University of San Agustin

General Luna St., 5000 Iloilo City, Philippines

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MODULE 5: THE AUGUSTINIAN CORE VALUES: CARITAS (Charity),

VERITAS (Truth), AND UNITAS (Unity)

MODULE 5: OPENING PRAYER

INSTRUCTION: IF YOU ARE READY, YOU CAN NOW START WITH

MODULE 5. HUMBLY ASK GOD THEN TO ACCOMPANY YOU BY
RECITING SILENTLY THE PRAYER BELOW!

Opening Prayer: As we start with this lesson, I invite you to

pray the Official Prayer before class.

Leader: When we live in unity,

All: How good and how pleasant it is.
Leader: Pray for us, Holy Father Augustine,
All: That we may dwell together in peace.
Leader: Let us pray,
All: God our Father, Your Son promised to be present in the midst
of all who come together in His name. Help us to recognize
His presence among us and experience in our our hearts the
abundance of Your grace, Your mercy, and Your peace, in
truth and in love. We ask this, through Christ our Lord. Amen.

A grace-filled day! Welcome to Module 5.

In this module, we will discuss the three Augustinian Core Values

of Caritas (Charity), Veritas (Truth), and Unitas (Unity). This will
enable you students to identify your identity as genuine Augustinians
in words and in deeds. The common maxim insists that Values are
not taught but they are caught. Hence, this course will help you
acquire knowledge and insights on what are these values all about
2021-2022 Module Packet for ASF 1 (The Life, Works, Teachings and Spirituality of Saint Augustine of
Hippo). Center for Religious Studies, University of San Agustin, Iloilo City, Philippines.

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which could likewise marks the spirituality of Saint Augustine of
Hippo and will assist us in our struggles in life. These Augustinian
core values will enlighten us to love God and to love our neighbors,
to love the truth, and live harmonious with one another in the
community. In the family, we are also expected to be in solidarity
with one another, in the spirit of understanding, care and concern for
one another. Those values remind us to take good care of our heart
because whatever we plant in it, it will truly grow and will bear much
fruits.

Consultation hours
Phone/messenger:
Virtual time:

MODULE 5: LEARNING OBJECTIVES

By the end of the module, students will be able to:

1. identify the meaning and importance of the Augustinian core

values such as Caritas (Charity), Veritas (Truth), and Unitas
(Unity).
2. acquire skills in demonstrating these core Augustinian values in
whatever milieu they are in.
3. possess and display genuine humility in recognizing their identity
as authentic Catholic Christian and Augustinian persons in their
respective family and community.

MODULE 5: COURSE CONTENTS

2021-2022 Module Packet for ASF 1 (The Life, Works, Teachings and Spirituality of Saint Augustine of
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Below is the Schedule for Module 5.

ACTIVITY DESCRIPTION TIME TO

OVERVIEW COMPLETE
Opening Prayer 3 minutes
Introduction
1A on the Meaning
or Concept of
“Value” or 30-40 minutes
“Values”
The Augustinian
1B Value known as 30-45minutes
CARITAS (Charity)
The Augustinian
1C Value known as 30-45 minutes
VERITAS (Truth)
The Augustinian
1D Value known as 30-45 minutes
UNITAS (Unity)

Assessment Task 160 minutes

Conclusion 10-15 minutes
Closing Prayer 3 minutes

2021-2022 Module Packet for ASF 1 (The Life, Works, Teachings and Spirituality of Saint Augustine of
Hippo). Center for Religious Studies, University of San Agustin, Iloilo City, Philippines.

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PRE-ASSESSMENT TASK:

Kindly accomplish your Pre-Assessment Task honestly and

carefully. Write your answer in the given chart.

What are the four (4) major values or virtues you

do appreciate and love most in you now?

SHORT DEEPENING LEADING TO THE LECTURE/DISCUSSION PROPER:

MODULE 5: Activity 1A– INTRODUCTION ON THE MEANING OR

CONCEPT OF “VALUE” OR “VALUES”

Please read the script below.

Values are basic fundamental beliefs that guide or motivate

attitudes or actions. Values help the person determine what is
important, and describe the personal qualities, the person
chooses to embody in order to guide his/her actions. The values
that the person lived help him/her to evaluate what sort of person
he/she is, and how others should treat him/her. Values have a great

2021-2022 Module Packet for ASF 1 (The Life, Works, Teachings and Spirituality of Saint Augustine of
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role in man’s interaction with others and the environment where
he/she lives. Furthermore, “value” is a “good” that contributes to
the perfection of being (not having or doing).” It likewise provides
general guidelines for man’s conduct.

Augustinian values refer to values that are Christian which

Augustine of Hippo colored with his saintly life and deepened by
his teaching. Christian values are values based on the Gospel
proclaimed by Christ and handed on to us by the Apostles.
Augustinian values are Christian values that Augustine lived and
taught in the conviction that such values contribute to the
fulfillment of the Lord’s two-fold Commandment of LOVE in the
Spirit of the Beatitudes. Fr. Alberto Esmeralda, OSA, the former
Dean of the Theology Department of the University of San Agustin,
had succeeded to highlight the Ten Augustinian Values: Love and
the Order of Love, Interiority, Humility, Freedom, Prayer,
Community Life, Common Good, Friendship, Devotion to Study and
the Pursuit of Wisdom, and Humble and Genuine Service. However,
in this module, as part of our limitations, we will only be discussing
the three Augustinian Core Values. According to Fr. Esmeralda:
“The Augustinian… knows how to LOVE rightly, therefore, he is
HUMBLE, he pursues WISDOM, and searches for the TRUTH in
INTERIORITY; he is free, and manifests that FREEDOM in HUMBLE
and GENEROUS SERVICE within a context of COMMUNION with a
vision set towards the COMMON GOOD in a spirit of FRIENDSHIP
that is nourished in PRAYER.”

The three core values known as Caritas (Charity), Veritas

(Truth), and Unitas (Unity) are the identity of the Augustinian
schools and their constituents and graduates. According to
Insunza (2006), the Augustinian approach to education is not
based so much on the words of Augustine, but rather on the

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spiritual itinerary of his life. Thus, the three core values are the
signature set of predominant and integrative aspects of
Augustine’s life and teaching. They represent life-long
characteristics of Augustine’s life and represent his window on the
Gospel as realized in his words, experience, and practice. While
the life of Augustine is unique in its history and challenges, and
resulting response, his prevailing values offer a unifying Christian
pathway for others in their lives and ministry. In our case, these
core values remind us that we are the genuine, committed, and
faithful disciples and servants of our Patron Saint, Saint Augustine
of Hippo.

MODULE 5: Activity 1B – THE AUGUSTINIAN VALUE KNOWN AS

“CARITAS” (CHARITY)
Please read the script below.
CARITAS (CHARITY)
UNION WITH GOD THROUGH LOVE.

The origin of this core value “Caritas” is from the two great
commandments of Christ: “the love of God”, and “the love of
neighbor” (Mark 12:30-31). Charity/love embraces both love of
God and love of neighbor. It is the greatest of all graces, and it
measures the value of persons since we are worth as much as
how we love. All our conduct as human beings and as
Christians, like work, personal relation, entertainment, etc.
must be motivated by love or charity, and must tend to form in
us, with God’s grace, that very valuable virtue. The two great
commandments of love push man to do great things to oneself
and others. According to Tack (2006), Augustine had to come
to a love of self and see and “experience God within”
(Interiority) before he could come to love God. Once Augustine

2021-2022 Module Packet for ASF 1 (The Life, Works, Teachings and Spirituality of Saint Augustine of
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looked within himself, he saw that God was closer to him than
he to himself. With this experience, Augustine wrote: “where
was I when I was seeking for you? You were there before me,
but I had departed from myself. I could not even find myself,
much less you” (Conf. V, ii,2) This love of God, in terms of
pedagogy’s core value of love, is then expressed through the
promotion of love for the learning and the learner. Augustinian
education is centered on love or caritas.

More than anyone word can express (be it love, concern

devotion, compassion, caring), “Caritas” is the impulse of the
Spirit of Jesus that is expressed in hundreds of kind and
gracious ways. So then, let us be charitable, loving, and lovable
as Augustinians in words and in deeds.

MARKERS OF THE PRESENCE OF THE VALUE, WHAT DOES

“CARITAS” LOOK LIKE?

 Being a friend.
 Loving deeds.
 Service to the community.
 Care for the common good.
 Sharing of goods, information, resources, and talents.
 Personal interest and support of one another.
 Bearing shared burdens and responsibility.

SELECTED QUOTATIONS ON LOVE FROM SAINT AUGUSTINE OF HIPPO.

 “Love and do what you will.”

 “My love is my weight.”
 “Love of God and Love of Neighbor.”
 “Love of the Spirit versus Love of the Flesh.”

