Saint Augustine of
Hippo, a great
Doctor of the
Latin Church, was born at
Thagaste in
North Africa in 354 A.D. His father was a
pagan, and his mother a
Christian. At sixteen, he began his studies of the law at
Carthage, and became interested in
philosophy. He converted to the
Manichean religion, and founded his own school of
rhetoric in 383 A.D.
After many inward struggles and conflicts, he renounced all his unorthodox beliefs, and was baptized in 387 A.D. He returned to Africa, became an ordained priest, and formed his own community.
Saint Augustine lived with his cathedral clergy for thirty-four years, and he wrote 113 books, over 200 letters, and more than 500 sermons. His two best known works are Confessions and City of God, and they have become permanent fixtures in Christian theology. Confessions is his own autobiography; explaining himself and the significance of his conversion to Christianity, and his life as a sinner prior to his baptism.
(information from Saint Augustine Confessions, translated by R.S. Pine-Coffin and edited by Betty Radice.)