VATICAN - The Pope in his General Audience: Saint Augustine is “always alive,” “He truly lives in his works, he is present among us, and thus, we see the permanent vitality of his faith to which he had dedicated all his life.”

Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) - “May our Lenten journey be an occasion for making a decided effort of conversion and of a spiritual renewal towards an awakening to the authentic faith, for a full restoration of our relationship with God, and for a more generous evangelical commitment.” These were the words of the Holy Father Benedict XVI to the faithful at the General Audience on Wednesday, February 20 in St. Peter’s Basilica. Later, in the Paul VI Hall, the Pope met with other groups of pilgrims and gave the catechesis in which he continued his reflection on “the great figure of Saint Augustine,” who is “the Church Father who has left us the greatest number of works.” Pope Benedict XVI pointed out that, “some of Augustine’s writings are of utmost importance and not only for the history of Christianity, but for the formation of all Western culture.”
A few years prior to his death, Augustine reviewed all his works and shortly following his death, they were carefully documented, “with the explicit intention of preserving his thought amidst the widespread invasions of vandals throughout all the Roman Empire in Africa.” Amongst the vast literary collection of Augustine -including philosophical, apologetic, doctinal, moral, monastic, exegetic, and anti-heretical writings, as well as letters and homilies - “some works of exceptional caliber stand out as great theological and philosophical works,” the Pope said, mentioning first the Confessions, which were written as three books between 377-400 AD. “They are a sort of autobiography in the form of a dialogue with God...’Confessions’ indicates, firstly, the confession of ones’ own weaknesses, the misery of our sins; but at the same time, confessions means praise and recognition of God. Seeing our own misery in God’s light becomes a source of praise and thanksgiving to God, because He loves us and accepts us, transforms us and elevates us to Himself....Among the works that are lesser known, although equally original and very important are: the “Retractationes,” from two books written around 427 AD, in which an aging Augustine makes a “review” (retractio) of all his written works, leaving behind a unique and valuable literary work, as well as a lesson on sincerity and intellectual humility.”
Another “important and decisive in the development of modern political thought in the West and in Christian historical theology,” is the “De civitate Dei,” written between 413 and 426 in a series of 22 books, following the destruction of Rome by the Goths in 410. In this great work, Saint Augustine explains “what we should and should not expect from God and the relationship between the political and faith spheres of the Church. This book is still today a great source in defining true secularism and the Church’s competence, the great hope that faith gives us.”
Of equal importance is “De Trinitate,” a 15-volume work on the principal truth of the Christian faith: faith in the Triune God. It was written between 399-412 (the first 12 books published without Augustine’s knowledge), later completed and revised in 420. “Here, he reflects on the face of God and tries to understand this mystery that God is on, the only Creator of the world and of all of us, and yet, this God who is One is also Triune, a circle of love. He tries to comprehend this unsolvable mystery: His Triune nature, His being Three Persons, is the most real and profound truth of the One God.” The “De doctrina Christiana,” on the contrary, is a “cultural introduction to the interpretation of the Bible and to Christianity itself, that had a decisive importance in the formation of Western culture.”
In any case, the greatest worry for Augustine was always that of “bringing the Christian message to the simple...communicating the faith in a way that is understandable to all.” This intention was at the heart of his writings such as, “De catechizandis rudibus,” a theory and praxis on catechesis or “Psalmus contra partem Donati,” in which he denies the claim of Donatism to be the true religion in Africa. Then, there are his great many homilies that were often improvised and later transcribed...at times without being revised. The Holy Father concluded his catechesis on the works of Saint Augustine recalling the tradition of iconography that depicts him with a book in his hand, to express his literary fruits and also his love for books, for speaking, and his great knowledge of past cultures. Precisely because of his many works, conserved to this day, Saint Augustine today, “truly lives in his works, he is present among us, and thus, we see the permanent vitality of his faith to which he had dedicated all his life.” (S.L) (Agencia Fides 21/2/2008; righe 59, parole 774)