2021-2022 Module Packet for ASF 1 (The Life, Works, Teachings and Spirituality of Saint Augustine of
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 “What was there to bring me delight except to love and be
loved?”
 “Out of love for your love I do this.”
 “I am in love with love.”
 “Such mercy is yours, O Lord God, for you love our souls
with a purity of love more deep and wide.”
 “In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty; in all
things, charity.”
 “Since love grows within you, so beauty grows. For love
is the beauty of the soul.”
 “Charity is no substitute for justice withheld.”
 “God loves each of us as if there were only one of us.”
 “The measure of love is to love without measure.”
 “In order to discover the character of people we have only
to observe what they love.”
 “I did not yet love, and I loved to love; I sought what I
might love, in love with loving.”
 “What does love look like? It has the hands to help others.
It has the feet to hasten to the poor and needy. It has eyes
to see misery and want. It has the ears to hear the sighs
and sorrows of men. That is what love looks like.”

MODULE 5: Activity 1C – THE AUGUSTINIAN VALUE KNOWN AS

“VERITAS” (TRUTH)
Please read the script below.
VERITAS (Truth)

Truth is found when the mind reflects on the reality of

anything. It is found when the person discovers the realities
and values that orient, give the sense, and may bring to

2021-2022 Module Packet for ASF 1 (The Life, Works, Teachings and Spirituality of Saint Augustine of
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human life. In truth, there is conformity between what a
person thinks and what he speaks.1

In an article titled, “St. Augustine and the Hope of

Finding the Truth”, it was said that Augustine was
passionate to human and truth. So, he strove to seek the
source of that truth in a God, he imagined as the great and
inaccessible One. In his search for truth, he found a blaze of
faith-filled light, in the Incarnate Christ. Saint John Paul II
said; “It seems Augustine is going to bring men back…to the
hope of finding the truth. In addition, one must seek the truth
with piety, chastity, and diligence, to return into oneself, to
the interior realm where truth dwells; and likewise, to
overcome the materialism and rationalism which prevent the
mind from understanding the “mystery” of the human
person”.

Through the studies and reflection of Augustine, but

above all through his own experience, he became the great
teacher on the possibility of finding the truth, and with the
truth, love, and with love, peace. Augustine held
that all creation partakes of truth in varying degrees, that
man as the highest part of creation, created in God's image
and thus sharing to some degree, the Divine nature has
successfully able to know truth through the Divine light and
the light of his own mind. We ought to learn and teach this
truth with love.

1
University of San Agustin, Student Hanbook, p4.
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MARKERS OF THE PRESENCE OF THE VALUE, WHAT DOES
“VERITAS” LOOK LIKE?

 To tell the truth

 To search for truth in friendships
 To be serious about the hard work, self-discipline, and self-
awareness that honest study requires
 To know Him who is Truth Incarnate, Jesus Christ, and His
saving message
 To know one’s worth as a child of God and the transcendent
dignity of every human person
 To explore energetically the physical world and the world of
ideas with an openness to the goodness of beauty and reality
 To be able to think in an orderly and critical fashion and to
express one’s thoughts clearly and with grace, Search for
God through the Pursuit of Truth.

SELECTED QUOTATION ON TRUTH FROM SAINT AUGUSTINE

 “A thing is not necessarily true because badly uttered, nor

false because spoken magnificently.”
 “To seek the highest good is to live well.”
 “Right is right even if no one is doing it; wrong is wrong even
if everyone is doing it.”
 “The truth is like a lion; you don’t have to defend it. Let it
loose; it will defend itself.”
 “Will is to grace as the horse is to the rider.”
 “Joy in the truth is the happy life.”
 All men desire joy in the truth.”
 “Men love the truth because it brings light to them.”
 “Wheresoever I found truth, there I found my God.”

2021-2022 Module Packet for ASF 1 (The Life, Works, Teachings and Spirituality of Saint Augustine of
Hippo). Center for Religious Studies, University of San Agustin, Iloilo City, Philippines.

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 “Amidst this diversity of true opinions, let truth itself beget
concord.”
 “Let us love one another, and let us likewise love you, our
God, the fountain of truth.”
 “See not abroad, for in the inner man dwells the truth.”

MODULE 5: Activity 1D – THE AUGUSTINIAN VALUE KNOWN AS

“UNITAS” (UNITY)
Please read the script below.

UNITAS (Unity, Community)

Saint Augustine was inspired by, “the first Christian

community who lived in one heart and mind, and no one
claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but rather
everything is in common” (Acts 5:32). In The Rule, Augustine
reminded his brothers and sisters that the primary reason for
coming together is to “live harmoniously in your house, intent
upon God in the oneness of mind and heart”, is the core value
of Unitas (Unity) - the basis for the existence of things. It
means “being” one. The power and strength of unity is
strongly connected with the becoming of being. Augustine’s
thought of unity is not only of the self but its progress toward
a more social direction which is a partnership with other
people. McCloskey (2006) claims that for Augustine, learning
with others is of the utmost importance, and how this
learning takes place is through dialogue. The core value of
unity is promoted in Augustinian education through the
dialogue that takes place between teachers and students
and students with each other. An additional dimension to this
core value of unity is not only learning together but also the

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promotion of friendship. For Augustine, creating a
community of friends with whom to share life and the search
for Truth was central. In Book IV of his work, The
Confessions, Augustine described the significance of his
interaction with his friends that resulted in a unity of mind
and heart. This then encourages us Augustinians to live
pleasantly with one another because how good it is when we
live together in harmony with each other.

MARKERS OF THE PRESENCE OF THE VALUE, WHAT DOES

“UNITAS” LOOK LIKE?

 Eagerness to serve the common good

 Respect for one another, our diversity, and our talents
 Shared identity and membership
 Welcoming and lasting friendships
 Expressions of unity in community gatherings (e.g.
Mass, assemblies, rallies)
 Realization of the universality of the Church and
awareness of being members of a global community
 Shared common experiences in short, studies, and
service.

SELECTED QUOTATIONS ON UNITY FROM SAINT AUGUSTINE

 “It seemed to me that the rational mind, the nature of

truth, and the nature of the highest good lay in that
unity.”
 “In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty.”
 “A Christian is: a mind through which Christ thinks, a
heart through which Christ loves, a voice through

2021-2022 Module Packet for ASF 1 (The Life, Works, Teachings and Spirituality of Saint Augustine of
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which Christ speaks, and a hand through which Christ
helps.”
 “God has no need of your money, but the poor have.
You give it to the poor, and God receives it.”
 “Peace in society depends upon peace in the family.”

MODULE 5: ASSESSMENT TASK: (Complete Instructions are found in

NEO LMS – Assignment Portion. Thank you!)

ESSAY: (QUIZ) Kindly work on your task reflecting on the given

rubrics:
CONTENT/ORGANIZATION = 2O PTS.
PUNCTUALITY = 5 PTS.
TOTAL = 25 PTS

 Write or Formulate a Prayer for your community reflecting the three

(3) Augustinian Core Values

OR
 Look for quotations from Saint Augustine of Hippo concerning
the three Augustinian Core Values and analyze them
personally.

MODULE 5: CONCLUSION
We have learned in Module 5 the different Augustinian Core Values
of Caritas (Charity), Veritas (Truth), and Unitas (Unity). We had known
that these three Augustinian core values support and express one
another. Truth acquired through both faith and reason is the basis for
our understanding of reality. Truth about God as creator and source of
life along with the coming of Jesus to be one with us supports our love
for one another. This union with God and one another is evidenced in
Christian community.
2021-2022 Module Packet for ASF 1 (The Life, Works, Teachings and Spirituality of Saint Augustine of
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We have further discovered that a well-lived life is truly rewarding.
Charity, truth, and unity are true identifications of an Augustinian. The
love that we sow to people are concrete manifestations or
demonstrations of our love for God who is Love Himself. This module 5
offers a lot of opportunities for us to imitate the spirituality of Saint
Augustine of Hippo, a man of virtue after his genuine and restless
conversion. He found God and inspire us to follow his footsteps towards
loving our brothers and sisters especially the needy and the vulnerable.
He further teaches us to be honest and truthful – to live in truth and to
defend this truth against all attacks with courage and bravery. In
oneness of mind and heart, we dare to face all the challenges in life,
and even on threats to life in the midst of Covid -19 pandemic and other
social and worldly atrocities. Hence, with faith in God, and the
possessions of all those core Augustinian values, we confidently
overcome all our fears, anxieties, and the trials that come along our
way. We take pride in soaring high and shouting to the whole world that
we are truly blooded Augustinians in caritas, veritas and unitas.

MODULE 5: CLOSING PRAYER

Closing Prayer: Please pray the Official Prayer after Class.

