#59 | St. Augustine’s “Hall of Miracles,” Part 2 (City of God, Book 22, Ch. 8)

Relevant Resources

• Podcast #9 | Angels and Demons, Signs and Wonders: St. Augustine’s Hall of Miracles, Part 1
• Article #47 | St. Augustine’s “Hall of Miracles,” Part 1 (City of God, Book 22, Ch. 8)
• Quote Archive | Miracles in the Ancient Church
• Quote Archive | The Communion of Saints: Intercession and Relics

Introduction

We now proceed to St. Augustine’s “Hall of Miracles” Part 2, in which we will documents Miracles 11-24 that St. Augustine shares in City of God (Book 22, Ch. 8). In Part 1, St. Augustine decried the skepticism among non-Christians, particularly pagans, that miracles continue to take place. To make his point, he recounted 10 miracles, all of which in one form or another provide evidence of the truth of the Catholic Faith, or at the very least that St. Augustine believed the Catholic Faith. We assert this because those miracles were wrought in very Catholic ways, namely: by the relics and intercession of saints and martyrs, by sacraments (such as baptism), by “holy earth” from Jerusalem, by priestly exorcism and liturgical prayers, by the Eucharist, and by the prayers of various members of the hierarchy (specifically bishops and priests).

Roadmap

In Part 1 we covered the first 10 miracle accounts. In Part 2, we’ll cover the final 14, which tend to be a bit shorter.

Our Roadmap in Part 2 is very similar to Part 1, and is as follows:

• Our thesis, like before, is that these accounts not only show that miracles have been a normal part of Catholic life since ancient times, but they also provide powerful evidence that various Catholic dogmas are true, or at the very least that St. Augustine believed they were true, and was thus Catholic. We will show this by:
• Sharing St. Augustine’s stories; followed by sharing
• St. Augustine’s own explanation of the theology behind the veneration of the saints and their relics, as well as their intercession; then
• Summarize the conclusions we believe these miracle accounts allow us to reach.

Miracle #11—A Poor Man Prays to the “Twenty Martyrs” for a Coat, and Receives Money to Purchase One

The eleventh miracle reports by St. Augustine in this portion of City of God concerned the prayers of a poor man to the “Twenty Martyrs” for a coat, and the miraculous provision of money to purchase one. We do not know much about the “Twenty Martyrs,” other than that St. Augustine spoke about them in his Sermons 325-36. Specifically, in Sermon 325, he notes that the list of twenty “began with bishop Fidentius, and concluded with the faithful woman Victoria. It starts with fidelity, ends with victory.”¹ Here is his account of the miracle he attributed to their intercession:

There was a fellow-townsman of ours at Hippo, Florentius, an old man, religious and poor, who supported himself as a tailor. Having lost his coat, and not having means to buy another, he prayed to the Twenty Martyrs, who have a very celebrated memorial shrine in our town, begging in a distinct voice that he might be clothed. Some scoffing young men who happened to be present heard him, and followed him with their sarcasm as he went away, as if he had asked the martyrs for fifty pence to buy a coat.

But he, walking on in silence, saw on the shore a great fish, gasping as if just cast up, and having secured it with the good-natured assistance of the youths, he sold it for curing to a cook of the name of Catosus, a good Christian man, telling him how he had come by it, and receiving for it three hundred pence, which he laid out in wool, that his wife might exercise her skill upon, and make into a coat for him.

But, on cutting up the fish, the cook found a gold ring in its belly, and forthwith, moved with compassion, and influenced, too, by religious fear, gave it up to the man, saying, “See how the Twenty Martyrs have clothed you.”

In this account, we see that St. Augustine very clearly believed in the intercession of the saints, and in the goodness of establishing shrines to preserve their memory and provide a location to offer such prayers. Interestingly enough, Florentius was scoffed at for his prayers (much like Catholics continue to experience from protestants and unbelievers).

But his prayers were immediately answered by the finding of the fish and the gold ring within it. St. Augustine reports the response of the Christian cook, Catosus, as if the saints answering prayers was the most normal thing in the world: he too believed the Twenty Martyrs had interceded on behalf of Florentius so that he might obtain a coat.

Miracle #12—A Blind Woman Healed by a Bishop Carrying the Relics of St. Stephen

The twelfth account recalls the healing of a blind woman by a bishop who was carrying the relics of St. Stephen:

When the bishop Projectus was bringing the relics of the most glorious martyr Stephen to the waters of Tibilis, a great concourse of people came to meet him at the shrine.

There a blind woman entreated that she might be led to the bishop who was carrying the relics. He gave her the flowers he was carrying. She took them, applied them to her eyes, and forthwith saw. Those who were present were astounded, while she, with every expression of joy, preceded them, pursuing her way without further need of a guide.

Once more, we see that St. Augustine fully believed that relics of the saints and martyrs are powerful and efficacious for producing miracles. The mere touching of the flowers held by the bishop who handled the relics of St. Stephen is strikingly similar to the healings caused by handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched St. Paul (Acts 19:11-12).

Miracle #13—A Man Cured of a Fistula by the Relics of St. Stephen

The thirteenth account from St. Augustine concerns another healing through the relics of St. Stephen:

Lucillus bishop of Sinita [in Dacia], in the neighborhood of the colonial town of Hippo, was carrying in procession some relics of the same martyr, which had been deposited in the castle of Sinita.

