Philip of Harvengt: Vita Sancti Augustini

A life of Augustine of Hippo by Philip of Harvengt, written for the brethren with whom he lived. In the prologue he explains that they wished to commit Augustine’s deeds and character to memory but found the existing life, that is Possidius’s, somewhat burdensome to read because of its length, and felt it left out some things worth telling; they therefore asked for a more concise account. Philip says he had resolved to hide in the harbour of silence, fearing the Gospel rebuke of the man who began to build and could not finish, but undertook the task. The work then follows Augustine’s life in short chapters, including his debate at Hippo with the Manichaean Fortunatus at the request of Catholics and Donatists.

Augustine was the patron of the canons regular, whose rule bore his name, and a life of him had particular importance for a Premonstratensian community. Philip draws chiefly on Possidius and on Augustine’s own writings, condensing and arranging them for devotional reading. He later mentions this work in his passion of Saint Salvius as the reason he was asked to write other saints’ lives. It shows the cult of Augustine among the twelfth-century canons.