Leader: Our help is in the name of the Lord,

All: Who made heaven and earth.
Leader: Let us pray.
All: God, the desire of every human heart, you moved Saint
Augustine to seek restlessly for truth and peace. Touch
our hearts with his burning desire for wisdom, for the Word
made flesh. We ask this through Christ, our Lord. Amen.
Leader: Glory be to the Father and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.
All: As it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen.

2021-2022 Module Packet for ASF 1 (The Life, Works, Teachings and Spirituality of Saint Augustine of
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MODULE 5: REFERENCES

 Batayola, A. (2017). Passion for Augustinian Spirituality: Love of Knowledge and Search
for Truth, in Augustinian International Congress 2017, Pensylvannia: Villanova
University. Retrieved from
http://augustinians.net/uploads/downloads/edu/abatayola.pdf.
 Esmeralda. A. (2003). The Ten Augustinian Values. Retrieved from
https://www.coursehero.com/file/43646021/4-TEN-AUGUSTINIAN-VALUESpptx/.
 Hojilla, F. (2020). Manual on the Life and Works of Saint Augustine of Hippo,
(unpublished). Iloilo City: USA Office for Theological Studies and Formation.
 Hojilla, F. (2021). Manual on the Augustinian Studies and Formation 1 on The Life, Works,
Teachings, and Spirituality of Saint Augustine of Hippo, (unpublished) Iloilo City: USA
Center for Religious Studies.
 Hojilla, F. (1997). Augustinian Education On Values and Professionalism, Makati City:
Colegio de San Agustin -Dasmarinas.
 Orcasitas, M.A. (1993). Saint Augustine and the Augustinian Core Values in Education.
Retrieved from https://www.midwestaugustinians.org/augustinian-values-institute.
 Zagarella, J. (2020).” Lay Faculty’s Understanding and Operationalization of Augustinian
Core Values in Secondary Education. A Dissertation. Retrieved from
https://scholarship.shu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3869&context=dissertations.

2021-2022 Module Packet for ASF 1 (The Life, Works, Teachings and Spirituality of Saint Augustine of
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MODULE 6: THE WORKS OF SAINT AUGUSTINE OF HIPPO: THEIR

CATEGORIES

MODULE 6: OPENING PRAYER

INSTRUCTION: IF YOU ARE READY, YOU CAN NOW START WITH

MODULE 6. HUMBLY ASK GOD THEN TO ACCOMPANY YOU BY
RECITING SILENTLY THE PRAYER BELOW!

Opening Prayer: As we start with this lesson, I invite you to

pray the Official Prayer before class.

Leader: When we live in unity,

All: How good and how pleasant it is.
Leader: Pray for us, Holy Father Augustine,
All: That we may dwell together in peace.
Leader: Let us pray,
All: God our Father, Your Son promised to be present in the midst
of all who come together in His name. Help us to recognize
His presence among us and experience in our our hearts the
abundance of Your grace, Your mercy, and Your peace, in
truth and in love. We ask this, through Christ our Lord. Amen.

A grace-filled day! Welcome to Module 6.

In this module, we will discuss the WORKS OF Saint Augustine of

Hippo and their categories or major divisions. His writings, books,
sermons, letters, and treatises will be given due consideration and
importance. The sources of his works will also be given justice as
they pave the way for us readers to know all of those works and their
respective categories. In this module, Saint Augustine will be
presented not only as an eloquent speaker or orator but also as a
2021-2022 Module Packet for ASF 1 (The Life, Works, Teachings and Spirituality of Saint Augustine of
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prolific writer, a genuine Servant of Christ, and Doctor of Grace
during his time. Those legacies are still very much alive and active
even in the contemporary generation. His written works serve as
guide for the Church in matters of faith, morality and in social
teachings, and consider significant in defending all those teachings.
Those works further have given the readers the inspiration,
motivation, and encouragement to venture themselves not only in the
field of preaching but also of writing.

Consultation hours
Phone/messenger:
Virtual time:

MODULE 6: LEARNING OBJECTIVES

By the end of the module, students will be able to:

1. discuss the important works of Augustine of Hippo and their

corresponding categories or divisions.
2. appreciate the works of Augustine which he left as legacies,
and served as his valuable contributions to the doctrines, and
the apostolate of the Catholic Church
3. make a satisfactory attempt to write a letter in support of the
legacy of the Church especially in this time of Covid-19
pandemic, or write a prayer for our Pope, Cardinals, Bishops,
priests, and other Church leaders.

MODULE 6: COURSE CONTENTS

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Below is the Schedule for Module 6.

ACTIVITY DESCRIPTION TIME TO

OVERVIEW COMPLETE
Opening Prayer 3 minutes
The Sources of
1 the Works of
Saint
Augustine of 30-40 minutes
Hippo
Writings
2A 30-45minutes
Books
2B 30-45 minutes
Sermons
2C 30-45 minutes

2D Letters/Treatises

Assessment Task 160 minutes

Conclusion 10-15 minutes
Closing Prayer 5 minutes

PRE-ASSESSMENT TASK: (Brainstorming)

Kindly answer the following questions freely:

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1. If ask to write a Letter, to whom shall you address that
Letter? Why? What kind of a Letter it would Be?
2. Can you cite two (2) to three (3) sentences that serve as
the flesh/content of your Letter? Thank you!

SHORT DEEPENING LEADING TO THE LECTURE/DISCUSSION PROPER:

MODULE 6: Activity 1– SOURCES OF THE WORKS OF AUGUSTINE OF

HIPPO

Please read the script below.

SOURCES OF SAINT AUGUSTINE’S WORKS

1. The Retractations (Retractationes, 426-427) – Augustine

writes it in which he examines all his books and either
corrects, confirms or clarifies his thoughts, teachings,
and positions.
2. The Indiculus – This is the list made by Possidius (believed
to be the biographer of Augustine), the close associate of
Augustine.

MODULE 6: Activity 2A – THE WRITINGS OF SAINT AUGUSTINE OF

HIPPO
Please read the script below.

WRITINGS OF SAINT AUGUSTINE OF HIPPO

Although Augustine provided no detailed description of how
exactly he wrote his manuscripts, he left passing evidence that

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suggests he frequently used the traditional methods of his time. As was
the custom, he employed a noterarius (a note-taker or stenographer),
who recorded his words in a shorthand called tironian notes, named
after the secretary of Cicero, M. Tullius Tiro, who invented it. The
dictation was then written out in longhand, corrected and edited. When,
for example, this system was used by him for De Trinitate (“On the
Trinity”), Augustine became angered when some of his brethren
published (i.e., copied and circulated) a draft before it was edited.

But Augustine did not always use this method. For example, when
writing a biblical commentary, he made notes in the margins of the
biblical text, and these were subsequently copied in longhand when he
felt that he had made as many notes as desired.

In composing his longer works, he resorted to publishing sections

progressively in instalments. From internal evidence, it is known that De
Civitate Dei (“City of God”) was published in fascicles over a thirteen-
year period. De Doctrina Christiana (“On Christian Doctrine”) is unusual
in that he decided to complete it after a period of thirty years. The first
version ended at Book III: 25, 35. Toward the end of his life, in the years
426-427, Augustine added the end of the third book and the concluding
fourth book.

Because the copying of handwritten manuscripts was an

expensive and time-consuming process, books were not copied by
speculation ahead of time (i.e., before somebody came forward with the
money with which to commission the making of a copy). Nor were there
any commercial booksellers. To facilitate the circulation of his written
works, Augustine at times deposited copies of them with trusted
friends, who would then authorize further copies to be prepared upon
request.

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In the discussion so far, a glimpse into Augustine’s writings was
presented. He had written a good number of books in the monastery he
founded in Tagaste. In his polemic with the four major schisms or
heresies, he tried to defend the teachings of the Catholic Church.
Before his death, he planned to arrange all his writings (including
those which he was not able to complete). These writings are now in
his work “Reconsiderations” (retr.). Here he divided his writings into
three categories: books, sermons, and letters.

MODULE 6: Activity 2B – THE BOOKS OF SAINT AUGUSTINE OF HIPPO

Please read the script below.

