Augustine was born on 13 November 354 in Tagaste, a small town in present-day Algeria. His childhood and youth were spent in his hometown, the limited environment of a village lost in the mountains. Gifted in oratory, he read and memorised passages from Latin poets and prose writers. He learned elements of music, physics and mathematics. In Carthage he pursued his higher studies and there he also came into contact with the joy and splendour of the ceremonies in honour of the patron gods of the Empire. Although he is described as a thoughtful young man, devoted to books, he confesses that ‘to love and be loved was a delightful thing’. He went to live with a woman to whom he was faithful and became a father in 373, aged just 19. His son, named Adeodatus, died when he was 17.

He wanted to excel in eloquence, he confesses, out of pride. He wanted to be the best. A book by Cicero warned him that ‘true happiness lies in the pursuit of wisdom’. He returned to his hometown and devoted himself to teaching for thirteen years, later teaching in Carthage and Rome. He devoted himself to the study of the Scriptures, but found their style so simple that he became disillusioned and abandoned it. In Milan he seemed a happy man: paid by the state, an almost official figure (he held the chair of eloquence), respected as a teacher. However, he was restless. He was looking for true joy and could not find it. He became fond of Manichaeism, the doctrine of the Persian prophet Mani. After 12 years, dissatisfied with the answers that the doctrine did not give him, he returned to reading the Gospels and to attending the sermons of Bishop Ambrose, who welcomed him as a father.

A nursery rhyme, with the crystalline voice of a child insisting: ‘Here, read’, made him look for the book on St Paul and return definitively to Christianity. From then on, his life would be one of meditation, writing books and giving speeches. In 391 he was called to Hippo, a large commercial centre of some 30,000 inhabitants. Five years later he was consecrated auxiliary bishop of Hippo. At that time, the struggle against the so-called heresies was great. Augustine, always an official speaker in the synods and councils of Carthage, never forgot that ‘more valuable than words is brotherly love... The eyes of the sick burn, that is why they are treated with delicacy... Doctors are delicate even with the most intolerant patients: they bear insult, they give medicine, they do not strike back’.

The words that appear most frequently in his writings are love and charity. Sometimes, while developing an idea, he interrupts his reasoning to cry out in love to God: ‘O Lord, I love Thee. Thou hast shaken my heart with the word and brought forth love for Thee. Late have I loved Thee, O Beauty so friendly and so new, late have I loved Thee... Thou hast touched me, and I burn with desire for Thy peace’.

Twice a week he spoke at the Church of Peace. On one occasion, speaking of St. John, he was so enthusiastic that he preached for five consecutive days, always to great applause. But he said: ‘Your praises are the leaves of a tree; I would like to see the fruit’. Such was their admiration for Augustine that they came to believe that he was able to produce cures and they brought patients to him. ‘If I had the power to heal’, he said, “I would heal myself”. The illness that befell him lasted only a few days. Realising that death was approaching, he asked to be left alone to pray. He died on the night of 28-29 August 430, aged 76. He left no will, as he had no assets. Medieval painters depict him with a book in his hand and his heart on fire. The book symbolises knowledge, the flaming heart, love. Wisdom and love were his inseparable gifts. It is interesting to note that, although he is always depicted with great pomp and luxury, even as a bishop he refused to wear the ring and mitre.

This spirit was invited to join the working group of the Spirit of Truth, and his reflections can be found in various parts of Kardec's works.