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Hippo
Photo: Wikimedia Commons · Basilica of Saint Augustine (Annaba)

Hippo

Augustine, the restless heart · Annaba, Algeria

Augustine was a brilliant teacher who chased success and pleasure, while his mother Monica never stopped praying for him. In a garden in Milan he finally surrendered to God. He became bishop of the port town of Hippo, where for more than thirty years he preached, cared for his people and wrote: 'Our heart is restless until it rests in you.' Today the Basilica of St Augustine stands on a hill above the ruins of ancient Hippo, in the Algerian city of Annaba.

Did you know?

He heard a child singing 'take up and read', opened a Bible at Romans 13, and his life changed.

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An inspiring story

A mother's tears

How long would you keep praying for someone?

For years Monica prayed and wept for her son Augustine, a brilliant young man who lived a wild life and laughed at her faith. She followed him all the way from Africa to Italy. A bishop she kept pestering told her: 'It is impossible that the son of these tears should be lost.' Why did she keep going? Because a mother does not stop loving when her child walks away. In a garden in Milan, Augustine finally surrendered. Not long after his baptism Monica fell ill at Ostia and died in peace: the one thing she had lived for had happened.

Augustine became one of the greatest thinkers of the church. It began with a mother who did not give up.

You have made us for yourself, and our heart is restless until it rests in you.Augustine, Confessions I.1

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