BOOKS (LIBRI) WRITTEN BY SAINT AUGUSTINE OF HIPPO

Augustine wrote books on various topics like philosophy,
theology, and hermeneutics. He wrote about skepticism (c. Acad.),
happiness (b. vita), evil (ord.), the immortality of the soul (sol.; imm.an.),
freedom of choice and human responsibility (lib. arb.), pedagogy (mag.),
the numeric structure of reality (mus.), and religion (vera rel.). He also
wrote about controversies involving the Manicheans, the Donatists, the
Arians, and the Pelagians. Lastly, he also wrote books on hermeneutics
(which will be discussed below). Of course, the “literary lion” of Africa
is famous for his long treatises. The first among the list is his
autobiographical work entitled “The Confessions” (conf.). It has thirteen
books written between 397 and 400 AD. The work outlines Saint
Augustine’s sinful youth and his conversion to Christianity (books 1-9).
The remaining four books are on memory, time, and his interpretation of
the book of Genesis. The second is “On the Trinity” (trin.) where
Augustine explains to his critics the Nicene Creed, specifically how the
doctrine of the divinity and coequality of the Father, the Son, and the
Holy Spirit is present in Scripture. Containing fifteen books, “On the
Trinity” was written to convince philosophers that Christ is the Wisdom
they sought and to show them that human persons are created to the

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image of the one and triune God. Trinity, a communion of love, with the
first two Commandments of the Old and New Testaments on which God
as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, was biblically revealed. The last is “On
the City of God” (civ. Dei) which he wrote between 413 and 426 as a
response to pagan claims that the sack of Rome by the barbarians in
410 was one of the consequences of the abolition of pagan worship by
Christian emperors. In 22 books, the bishop argues that Christianity
saved the city from complete destruction and that Rome’s fall was the
result of internal moral decay. He also presents and elaborates on his
vision of two societies – that of the elect (“The City of God”) and that of
the damned (“The City of Man”). These “cities” are symbolic
embodiments of the two spiritual powers – faith and unbelief – that have
contended with each other since the fall of the angels and will continue
to do so until the end of time.

A. AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL WORKS

1. The Confessions
2. The Retractations

B. PHILOSOPHICAL WORKS

1. On the Beautiful and the Fit (De Pulchro et Apto) – first work of
Augustine.
2. The Dialogues. In this work, Augustine confronts important
philosophical problems on truths, happiness, order, immortality,
and magnitude of the soul, the existence of evil, and the Interior
Teacher.

C. BOOKS WRITTEN IN CASSICIACUM

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1. Against the Academics. Augustine confronts skepticism in order
to prove that man is able to attain truth.
2. On Happy Life. Augustine shows that happy life or true happiness
lies in the knowledge of God.
3. On Order. Augustine proposes the problem of the existence of evil
and the Divine Providence.
4. On Solliloquies. Augustine explains the conditions for the search
of God and the argument in favor of the immortality of the soul.

D. BOOKS WRITTEN IN MILAN

1. The Immortality of the Soul. This work consists of the concise and
difficult to understand notes intended to supplement the
Solliloquies.
2. On Music. This is a treatise on rhythm and melody.

E. BOOKS WRITTEN IN ROME

1. The Magnitude of the Soul. Augustine treats on the different

questions concerning the soul.
2. The Free Choice. Augustine treats extensively the problem of the
origin of evil and some related questions of freedom, moral law,
existence of God and the Divine Providence.

F. BOOKS WRITTEN IN TAGASTE

1. On Discipline. This is an encyclopedic work in which Augustine

intends to demonstrate how one should ascend to God from his
contact or affair with the material things.

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2. The Teacher (De Magistra). This was accomplished after his
dialogue with his son Adeodatus. Augustine shows that man
learns from the Interior Teacher who is God.

G. APOLOGETICAL WORKS

1. The True Religion. The Triune God should be honored with the
religion. Only the Catholics have this religion.
2. The Usefulness of Believing. This is Augustine’s first work as a
priest, in which he offers a profound analysis of the relationship
between faith and reason.
3. The City of God. This work contains the synthesis of his
philosophical as well as his theological and political thoughts.

H. DOGMATIC WORKS

1. Faith and the Creed. This work is an application of the articles of

faith.
2. Concerning 83 Different Questions. In this work, Augustine
answers philosophical, dogmatic, and exegetical questions
addressed to him.
3. Concerning Faith and Works. In here, Augustine demonstrates that
faith should be accompanied with good works.
4. Concerning The Presence of God. Augustine explains the doctrine
of the indwelling Spirit in the soul of the just.
5. On Seeing God. Augustine treats the possibility of seeing God with
the eyes of our bodies.
6. Enchiridion or Concerning Faith, Hope, and Charity. This is a
manual for theology in which Augustine speaks of relationship on
the three theological virtues of faith, hope, and charity.
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I. MORAL AND SPIRITUAL WORKS

1. The Christian Combat. This was written during the first year of his
Episcopate. This is a manual for Christian Living which contains
instruction in faith for ordinary people.
2. On Catechizing The Uninstructed. This is a manual for
catechetical instruction which is rich in pedagogical instruction.
3. On The Good of Marriage. Augustine in this work speaks of the
good of marriage on the occasion of controversy provoked by
Jovian.
4. On The Continence. This is a treatise on the virtue and the Divine
gift of continence.
5. On Holy Virginity. Augustine in this work teaches on the dignity of
virginity but without reducing the value of married life.
6. On Patience. This is a treatise on the virtue and the Divine gift of
patience.
7. On Gaining Marriages. Augustine in this work demonstrates the
indissolubility of marriage even when adultery has been
committed.

J. MONASTIC WORKS

1. The Rule. This is short but full of wise norms for monastic life.
2. The Works of the Monks. Augustine in this work teaches that
monks should beside from praying should do physical works when
sickness, pastoral work, or studies do not impede them.

K. EXEGETICAL WORKS
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A. OLD TESTAMENT

1. On the Genesis of the Manicheans. In this work, Augustine intends

to destroy the Manichean arguments against Genesis.

B. NEW TESTAMENT

1. The Sermon on the Mount. This work is a series of homilies as the

explanation of the discourse on the mount.
2. The Harmony of the Evangelists. This work is a response to the
many accusations against the pagans who accuse them of having
attributed wrongly of the Divinity of Christ.

L. POLEMICAL WORKS

A. AGAINST THE MANICHEANS

1. The Catholic and the Manichean Ways of Life. It contains

Augustine’s first apology for faith in the first year of his
conversion.
2. On The Two Souls. This is an attack to the Manichean’s thesis that
in man exists two souls; one came from God, and the other from
the principle of evil.
3. Dispute Against Manichean Fortunatus. Augustine maintains that
evil proceeds from man’s will to sin.
4. Against The Manichean Adimantus. Augustine refutes the
Manichean thesis that there is an opposition between the Old
Testament and the New Testament.

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5. Against The Manichean Faustus. Augustine argues that
Manicheans have no reason to claim themselves as Christians.
6. On The Nature of Good. Augustine demonstrates that everything
in as much as they exist, is good. Evil is nothing but a deprivation
or absence of good.

B. AGAINST THE DONATISTS

1. Against The Letter of Parmeniani. Augustine teaches that in the

unity of the Church and in the reception of the sacraments, evil
does not contaminate the good.
2. On Baptism. This is a basic work in which Augustine shows the
validity of the baptism administered by the heretics.
3. On the Unity of the Church. Augustine insists on the fundamental
idea that the true Church of Christ is universal.
4. On One Baptism Against Petilian. In this work, Augustine held that
baptism properly administered by heretics or schismatic was valid
but not licit if the recipient was outside the fold of the Church.

MODULE 6: Activity 2C – THE SERMONS OF SAINT AUGUSTINE OF

HIPPO
Please read the script below.

SERMONS (SERMO/TRACTATE/ENARRATIONES) OF AUGUSTINE

OF HIPPO
There are various titles given to the collections of Augustine’s
preaching. It can also be called “Exposition” as applied to his preaching
on the book of Psalms (en. Ps.), or “Tractates” as applied to his
commentaries on the “Gospel of John” (Jo. ev. tr.) and “First Letter of
John” (ep. Jo.). The rest are simply called “Sermons” (ser.). In any case,
during the time of Augustine, sermon became the more common word
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for preaching of whatever kind whether catechetical, exegetical, or
exhortatory.
Augustine preached mostly at Hippo (about 146 sermons). He also
preached in Carthage, the Metropolitan See where 106 sermons were
delivered. A dozen of sermons were preached in various cities, while it
is hard to determine the exact context of the remaining 188 sermons.
Some 50 sermons deal with the Old Testament and 123 on the New
Testament. He preached twice a week – Saturday and Sunday - and
often for several days running. Sometimes he did so twice a day. His
sermons lasted on the average from about half an hour to an hour and a
half or two hours. In preaching the Scripture, he was aware of the
radical unity between the Old Testament and the New Testament - a
unity which derives from the fact that both have a single author.
Although there are differences between them, they are united to each
other through the mystery of Christ, who is hidden in the Old Testament
and disclosed in the New Testament. Augustine’s way of thinking can
be quite complicated even when he tries to explain himself in apparently
very simple formulas. This is true of each theme he treats in his sermons
when taken separately; he seems to think of all the themes as
interwoven in any single sermon. That is why even though his topic is
on a particular biblical text, he would resort to other biblical passages
to explicate his point.

