virgin's childbearing. For the Virgin mother gave a token of His majesty, as much a virgin after the birth as a virgin before the conception; found with child, not made so, by a man: pregnant with a male, without a male: happier and more wonderful in that fruitfulness was added, integrity not lost. So great a miracle those men prefer to think invented rather than done. Thus in Christ, Man and God, because they cannot believe the human things, they despise them; because they cannot despise the divine things, they do not believe them. But to us, the more abject it is to them, the more welcome let the body of the God-Man be in its humility: and the more impossible it is to them, the more divine let the Virgin's childbearing be in the birth of the Man.

CAPUT II. — 2. Natalis Christi cunctis laetitiae causa. Proinde Natalem Domini frequentia et festivitate debita celebremus. Exsultent viri, exsultent feminae: Christus vir est natus, ex femina est natus; et uterque sexus est honoratus. Jam ergo ad secundum hominem transeat, qui in primo fuerat ante damnatus. Mortem nobis persuaserat femina: vitam nobis peperit femina. Nata est similitudo carnis peccati (Rom. VIII, 3), qua mundaretur caro peccati. Non itaque caro culpetur, sed ut natura vivat, culpa moriatur: quia sine culpa natus est, in quo is qui in culpa fuerat, renascatur. Exsultate, pueri sancti, qui Christum praecipue sequendum elegistis, qui conjugia non quaesistis. Non ad vos per conjugium venit, quem sequendum invenistis; ut donaret vobis contemnere per quod venistis. Vos enim venistis per carnales nuptias, sine quibus ille spirituales venit ad nuptias: et vobis dedit spernere nuptias, quos praecipue vocavit ad nuptias. Ergo unde nati estis, non quaesistis; quia eum qui non ita natus est, plus quam caeteri dilexistis. Exsultate, virgines sanctae: Virgo vobis peperit, cui sine corruptione nubatis; quae nec concipiendo, nec pariendo potestis perdere quod amatis. Exsultate, justi: Natalis est Justificatoris. Exsultate, debiles et aegroti: Natalis est Salvatoris. Exsultate, captivi: Natalis est Redemptoris. Exsultent servi: Natalis est dominantis. Exsultent liberi: Natalis est liberantis. Exsultent omnes Christiani: Natalis est Christi.

CHAPTER II.—2. The birthday of Christ a cause of joy to all. Therefore let us celebrate the birthday of the Lord with the throng and the festivity that are its due. Let men exult, let women exult: Christ was born a man, He was born of a woman; and both sexes are honoured. Let him, then, now pass over to the second Man, who had before been condemned in the first. A woman had persuaded us to death: a woman bore life for us. The likeness of sinful flesh was born (Rom. 8:3), by which the flesh of sin might be cleansed. Let not the flesh, therefore, be blamed, but, that nature may live, let the fault die: for He was born without fault, in Whom he who had been in fault might be born again. Exult, holy youths, who have chosen Christ above all to follow, who have not sought marriage. He Whom you have found to follow did not come to you through marriage; so that He might grant you to despise that through which you came. For you came through fleshly nuptials, without which He came to spiritual nuptials: and He granted to you to spurn nuptials, whom He called above all to the nuptials. You did not, then, seek the means by which you were born; because you have loved Him Who was not so born more than the rest have. Exult, holy virgins: a Virgin has borne for you Him to Whom you may be wedded without corruption; you who can lose what you love neither by conceiving nor by bearing. Exult, you just: it is the birthday of the Justifier. Exult, you weak and sick: it is the birthday of the Saviour. Exult, you captives: it is the birthday of the Redeemer. Let slaves exult: it is the birthday of the Lord. Let the free exult: it is the birthday of the Liberator. Let all Christians exult: it is the birthday of Christ.

Editors' notes and page, col. 996

Footnotes

(1) ‹anchor: plus quam caeteri› · call in col 996

In editis, caetera. Verius in manuscriptis, caeteri.

In the printed editions: caetera ("other things"). More correctly in the manuscripts: caeteri ("others").

(printed under page 504)

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PL 38:997

3. Nativitas Christi duplex. Admiranda in Deo infante. Hic de matre natus istum diem saeculis commendavit, qui de Patre natus saecula cuncta creavit. Nec illa nativitas ullam habere potuit matrem, nec ista quaesivit hominem patrem. Denique natus est Christ⟨u⟩s et de patre, et de matre; et sine patre, et sine matre: de patre Deus, de matre homo; sine matre Deus, sine patre homo. Generationem ergo ejus quis enarrabit (Isai. LIII, 8): sive illam sine tempore, sive istam sine semine; illam sine initio, istam sine exemplo; illam quae nunquam non fuit, istam quae nec antea nec postea fuit; illam quae non habet finem, istam quae initium illic habet, ubi finem?

3. The twofold nativity of Christ. Wonders in God as an infant. He Who, born of a mother, commended this day to the ages, is the One Who, born of the Father, created all the ages. That nativity could not have any mother, nor did this one seek a man as father. In short, Christ was born both of a father and of a mother; and without a father and without a mother: of a father as God, of a mother as man; without a mother as God, without a father as man. Who then shall tell of His generation (Isa. 53:8)? Whether that one without time, or this one without seed; that one without beginning, this one without precedent; that one which never was not, this one which was neither before nor after; that one which has no end, this one which has its beginning there where [it has its] end?

CAPUT III. — Merito ergo Prophetae nuntiaverunt nasciturum, coeli vero atque Angeli natum. Jacebat in praesepio continens mundum: et infans erat et Verbum. Quem coeli non capiunt, unius feminae sinus ferebat. Illa regem nostrum regebat; in quo sumus, illa portabat; panem nostrum illa lactabat. O manifesta infirmitas, et mira humilitas, in qua sic latuit tota divinitas! Matrem cui subjacebat infantia, regebat potentia; et cujus ubera sugebat, eam veritate pascebat. Perficiat in nobis sua munera, qui sumere non abhorruit etiam nostra primordia: et ipse faciat nos Dei filios, qui propter nos fieri voluit hominis filius.

Chapter III. — Rightly, then, did the Prophets announce Him as about to be born, but the heavens and the Angels [announced Him] as born. He lay in a manger, He Who contains the world: He was both an infant and the Word. He Whom the heavens do not contain, the bosom of one woman carried. She ruled our King; she carried Him in Whom we are; she suckled our Bread. O manifest weakness, and wondrous humility, in which the whole Godhead thus lay hidden! The mother to whom His infancy was subject, He ruled by His power; and she whose breasts He sucked, He fed with truth. May He perfect in us His gifts, Who did not shrink from taking up even our beginnings: and may He make us sons of God, Who for our sake willed to become a son of man.

Editors' notes and page, col. 997

Footnotes

(1) ‹anchor: ubi finem› · call in col 997 (left column)

Apud Lov., illam quae non habet finem, istam quae nec initium habuit nec finem. M.

In Louvain: "that which has no end, this which had neither beginning nor end". M[aurists].

(printed under page 505)

(2) ‹anchor: tota divinitas› · call in col 997 (left column)

Sic Mss. At Lov., tanta divinitas.

So the manuscripts. But Louvain: "so great a divinity".

(printed under page 505)