Augustine

In the Christian tradition

Saint Augustine of Hippo is the great fifth-century bishop and Doctor of the Western Church, the author of The Confessions and The City of God, whose theological writing shaped both Catholic and Protestant Christianity. The Catholic and Anglican calendars commemorate him on August 28; the Orthodox calendar on June 15. The English contracted form Austin is also widely used.

Augustine of Hippo (354-430) is the single most influential theologian of the Western Christian tradition. His Confessions, an autobiographical work that traces his journey from a youth of misspent intellect and undisciplined desire to his conversion at Milan and baptism by Ambrose at the Easter Vigil of 387, has shaped Christian devotional tradition across the centuries. His City of God is the principal Christian theology of history. The Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, and Reformed traditions all draw on his work in distinctive ways. The name has been in continuous Christian use; the English contracted form Austin is also widely used in modern English-speaking Catholic and Protestant families.