AN EXCERPTS FROM THE SERMONS OF SAINT AUGUSTINE OF

HIPPO:

“My ambition as a youth was to apply to the study of the Holy

Scriptures all the refinement of dialectics. I did so, but without the
humility of the true searcher. I was supposed to knock at the door so
that it would open for me. Instead, I was pushing I closed, trying to
understand in pride what is only learned in humility. However, the all-
merciful Lord lifted me up and kept me safe”. (Sermon, 51, 6)

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Our Lord said: “No one can come to Me unless the Father Who sent
Me draws that person.” This is a great commendation of grace! Do not
make judgments about whom God draws and whom He does not draw
unless you wish to fall into error. Accept this one and for all, and
understand it: you are not yet drawn to God? Pray that you may be
drawn! (Sermon on John 26,2)
Rest assured that the possibility of death starts with the beginning
of life. In this world of ours, only those who are not yet born can claim
not to be as yet due to die. That is why the uncertain day of death
become a daily contingence for you and me alike. (Sermon 9, 2)

MODULE 6: Activity 2D – THE LETTERS/TREATISES OF SAINT

AUGUSTINE OF HIPPO
Please read the script below.

In Augustinian scholarship, “Letters” (Epistulae) is a term used to

include all of Augustine’s writings that are neither a sermon nor a book.
There are 269 extant letters of Augustine. It is believed that he began
to write them as early as 386 or 387 when he was still at Cassiciacum
and continued doing so until towards his death in 430.
Augustine’s letters are considered as “a vast treasure trove of his
thoughts and feelings.” They contain his own theological or
catechetical viewpoints. They were not personal or intimate documents
but public writings containing Augustine’s teaching and sometimes
ecclesiastical and political stand. Some of them reach the length of full
treatises and offer excellent philosophical discussions. Some of his
letters served as “a form of conversation for those he could not meet.”
By sending letters, Augustine drew himself closer to those he had not
personally met (like Jerome and Paulinus) and was able to know them
at least by the views they expressed in their response to him. In 1969,
Johannes Divjak of Vienna found in Marseilles a treasure of 29 letters
attributed to the African bishop during the obscure final decades of his

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life. They are now called Augustine’s “Divjak letters.” Unfortunately,
after his death, Possidius made an inventory of Augustine’s letters found
in the library of Hippo. It was found out that approximately one third of
the letters were already lost.
Overall, Augustine’s works have influenced the Western world in
many ways, but most especially in the theological and the philosophical
fields. Because of this, he was called “river of eloquence” (flumen
eloquentiae) by the African historian Victor of Vita. In the contemporary
period, his legacy is lauded by the Church. St. John Paul II, in his
Apostolic Letter on the occasion of the 16th centenary of the conversion
of Saint Augustine, Augustinum Hipponsensem, recommends that “his
philosophical, theological and spiritual doctrine be studied and spread,
so that he (Augustine) may continue ... his teaching in the Church, a
humble but at the same time enlightened teaching which speaks above
all of Christ and love.”

THE SEVENTEEN (17) SELECTED TREATISES OF SAINT

AUGUSTINE OF HIPPO
1. Concerning Faith of Things Not Seen
2. Of Faith, and of the Creed
3. Enchiridion to Laurentius on Faith, Hope and Charity
4. On the Christian Conflict
5. On the Catechizing of the Unlearned
6. Of Continence
7. On the Good of Marriage
8. Of Holy Virginity
9. On the Good of Widowhood
10. On Lying
11. To Consentius: Against Lying
12. On the Works of the Monks
13. On Care to Be Had for the Dead
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14. On Patience
15. On the Creed: A Sermon to the Catechumens
16. On the Profit of Believing
17. Of Faith and Works

(Retrieved from: https://www.biblestudytools.com/classics/augustine-

seventeen-short-treatises-of-s-augustine/.)

MODULE 6: ASSESSMENT TASK: (Complete Instructions are found in

NEO LMS – Assignment Portion. Thank You!)

ESSAY: (QUIZ) Kindly work on your task reflecting on the given

rubrics:
CONTENT/ORGANIZATION = 2O PTS.
PUNCTUALITY = 5 PTS.
TOTAL = 25 PTS

 Write a Letter or Prayer in support of the legacy or works of the

Church.
 OR
 A Letter to our Government Leaders/Local Officials

MODULE 6: CONCLUSION
We have learned in Module 6 the different works of Augustine of
Hippo particularly his writings, books, sermons, letters and treatises.
Based on the discussion, we have found out that those works of Saint
Augustine of Hippo help the Church in defending the faith, and he
challenges some heresies through his preaching. Those splendid works
are considered significant contributions of Saint Augustine which had
attributed to his title as a prolific writer, Servant of Christ and Doctor of
the Church. Great are his works and worthy to be interiorized for they
provide illumination or enlightenment to those who go astray
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particularly in matters of faith and morality. Just like our Father Saint
Augustine of Hippo, we too are encouraged to develop our writing skills
that we may be able to preach the Good News and defend our faith
against all attacks and accusations with courage and bravery. As
students, you are expected to accomplish your research works/thesis.
This lesson then had somehow given you the inspiration to work on your
requirements with patience, humility, sense of dedication and honest
expression of your ideas and insights.

MODULE 6: CLOSING PRAYER

Closing Prayer: Please pray the Official Prayer after Class.

Leader: Our help is in the name of the Lord,

All: Who made heaven and earth.
Leader: Let us pray.
All: God, the desire of every human heart, you moved Saint
Augustine to seek restlessly for truth and peace. Touch
our hearts with his burning desire for wisdom, for the Word
made flesh. We ask this through Christ, our Lord. Amen.
Leader: Glory be to the Father and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.
All: As it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen.

MODULE 6: REFERENCES

 Ebbeler, J. (2012). Disciplining Christians: Corrections and Community in Augustine’s

Letters, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
 Hojilla, F. (2020). Manual on the Life and Works of Saint Augustine of Hippo,
(unpublished). Iloilo City: USA Office for Theological Studies and Formation.
 Hojilla, F. (2021). Manual on the Augustinian Studies and Formation 1 on The Life,
Works, Teachings, and Spirituality of Saint Augustine of Hippo, (unpublished). Iloilo
City: USA Office for Augustinian Studies and Formation.
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 John Paul II, (1986). Apostolic Letter on the Occasion of the 16th Centenary of the
Conversion of St. Augustine, Bishop and Doctor (Augustinum Hipponsensem), 28
August 1986, Vatican Archive. Retrieved from http://www.vatican.va/content/john-
paul-ii/en/apost_letters/1986/documents/hf_jp-
ii_apl_26081986_augustinumhipponensem.html.
 O’Donnell, J. (2001). “Augustine: His Time and Lives,” in The Cambridge Companions
to Augustine, eds. E. Stump and N. Kretzman, 8-25, Cambridge: Cambridge University.
 Pellegrino, M. (1990). “Introduction,” in The Works of Saint Augustine: A Translation
for the 21st -century, Part III: Sermons, Vol 1: Sermons 1-19, 12-168, Brooklyn, New
York: New City Press.
 Trape, A. (1986). Saintt Augustine: Man, Pastor, Mystic. New York: Catholic Book
Publishing Co.
 Van Der Meer, F. (1965). Augustine the Bishop, trans. B. Battershaw and G. Lamb,
New York: Harper Torchbooks.
 Van Fleteren, F. (2004). “Principles of Augustine’s Hermeneutic: An Overview,” in
Augustine: Biblical Exegete, ed. F. Van Flateren and J. Schnaubelt, 2-32, New York:
Peter Lang.
 Young, F. (2003). “Alexandrian and Antiochene Exegesis,” in A History of Biblical of
Biblical Interpretation, vol. 1: The Ancient Period, eds. A. Hanser and D. Watson, 334-
354, Grand Rapids: Eerdsman, 334ff.

 http://www.augnet.org/en/works-of-augustine/writings-of-augustine/2109-his-writing-
method/.

 https://www.biblestudytools.com/classics/augustine-seventeen-short-treatises-of-s-
augustine/.

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MODULE 7: THE CONFESSIONS OF SAINT AUGUSTINE OF HIPPO

MODULE 7: OPENING PRAYER

INSTRUCTION: IF YOU ARE READY, YOU CAN NOW START WITH

MODULE 7. HUMBLY ASK GOD THEN TO ACCOMPANY YOU BY
RECITING SILENTLY THE PRAYER BELOW!

Opening Prayer: As we start with this lesson, I invite you to

pray the Official Prayer before class.

Leader: When we live in unity,

All: How good and how pleasant it is.
Leader: Pray for us, Holy Father Augustine,
All: That we may dwell together in peace.
Leader: Let us pray,
All: God our Father, Your Son promised to be present in the midst
of all who come together in His name. Help us to recognize
His presence among us and experience in our our hearts the
abundance of Your grace, Your mercy, and Your peace, in
truth and in love. We ask this, through Christ our Lord. Amen.

A grace-filled day! Welcome to Module 7.

