On the Catechising of the Uninstructed
Augustine of Hippo (354–430)
First published 405
Augustine's De catechizandis rudibus, staged here in the public-domain NPNF English translation by S. D. F. Salmond.
Caput I: How Augustin Writes in Answer to a Favor Asked by a Deacon of Carthage.
Caput II: How It Often Happens that a Discourse Which Gives Pleasure to the Hearer is Distasteful to the Speaker; And What Explanation is to Be Offered of that Fact.
Caput III: Of the Full Narration to Be Employed in Catechising.
Caput IV: That the Great Reason for the Advent of Christ Was the Commendation of Love.
Caput V: That the Person Who Comes for Catechetical Instruction is to Be Examined with Respect to His Views, on Desiring to Become a Christian.
Caput VI: Of the Way to Commence the Catechetical Instruction, and of the Narration of Facts from the History of the World’s Creation on to the Present Times of the Church.
Caput VII: Of the Exposition of the Resurrection, the Judgment, and Other Subjects, Which Should Follow This Narration.
Caput VIII: Of the Method to Be Pursued in Catechising Those Who Have Had a Liberal Education.
Caput IX: Of the Method in Which Grammarians and Professional Speakers are to Be Dealt with.
Caput X: Of the Attainment of Cheerfulness in the Duty of Catechising, and of Various Causes Producing Weariness in the Catechumen.
Caput XI: Of the Remedy for the Second Source of Weariness.
Caput XII: Of the Remedy for the Third Source of Weariness.
Caput XIII: Of the Remedy for the Fourth Source of Weariness.
Caput XIV: Of the Remedy Against the Fifth and Sixth Sources of Weariness.
Caput XV: Of the Method in Which Our Address Should Be Adapted to Different Classes of Hearers.
Caput XVI: A Specimen of a Catechetical Address; And First, the Case of a Catechumen with Worthy Views.
Caput XVII: The Specimen of Catechetical Discourse Continued, in Reference Specially to the Reproval of False Aims on the Catechumen’s Part.
Caput XVIII: Of What is to Be Believed on the Subject of the Creation of Man and Other Objects.
Caput XIX: Of the Co-Existence of Good and Evil in the Church, and Their Final Separation.
Caput XX: Of Israel’s Bondage in Egypt, Their Deliverance, and Their Passage Through the Red Sea.
Caput XXI: Of the Babylonish Captivity, and the Things Signified Thereby.
Caput XXII: Of the Six Ages of the World.
- Aetates mundi sex. Sexta aetas ex adventu Christi. Christus Novum Testamentum sempiternae haereditatis manifestans, terrena contemnere exemplo docet. Nativitas ejus, vita et mors. Peractis ergo quinque aetatibus saeculi, quarum prima est ab initio generis humani, id est, ab Adam, qui primus homo factus est, usque ad Noe, qui fecit arcam in diluvio (Gen. VI); inde secunda est usque ad Abraham, qui pater dictus est omnium quidem gentium (Id. XVII, 4), quae fidem ipsius imitarentur; sed tamen ex propagine carnis suae futuri populi Judaeorum: qui ante fidem christianam gentium, unus inter omnes omnium terrarum populus unum verum Deum coluit, ex quo populo salvator Christus secundum carnem veniret. Isti enim articuli duarum aetatum eminent in veteribus Libris: reliquarum autem trium in Evangelio etiam declarantur, cum carnalis origo Domini Jesu Christi commemoratur (Matth. I, 17). Nam tertia est ab Abraham usque ad David regem: quarta a David usque ad illam captivitatem qua populus Dei in Babyloniam transmigravit: quinta ab illa transmigratione usque ad adventum Domini nostri Jesu Christi; ex cujus adventu sexta aetas agitur: ut jam spiritualis gratia, quae paucis tunc Patriarchis et Prophetis nota erat, manifestaretur omnibus gentibus: ne quisquam Deum nisi gratis coleret, non visibilia praemia servitutis suae et praesentis vitae felicitatem, sed solam vitam aeternam, in qua ipso Deo frueretur, ab illo desiderans; ut hac sexta aetate mens humana renovetur ad imaginem Dei, sicut sexta die homo factus est ad imaginem Dei (Gen. I, 27). Tunc enim et lex impletur, dum non cupiditate rerum temporalium, sed charitate illius qui praecepit, fiunt quaecumque praecepit. Quis autem non redamare affectet justissimum et misericordissimum Deum, qui prior sic amavit injustissimos et superbissimos homines, ut propter eos mitteret unicum Filium, per quem fecit omnia; qui non sui mutatione, sed hominis assumptione homo factus, non solum cum eis vivere, sed etiam pro eis et ab eis posset occidi? 40. Itaque novum testamentum haereditatis sempiternae manifestans, in quo renovatus homo per gratiam Dei ageret novam vitam, hoc est vitam spiritualem; ut vetus ostenderet primum, in quo carnalis populus agens veterem hominem, exceptis paucis intelligentibus Patriarchis et Prophetis et nonnullis latentibus sanctis, carnaliter vivens carnalia praemia desiderabat a Domino Deo, et in figura spiritualium bonorum accipiebat: omnia ergo bona terrena contempsit homo factus Dominus Christus, ut contemnenda monstraret; et omnia terrena sustinuit mala, quae sustinenda praecipiebat: ut neque in illis quaereretur felicitas, neque in istis infelicitas timeretur. Natus enim de matre quae quamvis a viro intacta conceperit, semperque intacta permanserit, virgo concipiens, virgo pariens, virgo moriens, tamen fabro desponsata erat, omnem typhum carnalis nobilitatis exstinxit. Natus etiam in civitate Bethlehem, quae inter omnes Judaeae civitates ita erat exigua, ut hodieque villa appelletur, noluit quemquam de cujusquam terrenae civitatis sublimitate gloriari. Pauper etiam factus est, cujus sunt omnia, et per quem creata sunt omnia; ne quisquam cum in eum crederet, de terrenis divitiis auderet extolli. Noluit rex ab hominibus fieri; quia humilitatis ostendebat viam miseris, quos ab eo superbia separaverat: quamvis sempiternum ejus regnum universa creatura testetur. Esurivit, qui omnes pascit; sitivit, per quem creatur omnis potus, et qui spiritualiter panis est esurientium fonsque sitientium: ab itinere terrestri fatigatus est, qui se ipsum nobis viam fecit in coelum: velut obmutuit et obsurduit coram conviciantibus, per quem mutus locutus est et surdus audivit: vinctus est, qui de infirmitatum vinculis solvit: flagellatus est, qui omnium dolorum flagella de hominum corporibus expulit: crucifixus est, qui cruciatus nostros finivit: mortuus est, qui mortuos suscitavit. Sed et resurrexit nunquam moriturus, ne ab illo quisquam sic disceret mortem contemnere, quasi nunquam victurus.