San Agustín and the care and deference to the vulnerable, the elderly and the sick.

Less than a week ago we celebrated Grandparents Day (festival of Saint Joachin and Saint Ann) and today we open the month with the greatest Augustinian imprint. What did Saint Augustine say about who are most vulnerable because of their age or health? The Augustinian Recollect Enrique Eguiarte answered the question.

The rich doctrine of Saint Augustine (354-430) casts its light on almost all the great mysteries of human life and faith. In his walk through the paths of this world, as like any other mortal, the saint had many gestures indicative of his fine sensitivity to three of these great mysteries: weakness, disease and aging.

The sick in the Rule

Saint Augustine always had a great deference towards the elderly. In fact, his Rule of monasticism is one of the best displays of humanity and compassion that exist in the history of christian monasticism.

Augustine in his Rule always speaks of a discipline, an order that must be observed within the community life. But he also pointedly points out that this very order has exceptions moved by charity.

In this way, those who are weak or sick can see the strict discipline of the monastery. Augustine practiced with them the “wide sleeve”, in colloquial terms. He distinguishes between the sick (aegrotus) and the weak (infirmus).

Within this second group are found both those who came to monastic life from a comfortable and luxurious life, not at all accustomed to the life of the convent, but also people of a certain age.

Saint Augustine was aware that the fundamental thing in the Christian life is charity and that without it does not build the Kingdom of God. That is why he treats with great mercy and humanity the sick and elderly people.

Augustine and Valerio

In fact, before writing the Rule, Saint Augustine had already had the opportunity to show deference and attention to the elderly in his dealings with his bishop, Valerio. We know that Valerio was a proven person, whose mother tongue was Greek, and to whom Saint Augustine never denied him his help. Thus, in Letter 21, Saint Augustine asked Valerio to after his priestly ordination he granted him three months to prepare himself by studying the Holy Scriptures and thus be able to exercise the ministry.

However, the old bishop could not please him. Augustine had to help him immediately in the preparation of the competent, that is, the catechumens who were being prepared during the Lent to receive baptism at Easter.

In addition, at the request of Valerio himself, he immediately began to preach to the people, in front of the custom of the Church at that time that only the bishops preached. Difficulties of the bishop to speak the language of the people led him to ask Augustine for this exception.

The bishop also got rid of the discomfort of having to dialogue and negotiate with some of the faithful who refused to abandon the ancient custom of bringing food and drink to the Church on the parties to eat and drink, sometimes even losing his composure, turning said ritual banquets in veritable bacchanalia.

Augustine faced this situation and finally succeeded in eradicating this custom, as can be be seen in his Letter 29.

Augustine and the Donatist Bishop Fortunio

This affable and charitable treatment is also shown in a specific case that he narrates in Letter 44.

Augustine had been invited to an episcopal consecration at Cirta. By the way was Thuburiscu Numidarum, present-day Khemissa (Algeria), where an old Donatist bishop named Fortune.

Donatism was a schismatic movement started by Donatus, Bishop of Carthage. Among other things, he claimed that only blameless priests could administer the sacraments and sinners could not be members of the Church. Augustine was one of the mainstays in the fight against this unrealistic perfectionism of the life of faith.

Augustine, in his desire to break the schism and attract the Donatists back, wanted to go personally to the house of Fortunio, already old. He gathered such a large number of people that the discussion progressed very slowly because of the continual interruptions of the noisy

troublemaker mob. Faced with this situation of chaos, the professional notaries refused to continue taking note and the monks who accompanied Augustine began to carry out this work.

During the discussion, Augustine treated the old man with deference at all times, making him see with charity and clarity why Donatism was wrong. Given the lack of fortune in defending himself, Fortunio used an argument that made Augustine hesitate for a moment, since he claimed that the Donatists had a “charter of communion” from the Churches on the other side of the Mediterranean.

He then he took out a document that seemed to certify that Donato was in communion with the Council of Sardica. Saint Augustine inquired about the authenticity of the document, but it was Saint Alipio who whispered to Saint Augustine that the Council of Sardica had been of the Arians, not from the Catholic Church.

The next day it was Fortunio who looked for Augustine. The reason? He had felt so welcomed, heard and respected that I wanted to continue talking with him. This deference, his cordial treatment and close, it served Augustine to shorten distances and attract the old man.

The old man’s advice

Saint Augustine knew that the voice of the elderly is the voice of wisdom. That’s why he quotes the words that the playwright Terence puts into the mouth of some old people and who remember that, above all, it is necessary to be patient and understanding. Augustine says in Letter 155,14:

“The brilliance of truth is not hidden from clear wits. That’s why the comedian puts in the mouth from an old man these words addressed to an older man:

— Are you so rested from your affairs to worry about those of others, that nothing concerns you? And the other old man answers:

— I am a man, and nothing human is foreign to me”.