In this module, we will discuss one of the famous autobiographical

works of Saint Augustine of Hippo known as The Confessions. This
work of

Consultation hours
Phone/messenger:
Virtual time:

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MODULE 7: LEARNING OBJECTIVES

By the end of the module, students will be able to:

1. identify the three kinds of confessions of Augustine such as

sins, praise, and faith, and praise the different attributes of God.
2. display sense of repentance, forgiveness, humility, love for God
and love for one another including love for enemies.

formulate their prayer of contrition, confession of praise, and confession

of faith to God.

MODULE 7: COURSE CONTENTS

Below is the Schedule for Module 7.

ACTIVITY DESCRIPTION TIME TO

OVERVIEW COMPLETE
Opening Prayer 3 minutes
The
1 Confessions:
An Experience
30-35minutes
The Confessions: An
2A Overview 20-25 minutes
The Purpose and the
2B Character of The 20-25 minutes
Confessions

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The Style, Structure
2C and Summary of The 30-45 minutes
Confessions
3A The Reading of The 30-40 minutes
Confessions

3B The Divine Attributes 30-40 minutes

Found in The
Confessions
4 Selected Quotations 30-45 minutes
from The
Confessions: Reading
and Analysis
Assessment Task 160 minutes
Conclusion 10-15 minutes
Closing Prayer 2-3 minutes

PRE-ASSESSMENT TASK: (Brainstorming)

Kindly answer the following questions honestly.

1. When was the last time you had been to confession?

2. Are you willing to go to confession?
3. Why do we confess our sins to the priest? Is confession
important? Support your answer.

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SHORT DEEPENING LEADING TO THE LECTURE/DISCUSSION PROPER:

MODULE 7: Activity 1– THE CONFESSIONS: AN EXPERIENCE

Please read the script below.

I. Introduction:

A. Thoughts of Saint Augustine

“You have made us for Yourself, and our heart is restless until
it rests in You” (The Confessions, Book 1, chapter 1).
“For from You, O God, comes all good things, and from You, my
God, comes all my salvation” (The Confessions, Book 1, chapter
6).
“Not with doubtful but with sure knowledge do I love You, O
Lord. By Your Word, You have transfixed my heart, and I have
loved You” (The Confessions, Book 10, chapter 6).

B. Preliminary Considerations

For you, what is confession? Why is there a need for us to confess

our sins to the priest? We have known in our previous Christian Living
subject or maybe in your religion subject to those of you who graduated
from a Catholic School or maybe from your online catechesis that
Confession is the act of telling our sins to the priest. It is a gesture in
which one feels the desire to be forgiven from his/her sins. There are
some of us who freely approach the priest and be able to say our
confession. But there are also some of us who are afraid if not reluctant
to go to confession. This is the truth – that sometimes we are afraid if
not ashamed to tell our sins to someone in authority to give us the
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absolution and the acts of reparations for the sins we had committed.
However, there are persons who with contrite and sorrowful heart
voluntarily decided or freely approach a priest and go to confession.
There is nothing to be feared of. Our very own Father and Patron Saint,
Saint Augustine of Hippo exemplified to us the value and importance of
Confession in his famous work, The Confessions. For you to acquire
inspiration and an ardent desire, let us now discuss this work of
Augustine which is considered “as the greatest spiritual autobiography”
at all times.

MODULE 7: Activity 2A – THE CONFESSIONS: AN OVERVIEW

Please read the script below.

This work of Augustine, The Confessions, had been

translated into more languages than any Latin writings except
Virgil’s. Eloquent deeply felt, and beautifully written; this work had
been praised throughout the centuries by men of many different
faiths and walks of life as the greatest spiritual autobiography of
all time.
This work is autobiographical in character. It is not an
attempt to tell the story of all the years of the writer’s life, least of
all the outward events of those years. But no writer ever went
deeper into his character and deeds, passed keener judgment
upon himself, or revealed himself more fully and more humbly to
others. It may be asserted also that no writer of his own life’s story
had such a wealth of thought and feeling to draw upon as had Saint
Augustine. For this reason, his book is not only a most penetrating
psychological study and a unique document for understanding the
spiritual and ascetical life, but it is also a storehouse of thoughts
for the philosopher and the theologian, and others as well.
The thirteen (13) books of Saint Augustine’s The Confessions
were written by a man who had great emotional powers along with

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great powers of intellect and will, who had lived a life of conscious
depravity as a quasi-pagan and turned to a life of austerity as a
Catholic, who had genius in philosophy, theology, and psychology;
who was a pioneer in Scriptural studies, who was extraordinary as
a master of language, and who had a strong personal attraction to
others and marked qualities of leadership.
It is assuredly a great book – great in its authorship, great in
its diverse but unified subject matter, great in the form into which
that subject matter has been cast, great at the end for which it
was written, and great in the good effects that it has unfailingly
produced. To become familiar with Saint Augustine’s The
Confessions is to make one’s own confession, to some extent at
least, an inexhaustible source of intellectual stimulation, of
aesthetic delight, of moral help, and spiritual enlightenment.
In this book, the two great intellectual influences upon
Augustine before his conversion were the Manicheism and the
Greek Philosophy, especially as this latter found expression in the
works of Plotinus and other Neo-Platonists. The influence of
Manicheism was for evil; that of Neo-Platonism was for good.
Intellectually, and also morally, his conversion involved a
complete break with Manichean influences and advances in and
beyond Neo-Platonism. Although this process of conversion had its
beginnings in Africa, its full development took place in Italy.
So prolific, Saint Augustine as a writer that with time, it
came to be said: “He lies who says that he has read all of his
works”.

MODULE 7: Activity 2B – THE PURPOSE AND THE CHARACTER OF THE

CONFESSIONS
Please read the script below.

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The title of Saint Augustine’s autobiographical work
indicates its chief purpose and character: it is a statement of what
Augustine has done, and of who he is, as he addresses himself
directly to Almighty God. When he attaches this term to his work,
we immediately think of it as being a confession of sins. So, it is,
and so its author meant it to be. Saint Augustine reveals with
complete candor the sins that he had committed against God.
Also, Augustine confesses sins of pride and ambition; of
frivolity and vanity, of ingratitude and damage to others, of conceit
and deceit, of lying and dishonesty. So too, under the heading of
wrong deeds, he listed his intellectual errors, his addiction to
falsity both in theology and in philosophy. Augustine was not only
a Manichee in religion and one who gave his assent to other false
doctrines, but he was guilty of skepticism and other grave errors
in philosophy.
Along with his sins and errors, Augustine confesses
temptations that assail him. If he can resist them, it is because of
God’s grace and not of any strength of his own. Augustine’s book
is a three-fold confession. It is a confession of sins, a confession
of faith, and a confession of praise. Everything he sees about him
and everything that he finds within him provide evidence for God’s
existence and nature. Everything that he has done, even his sinful
deeds, and everything that he has been done, proclaimed to him
the existence and power of God, “maker and ruler of all things, but
of sins only the ruler”. By God’s grace, he finds God, and by God’s
grace, he is united to God. Hence, Augustine rightly confesses not
only his evil deeds, exceedingly great in thought, word, and deed,
but also his belief and trust in God, his gratitude to God, and his
praise of God.
In this book, Augustine also presented the three-fold ways
that make up the spiritual life. It is a case history, without parallel
in the library of psychology, of a soul as it travels the PURGATIVE

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way, the ILLUMINATIVE way, and the UNITIVE way. These three
ways are not to be thought of as completely separated in time, so
to speak, as if the second succeeded entirely to the first, and the
third displaced the second. Saint Augustine illustrates the fact
that purgation entails a lifelong process. For him, the light flooding
in this book constantly grows stronger and his union with God
constantly grows closer and deeper.
Augustine’s conversion is in one sense a two-fold
conversion: it is a conversion of the intellect and conversion of the
will. In another sense, it is a three-fold conversion (aspects):
philosophical, moral, and religious. It is a purgation of sins against
supernatural truth – the truth revealed by God in His Church, a
purgation of sins against natural truth, as found invalid philosophy,
and purgation of sins in the moral order.
From every order of reality, Saint Augustine can show that
God exists and that He is self-existent; that HE is Infinite; that He
is One and only One; that He is Supremely Good; that He is Truth
itself; that being One, Good, and True, He is likewise Supremely
Beautiful. He puts to work Aristotle’s doctrine of the Ten
Categories, namely: the category of substance, and the nine
categories of accidents. Great and effective use is made of the
Aristotelian doctrine of matter and form for the solution of difficult
problems concerning the creation of things.
Finally, Augustine gives an object lesson on the importance
of sound philosophy, the relation that it bears to theology, and
other sciences, the service that it can render in answering
objections, and its ability to detect and state analogies between
different orders of thought and reality. In theology, in addition to
the basic doctrines of God’s existence, nature, and activity, and
the mystery of the Trinity, Augustine has important passages on
the divinity and humanity of Christ, the Church as Christ’s Mystical
Body, the Sacraments, Divine Grace, and Prayer, including prayer

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for the dead. The first translation into English of The Confessions
was made by a Catholic priest and convert to the Church named
Fr. Tobie Matthew (1577-1655), son of the Protestant Archbishop
of York, a friend of Lord Bacon and translator of his Essays into
Latin.

