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Sermons on the Liturgical Seasons PDF

472 Pages·2008·28.432 MB·English
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THE FATHERS OF THE CHURCH A NEW TRANSLATION VOLUME 38 THE FATHERS OF THE CHURCH A NEW TRANSLATION EDITORIAL BOARD Hermigild Dressler, O.F.M. The Catholic University of America Press Editorial Director Robert P. Russell, O.S.A. Thomas P. Halton Villanova University The Catholic University of America Robert Sider Sister M. Josephine Brennan, Dickinson College I.H.M. Marywood College FORMER EDITORIAL DIRECTORS Ludwig Schopp, Roy J. Deferrari, Bernard M. Peebles Richard Talaska Editorial Assistant SAINT AUGUSTINE SERMONS ON THE LITURGICAL SEASONS Translated by SISTER MARY SARAH MULDOWNEY, R. S. M. THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA PRESS WASHINGTON, DC NIHIL OBSTAT: JOHN S. KENNEDY Censor Deputatus IMPRIMATUR: ~ HENRY J. O'BRIEN Archbishop of Hartford October 15, 1958 Copyright © 1959 by THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA PRESS, INC. Reprinted 1984 All rights reserved First paperback reprint 2008 Library of Congress Catalog Card No.: 65-18318 ISBN No. 0-8132-0038-5 ISBN-13: 978-0-8132-1565-5 (pbk) CONTENTS INTRODUCTION IX FOR THE FEAST OF THE NATIVITY (Sermons 184-196) ........... 3 FOR NEW YEAR'S DAY (Sermons 197-198). . . 49 :FOR THE EPIPHANY (Sermons 199-204) . . . 59 FOR THE LENTEN SEASON (Sermons 205-211) 83 FOR THE RECENT CONVERTS (Sermons 212- 218) ........ ....... 117 FOR THE VIGIL OF EASTER (Sermons 219-223) 171 FOR EASTER SUNDAY (Sermons 224-228) . . . 185 :FOR THE EASTER SEASON (Sermons 229-260) . 201 FOR THE FEAST OF THE ASCENSION (Sermons 261-265) 379 INDEX . 421 v INTRODUCTION III HE SERMONS OF St. Augustine which, as a group, are here published in English translation for the first time in this country were delivered on the various feasts and seasons of the liturgical year. They include twelve discourses for the feast of Christmas, two for New Year's Day, six for the Epiphany, fourteen for Lent, five for the Vigil of Easter, five for Easter Sunday, thirty for the Easter season, and five for Ascension Thursday. In the translation an attempt has been made to adhere, as closely as seemed feasible, to the style of St. Augustine, repetitious though it is, since to do otherwise would inevitably detract from the sim plicity and directness which constitute the singular charm of his discourse. These Sermones de tempore constitute one part of the monumental collection of the preaching of St. Augustine as published by the Benedictines of St. Maur in 1683 and as subsequently compiled by P. Migne in the Patrologia Latina. There we find a corpus of about 400 sermons, includ ing 83 on various passages of the Old Testament, 88 on the great liturgical feasts of the year, 69 on the festivals of the saints, 23 on a variety of subjects and 31 of doubtful authen ticity. To this number may be added the sermons in explana tion of the psalms and of the Gospel and Epistles of St. John which are often designated as tracts, as well as a small num- VII Vlll SAINT AUGUSTINE ber of others distributed through the corpus. In addition, 313 sermons are classified as spurious.1 Nevertheless, though grounded on the first printed edition compiled by Augustinus Dodo in 1495 and enlarged by supplementary material furn J. J. ished by Vlimmerius (1564), Sirmondus (1631), Vig nier (1654), and though revised with great discrimination by the monks of St. Maur, this Benedictine edition was far from definitive.2 Since the publication of Migne's Patrologia Latina, various libraries have contributed over 600 additional manuscript sermons attributed, on tenable or untenable grounds, to St. Augustine. In 1792, for example, M. Denis discovered a twelfth-century manuscript of San Severino, Naples, con taining 57 sermons, two dozen of which are recognized as reliable, hitherto-unpublished sermons of St. Augustine. On the other hand, in the collection of 200 or more sermons discovered and published by A. B. Caillou (1836-1842) and of a like number brought to light by Cardinal Angelo Mai (1852), few sermons appear to be authentic. However, a truly valuable find of a Carolingian manuscript from the Wolfenbiittel Library, made by Dam Germain Morin in 1913, supplied 40 new Augustinian sermons. Such discoveries not only furnish us with new sermons, but also lead to emen dations of texts previously published. The task of building up a complete collection of the sermons is a tremendous one and will be accomplished only when all existing manuscripts of St. Augustine's sermons have been discovered, inspected, and criticized. The existence of hundreds of sermons spuriously desig nated as Augustinian is not surprising. In the first place, the actual number of St. Augustine's sermons must have exceeded 1 See R. J. Deferrari, 'St. Augustine'S Method of Composing and Delivering Sermons: AlP 43 (1922) 98; D. J. Kavanagh, Commentary on the Lord's Sermon on the Mount (Fathers of the Church ll) 14. 2 See A. Wilmart, 'Easter Sermons of St. Augustine: Journal of Theo logical Studies, 28 (1927-1928) 113-116. INTRODUCTION IX even the combined total of genuine and spurious discourses attributed to him. From the time of his ordination to the priesthood when, contrary to the practice of the period whereby bishops alone enjoyed the privilege of preaching, he was directed to assume this duty because of Bishop Vale rius' unfamiliarity with the Latin tongue to his death,3 he preached regularly on Sundays and on all special feasts. Instances of sermons on five successive days, and on three successive days,4 besides numerous references to discourses on two consecutive days may be cited. Forty years of preach ing even at the rate of two sermons a week would entail more than 4,000 sermons. Furthermore, we know that he often preached in churches outside his episcopal see, in Car thage, Bulla Regia, Utica, and elsewhere, since Possidius, his biographer, says: 'Besides, as a bishop, with a zeal and fervor the greater in proportion as his authority was ampler, he preached the word of eternal salvation enthusiastically and skillfully, not only in one region but wherever, on invitation, he had come, at that time when the Church of the Lord was developing and growing. He was always ready to furnish, to those requesting it, an explanation of the faith and hope which is directed to God.'5 In the second place, St. Augus tine's sermons formed, throughout the Middle Ages, 'the reservoir which fed richly for a thousand years the piety and preaching of priest and monk and saint.'6 The sermon col lections of the Middle Ages are constantly revealing sermons attributed to St. Augustine,7 so close to his in style and con tent that it will require rigorous examination to sift the 3 See Possidius, Aurelii Augusti'ni Vita 5; also, St. Augustine, Epis. tulae 21. 4 See St. Augustine, Sermons 153·156; Tractatus in Joannis Evangelium, 19·23; Sermons 320·322. 5 Possidius, op. cit. 9; d. D. C. Lambot, Sancti Aurelii Augustini Sermones selecti duodeviginti (Brussels 1950) 5. 6 T. Shahan, 'St. Augustine of Hippo-Educator of Christian Europe: Catholic World (1930) 580. 7 G. Bardy, Bibliotheque Augustinienne 12 (Paris 1950) 52.

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