History-Makers: Augustine of Hippo Gets Dragged Into Sainthood

"Failing Up" is all part of the plan when God Himself is on your side. Let's meet the embodiment of that dynamic in Augustine of Hippo: the disaster of a man who became one of Christianity's most important Saints ever.

SOURCES & Further Reading:
“The City Of God Against The Pagans” by Saint Augustine
“Confessions” by Saint Augustine
“The Roman Way” by Edith Hamilton
“Augustine, Part One” and “Augustine, Part Two” from “The Early Middle Ages” by Philip Daileader
“Augustine of Hippo” and “Ambrose, Jerome, and Gregory the Great” from “Great Minds of the Medieval World” by Dorsey Armstrong
“Augustine and the Confessions”, “Augustine and the World of Classical Antiquity”, and "The Corpus of Augustine's Writings" from “St. Augustine’s Confessions” by William R. Cook and Ronald D. Hertzman

MUSIC:
"Suture Self" from Age of Mythology OST

Our content is intended for teenage audiences and up.

[Carblesnarky]

My favorite Augustine quote, 'Lord give me chastity and continence, but do not give it yet.'

[sechran]

"Too Sinful to Function" ... there's an excuse to call out sick from work.

[MinunRobotnik]

Chose Augustine for my confirmation name. Learned about him when I was studying Latin in school. The bit where he goes, "Please don't use scripture to make nonsensical arguments about science. It just makes us look dumb and people won't listen to the actual wisdom we have to offer." Really resonated with my background.

[deniseeulert]

My favorite section of his "City of God" is when he discussed the issue of chastity, or the lack thereof. Many times girls or women during war were violated and then considered impure. He argued if it was done against their will they were still as chaste as before. You couldn't shame a woman for not being virgin. Ane she had no reason to do herself in for shame, as she had nothing to be ashamed of. Ahead of his time in that.

[fifty]

2:17 - genuinely love this editing choice of placing the bespoke Red-drawn face of the dude over the public-domain art of them from history

[MattGraves]

I never imagined blue ever saying the words the Hippo Heresy.

[kirbymaster]

There was a book in my house growing up called "Saints Behaving Badly, " that included a Cliff's Notes of Augustine's life along with many others. My personal favorite was Moses the Black, a mercenary or bandit who wanted to serve the most fearsome lord of all. Purportedly tried to sell his soul to the devil until he realized the devil fled from God, so he became a monk

[samminden]

For context about the larger idea of the Pear controversy in The Confessions, Augustine tells a story about how as a wild and troublesome youth he once stole some pears from an orchard and he considers this the evilest and most vile thing he ever did, even more than all the times he had sex in churches. The reason being, according to Augustine, is that he did not steal the peaches because he was hungry nor because he wanted them (he ended up just chucking them at some pigs), but rather simply because he could and therefore he was acting in a manner that was (in his mind) imposing his will upon this peaches and therefore was playing at being God.

[andrewphilos]

I saw “Saint got dragged into Sainthood” and thought you were going to talk about Martin of Tours, another 4th-century saint who tried to hide in a barn to avoid having to do a miracle but got called out by a goose honking at him and giving away his hiding spot. 😂 (I only know about that story because there’s a indie RPG where you play as an Archangel shapeshifted AS one of those geese.)

[lazarusmekhane]

Augustine of Hippo is also probably one of the most important people in history as well, seen as though he's one of the earliest people we actually know a lot about, with him being tied with Cicero himself in terms of the amount of knowledge we know about their lives.

The only difference is that Cicero didn't admit to everyone what his search history was like when he was a teen.

[willmfrank]

Blue: Knows full well that "hippo" means "horse."
Red: Sings "I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas" while drawing a hippopotamus

[MrMcruff]

Augustine pretty much ended up being the guidepost for “keeping the faith, even when everything else is crumbling”

[EUSA]

“Without God, what am I but a guide to my own destruction?”

- St. Augustine

[warrenpeace]

Blue, c'mon. You can't just say "Hippo Heresy" and not give us a 2-hour documentary on the uprising of the world's chubbiest murder machines

[pokemontrainer]

Ah i lnow about this guy because in a flat earth "debate, " i saw someone bring him up, and the flat earther laughed at him, saying hippo wasnt a place it was an animal, so he didnt exist lmao

[parkerdixon-word]

I love that the JoCat "Smite" soundbyte has just become apart of the OST soundboard. Puts a big grin on my face every time.

[misterandylink]

You yourself are a great orator. It's like listening to a well researched teacher rather than someone who is simply teaching from a lesson plan.

[christianholbrook]

I often think about that classic question, is it better to be born good or become good through great effort. I'd argue Christianity is all about that redemption, overcoming sins and becoming good through effort and the Word. Augustine is a great example of that idea.

[parkeryourefired]

The Hippo Heresy was also a lesser-known and rejected plot by Guy Fawkes which included unleashing hippo crates within the chambers of Parliament.

[AvantelWulf]

1:02 “I say the hippo should get a saint of their own”
Isn’t that just St Francis of Assisi?