MODULE 7: Activity 2C – THE STYLE, STRUCTURE AND SUMMARY OF

THE CONFESSIONS
Please read the script below.

A. THE STYLE OF THE CONFESSIONS

In his work, The Confessions, Augustine adopted the form of

prolonged meditation, or prayer addressed directly to God. This is
a most difficult kind of writing to sustain at length, but Augustine
never departs from it, beginning with the memorable invocation at
the start and continuing to the words with which it closes.
Between these two, there are interspersed many formal prayers
and meditations. There are many types of writing, each one
adapted to the particular subject matter at hand, and yet each
kept by Augustine’s art within the basic style of earnest personal
approach to God.

B. THE STRUCTURE OF THE CONFESSIONS

The Structure of The Confessions is simple.

In Books 1 to IX, Augustine tells the story of his life from
Infancy up to his conversion, and the death of his mother on their
return journey to Africa, the period covering the first thirty-three
years of his life
Book X describes his state of mind at the time he was writing
these reminiscences of events that had ended ten years
previously. It presents his further examination of conscience, but
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with emphasis upon his present difficulties rather than upon his
failures. Because he has completed the prodigious feat of memory
that finds expression in Books I-IX, Augustine is naturally
concerned with the character and operation of this power within
him. He takes up also the psychological problem of man’s desire
for happiness.
Books XI, XII, and XIII are an elaborate exegesis of the
opening verses in the Book of Genesis. Being concerned about his
existence, nature, and destiny as a finite being, and wishing above
all to know himself and to know God, it is inevitable that Saint
Augustine should take up the subject of time and eternity and
God’s creation of all things. Augustine continually keeps in view
his three-fold confessions: confession of SIN, confession of FAITH,
and confession of PRAISE, and his three-fold ways of purgation, of
light, and union with God.

C. THE BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE THIRTEENTH BOOKS OF THE

CONFESSIONS

Book I
Book 1 presents Augustine’s childhood. Augustine goes to
school at Tagaste (elementary), and later at Madaura (secondary).
He receives some religious instruction, but even when he is taken
gravely ill, his baptism is deferred.
Book II
He spends a year at home before going to Carthage to
continue his studies. This presents the lust of his adolescence. He
robs a pear tree.
Book III
He goes to Carthage where he abandons himself to a life of
pleasure. Cicero’s Hortensius inspires him with the love of
philosophy. He joins the Manichees as an aspirant or hearer but

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never as an elect. His mother Monica deeply grieves but finds
consolation in a vision.
Book IV
He becomes a teacher of rhetoric at Tagaste and takes a
mistress. He got interested in astrology. Grief at the death of a
close friend leads him to look for consolation in the companionship
of other friends at Carthage. He writes a book on Beauty and
Proportion.

Book V
Faustus, a bishop of the Manichees comes to Carthage.
Augustine was disappointed in finding that Faustus is unable to
settle the discrepancies between the doctrines of the Manichees
and known scientific facts. Against the wishes of his mother, he
leaves for Rome, where he still associates with the Manichees, but
no longer has any firm belief in their doctrines. Instead, he is
attracted to the teaching of the Neo-Platonism. He obtains an
appointment as a professor of rhetoric in Milan. He listens to the
sermons of Saint Ambrose and is impressed but not convinced at
first. His final rejections of the theories of the Manichees appeared
in this book.
Book VI
Monica comes to Milan. Augustine listens regularly to the
sermons of Saint Ambrose and realizes that his previous
conceptions of Christian doctrine were mistaken. He learns that
Scripture is not always to be understood in a literal sense. His
ambition in the world and difficulties over chastity still prevent him
from accepting the faith. He plans to get married and dismissed
his mistress.
Book VII
He still has difficulty in thinking of God as a spiritual Being
and in finding an explanation of the problem of evil. But he is

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helped by the Platonist books. He realizes that evil is a perversion
of the will, not a substance as the Manichees pretend. On this part
of The Confessions, he begins to read the Epistles of Saint Paul.
Book VIII
He is told of the conversion of Victorinus, the translator of
Platonist, and is eager to follow his example, but worldly ambition
and difficulties over chastity hold him back. After hearing how the
two officers of the Emperor’s court were converted by reading the
story of Anthony, the Egyptian monk, he goes into the garden of
his house, where he hears a child’s voice chanting words which he
takes to be a divine message to himself. His conversion was
complete, and his mother was so overjoyed.
Book IX,
He resigns from his appointment and goes with his friends to
a country house at Cassiciacum. At Easter, the following year, he
returns to Milan where he is baptized. With his mother and his
friends, he sets out to return to Africa. While they were waiting for
the ship at Ostia, Augustine and Monica conversed on the life of
the saints in heaven. The death of Monica and the end of the
account of her life had been presented on this part.
Book X
Augustine asks his readers to thank God for his conversion
and to pray for him. He considers the powers of memory. Since all
men long for happiness, they must know in some way what it is,
but the only true happiness is in God. He examines his ability to
master the various temptations of the body. If we have the power
to resist them, it is by God’s grace. Only through Christ, the True
Mediator, we can hope to be reconciled with God.
Book XI
An explanation of the first verse of Genesis: “in the
beginning, God made heaven and earth”. God created the world in
His Word alone, and therefore by the words ‘In the Beginning’, we

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must understand the WORD of GOD. The question “What God was
doing before He made heaven and earth?” is answered by
explaining that when there was no creation, there was no time. It
is, therefore, nonsense to ask what God was doing “then”. This
then leads to the discussion of the problem of time.
Book XII
The meaning of Genesis 1:12: “In the beginning, God made
heaven and earth. The earth was invisible and without form, and
darkness reigned over the deep”. ‘Heaven’ here means spiritual
creation. The Heaven of Heavens, and ‘earth’ - the formless matter
of which the material world, was to be made. He emphasizes the
importance of tolerance where there are plural options, and
confidence where basic Christian faith is concerned.
Book XIII
This book presents the mysteries and allegories of the days
of creation. Augustine undertakes to interpret Genesis 12-31 in a
mystical and allegorical fashion as to exhibit the profundities of
God’s power, wisdom, and love. He is also interested in developing
his theories of hermeneutics on his favorite topic, the Creation. He
finds the Trinity in the account of creation and he ponders the
work of the Spirit moving over the waters. In the firmament, he
finds the allegory of the Holy Scripture and in the dry land and
bitter sea, he finds the decision between the people of God and
the conspiracy of the unfaithful. He develops the theme of “man’s
being” made in the image and likeness of God. He brings his survey
to a climax and his confessions to an end with a meditation on the
goodness of all creation, and the promised rest and blessedness
of the eternal Sabbath, on which God, who is eternal rest, “rested”.

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MODULE 7: Activity 3A – THE READING OF THE CONFESSIONS

Please read the script below: (Excerpt from Book 1, Chapter 1 of
The Confessions)
“Lord, grant me to know and understand which is first, to call
upon You or to praise You, and also which is first, to know You or
to call upon You? But how does one who does not know You call
upon You? For one who does not know You might call another
instead of You. Or must You rather be called upon so that You may
be known? Yet, “how shall they call upon Him in whom they have
not believed? Or how shall they believe without a preacher? And
they shall praise the Lord that seek Him,” for they that seek Him
find Him, and finding Him they shall praise Him. Lord, let me seek
You by calling upon You, and let me call upon You by believing in
You, for You have been preached to us. Lord, my faith calls upon
You, that faith which You have given to me, which You have
breathed into me by the Incarnation of Your Son and through the
ministry of Your preacher.”

MODULE 7: Activity 3B - THE DIVINE ATTRIBUTES FOUND IN THE

CONFESSIONS
Please read the script below.
In Book 1, chapter 2, Augustine tells us that “God is Omnipresent”
who fills heaven and earth. In Book 1, Chapter 3, he further tells us
“God’s Immensity”: “You fill all things, and You fill them all with Your
entire self.” In the same Book, chapter 4, our Father Augustine had
highlighted the different Divine Attributes: Lord, God, Most High, Most
Good, Most Mighty, Most Almighty; Most Beautiful and Most Strong;
Stable and Incomprehensible; Unchangeable, yet Changing all things;
Never New, and Never Old, yet Renewing All Things; leading proud men
into senility, although they know it not; ever Active, and ever at Rest;
Gathering in, yet needing nothing; Supporting, Fulfilling, and Protecting

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Things; Creating, Nourishing, and Perfecting them; Searching them out.
Love but not inflamed in passion; jealous, yet free from care; Repent,
but do not sorrow; grows angry, but remain tranquil…” In Book 7,
chapter 10, he calls God the “Infinite Light”, “Eternal Truth”, “True
Love”, and the “Beloved Eternity” who became his helper and enables
him to know eternity. And still in Book 7, chapter 11, Augustine
characterizes Him as the “Infinite God”.

MODULE 7:
Activity 4 – SELECTED QUOTATIONS FROM THE
CONFESSIONS: READING AND ANALYSIS

Please read the texts below taken from The Confessions and
reflect on the lessons or values learned from this famous work or
book of Saint Augustine of Hippo.
A. “You are great, O Lord, and greatly to be praised: great is
your power and to your wisdom, there is no limit. And man,
who is a part of your creation, wishes to praise you, a man
who bears within himself his mortality, who bears about
within himself testimony to his sin and testimony that you
resist the proud. Yet man, this part of your creation,
wishes to praise you. You arouse him to take joy in
praising you, for you have made us for yourself, and our
heart is restless until it rests in you” (The Confessions,
Book 1, chapter 1).
B. “Lord, I will love you, and give thanks to you, and confess
to your name, since you have forgiven me so many evils
and so many impious works. To your grace and your
mercy, I ascribe it that you have dissolved my sins as if
they were ice. To your grace, I ascribe also whatsoever

2021-2022 Module Packet for ASF 1 (The Life, Works, Teachings and Spirituality of Saint Augustine of
Hippo). Center for Religious Studies, University of San Agustin, Iloilo City, Philippines.

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evils I have not done” (The Confessions, Book 2, chapter
7).
C. “He who knows the truth knows that light and he who
knows it knows eternity. Love knows it, O eternal truth,
and true love, and beloved eternity! You are my God, and
I sigh for you day and night” (The Confessions, Book 7,
chapter 10).
D. “With thanksgiving let me remember, O my God, all your
mercies to me and let me confess them to you. Let my
bones be filled with your love, and let them say to you:
‘Lord, who is like unto you? You have broken my bonds. I
will sacrifice to you the sacrifice of praise.’ I will relate
how you broke them asunder. And when they hear these
things, let all who adore you say: “Blessed be the Lord, in
heaven and on earth. Great and wonderful is his name”
(The Confessions, Book 8, chapter 1).
E. “When I called upon you, you heard me, O God of my
justice! When I was in distress, you have enlarged me.
Have mercy on me, and hear my prayer” (The Confessions,
Book 9, chapter 4).
F. “Too late I have loved you, O Beauty so ancient and so
new, too late have I loved you! Behold, you were within
me, while I was outside: it was there that I sought you,
and, a deformed creature, rushed headlong upon these
things of beauty which you have made. You were with me,
but I was not with you” (The Confessions, Book 10,
chapter 27).

2021-2022 Module Packet for ASF 1 (The Life, Works, Teachings and Spirituality of Saint Augustine of
Hippo). Center for Religious Studies, University of San Agustin, Iloilo City, Philippines.

Email: crs@usa.edu.ph | Tel. No.: 0999-997-1485 | Fax No.: (033) 337-4403

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G. “All my hope is found solely in your exceeding great
mercy. Give what you command, and command what you
will” (The Confessions, Book 10, chapter 29).
H. “O Lord my God, ‘be attentive to my prayer’, and in your
mercy graciously hear my desire, for it burns not for me
alone but desires to be for the use of fraternal charity”
(The Confessions, Book 11, chapter 2).
I. “Amid this diversity of true opinions, let truth itself beget
concord. ‘May our God have mercy on us’, so that we may
lawfully use the law, according to the end of the
commandment, in pure charity” (The Confessions, Book
12, chapter 30).
J. “I call upon you, my God, my mercy, who made me and
did not forget me, although I forgot you. I call you into my
soul, which you prepare to accept you by the longing that
you breathe into it. Do not desert me now when I call upon
you, for before I called upon you, you went ahead and
helped me” (The Confessions, Book 13, chapter 1).
K. “Thanks be to you, O Lord! We see heaven and earth,
whether the corporeal part, superior and inferior, or
spiritual and corporeal creation. And in the adorning of
these parts, where of consists either the world’s universal
mass or absolutely all creation, we see light made and
divided from darkness” (The Confessions, Book 13,
chapter 32).

2021-2022 Module Packet for ASF 1 (The Life, Works, Teachings and Spirituality of Saint Augustine of
Hippo). Center for Religious Studies, University of San Agustin, Iloilo City, Philippines.

Email: crs@usa.edu.ph | Tel. No.: 0999-997-1485 | Fax No.: (033) 337-4403

 University of San Agustin
General Luna St., 5000 Iloilo City, Philippines
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MODULE 7: ASSESSMENT TASK: (Complete Instructions are found in
NEO LMS – Assignment Portion. Thank. You!)

ESSAY: (QUIZ) Kindly work on your task reflecting on the given

rubrics:
CONTENT/ORGANIZATION = 2O PTS.
PUNCTUALITY = 5 PTS.
TOTAL = 25 PTS

1. Written Reflection on the student’s own Confession Experience.

Write your reflection in five (5) to six (6) sentences only.

2. Write your own “Act of Contrition, Confession of Faith and Praise to

God” in not less than seven sentences or more than ten sentences.

OR

3. Group yourselves freely into 5. Then kindly choose one or two

quotations from The Confessions and share your reflections or
analysis with your team. Please write your answers in the
dashboard or in the discussion board. Thank you. God bless.

MODULE 7: CONCLUSION
We have learned in Module 7 the different contents and lessons
found in one of the famous autobiographical works of Saint Augustine
of Hippo known as The Confessions. The reading of this work enables
us readers to acquire knowledge not only of his life and works but also
of how he intimately related himself with God, our Creator and Almighty
Father. He had successfully told us of the many attributes of God that
would lead us to love God with all our heart and mind. In his work,
Augustine had won the victory in recognizing good from evil and by
2021-2022 Module Packet for ASF 1 (The Life, Works, Teachings and Spirituality of Saint Augustine of
Hippo). Center for Religious Studies, University of San Agustin, Iloilo City, Philippines.

Email: crs@usa.edu.ph | Tel. No.: 0999-997-1485 | Fax No.: (033) 337-4403

 University of San Agustin
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CENTER FOR RELIGIOUS STUDIES

exerting on the attributes of God to strengthen our belief and praise in
Him. He likewise introduced to us the kinds of conversion that he had
experienced, and he further identified the sins that he had committed
against God. At the end, he encourages and inspires us to look upon God
with humility, contrite heart, dependence, and mindful of his grace and
mercy and compassion - humbly asking God to make our heart restless
until it rests in Him.
This splendid work of Saint of Augustine of Hippo, The
Confessions, is considered as “the greatest spiritual autobiography” at
all times. In this work, we are reminded by Saint Augustine to express
our confession to God not only in terms of the sins we had committed
but also on the way we adore him by way of praising, glorifying, and
believing or trusting in Him, the Source of Life and Love.

MODULE 7: CLOSING PRAYER

Closing Prayer: Please pray the Official Prayer after Class.

Leader: Our help is in the name of the Lord,

All: Who made heaven and earth.
Leader: Let us pray.
All: God, the desire of every human heart, you moved Saint
Augustine to seek restlessly for truth and peace. Touch
our hearts with his burning desire for wisdom, for the Word
made flesh. We ask this through Christ, our Lord. Amen.
Leader: Glory be to the Father and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.
All: As it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen.

2021-2022 Module Packet for ASF 1 (The Life, Works, Teachings and Spirituality of Saint Augustine of
Hippo). Center for Religious Studies, University of San Agustin, Iloilo City, Philippines.

Email: crs@usa.edu.ph | Tel. No.: 0999-997-1485 | Fax No.: (033) 337-4403

 University of San Agustin
General Luna St., 5000 Iloilo City, Philippines
www.usa.edu.ph

CENTER FOR RELIGIOUS STUDIES

MODULE 7: REFERENCES
 Boulding, M. (1997). The Confessions, New York: New City Press.
 Hojilla, F. (2020). Manual on the Life and Works of Saint Augustine of Hippo (unpublished).
Iloilo City: USA Office for Theological Studies and Formation.
 Hojilla, F. (2021). Manual on the Augustinian Studies and Formation 1 on The Life, Works,
Teachings, and Spirituality of Saint Augustine of Hippo, (unpublished) Iloilo City: USA
Center for Religious Studies.
 Ryan, J. (1960). The Confessions of St. Augustine. New York: A Division of Doubleday &
Company, Inc.

2021-2022 Module Packet for ASF 1 (The Life, Works, Teachings and Spirituality of Saint Augustine of
Hippo). Center for Religious Studies, University of San Agustin, Iloilo City, Philippines.

Email: crs@usa.edu.ph | Tel. No.: 0999-997-1485 | Fax No.: (033) 337-4403