A fistula under which he had long labored, and which his private physician was watching an opportunity to cut, was suddenly cured by the mere carrying of that sacred bundle—at least, afterwards there was no trace of it in his body.

Once more, St. Augustine ascribes without comment the healing of a physical malady to the relics of a martyr.

Miracle #14—A Spanish Priest Healed of Kidney Stones, and Resurrected, by the Relics of St. Stephen

The fourteenth account recalls yet another healing, as well as a resurrecting from the dead via the relics of St. Stephen:

Eucharius, a Spanish priest, residing at Calama [near Hippo], was for a long time a sufferer from stone [kidney stones?]. By the relics of the same martyr, which the bishop Possidius brought him, he was cured.

Afterwards the same priest, sinking under another disease, was lying dead, and already they were binding his hands. By the succor of the same martyr he was raised to life, the priest’s cloak having been brought from the oratory and laid upon the corpse.

Once more, the relics of a martyr are powerful for producing miracles of healing and even resurrection, and through the same mediums of clothing or other objects they had touched, as we saw with St. Paul in the book of Acts.

Miracle #15—St. Stephen’s Prayers Lead an Obstinate Unbeliever to Ask for Baptism Prior to Death

The fifteenth account recalls how the intercession of St. Stephen brought an obstinate unbeliever named Martial to the sacrament of baptism just prior to their death, thereby assuring their salvation:

There was there an old nobleman named Martial, who had a great aversion to the Christian religion, but whose daughter was a Christian, while her husband had been baptized that same year. When he was ill, they begged him with tears and prayers to become a Christian, but he positively refused, and dismissed them from his presence in a storm of indignation.

It occurred to the son-in-law to go to the oratory of St. Stephen, and there pray for him with all earnestness that God might give him a right mind, so that he should not delay believing in Christ. This he did with great groaning and tears, and the burning fervor of sincere piety.

Then, as he left the place, he took some of the flowers that were lying there, and, as it was already night, laid them by his father’s head, who so slept. And lo! before dawn, he cries out for someone to run for the bishop, but he happened at that time to be with me at Hippo.

So when he had heard that he was [away] from home, he asked the presbyters [priests] to come. They came. To the joy and amazement of all, he declared that he believed, and he was baptized. As long as he remained in life, these words were ever on his lips: “Christ, receive my spirit,” though he was not aware that these were the last words of the most blessed Stephen when he was stoned by the Jews. They were his last words also, for not long after he himself also gave up the spirit.

Once more, we see that St. Augustine takes multiple Catholic beliefs for granted: the saints in heaven intercede for us, their relics can produce miracles of conversion, bishops govern local churches, and Christian life began at baptism.

Miracle #16—St. Stephen’s Prayers Heal Two Men of Gout

The sixteenth account once more involves the prayers of St. Stephen effecting physical healing:

There, too, by the same martyr, two men, one a citizen, the other a stranger, were cured of gout. But while the citizen was absolutely cured, the stranger was only informed what he should apply when the pain returned, and when he followed this advice, the pain was at once relieved.

Here, we once again see that St. Augustine believed the saints intercede for us in heaven, and that their intercession can produce miracles. This is, indeed, part of the Catholic Church’s process for determining whether someone is a saint to this day: see if their prayers produce authentic miracles.

Miracle #17—A Little Boy Crushed by a Wagon Revived and Healed at St. Stephen’s Shrine

The seventeenth account likewise involves the prayers of St. Stephen, this time resulting in both physical healing, and apparent resurrection from the dead:

Audurus is the name of an estate, where there is a church that contains a memorial shrine of the martyr Stephen. It happened that, as a little boy was playing in the court, the oxen drawing a wagon went out of the track and crushed him with the wheel, so that immediately he seemed at his last gasp. His mother snatched him up, and laid him at the shrine, and not only did he revive, but also appeared uninjured.

Miracle #18—A Woman Resurrected by a Dress Brought to St. Stephen’s Shrine

The eighteenth account once more recalls a miraculous resurrection wrought by St. Stephen’s intercession:

A religious female [a nun?], who lived at Caspalium, a neighboring estate, when she was so ill as to be despaired of, had her dress brought to this shrine, but before it was brought back she was gone. However, her parents wrapped her corpse in the dress, and, her breath returning, she became quite well.

Miracle #19—A Girl Resurrected After Prayers Before St. Stephen’s Relics

The nineteenth account likewise relates to resurrection brought about by the relics and prayers of St. Stephen:

At Hippo a Syrian called Bassus was praying at the relics of the same martyr for his daughter, who was dangerously ill. He too had brought her dress with him to the shrine. But as he prayed, behold, his servants ran from the house to tell him she was dead. His friends, however, intercepted them, and forbade them to tell him, lest he should bewail her in public. And when he had returned to his house, which was already ringing with the lamentations of his family, and had thrown on his daughter’s body the dress he was carrying, she was restored to life.

Miracle #20—A Man’s Son Resurrected by Oil Through St. Stephen

The twentieth account likewise involves St. Stephen and resurrection.

There, too, the son of a man, Irenaeus, one of our tax-gatherers, took ill and died. And while his body was lying lifeless, and the last rites were being prepared, amidst the weeping and mourning of all, one of the friends who were consoling the father suggested that the body should be anointed with the oil of the same martyr. It was done, and he revived.

While it is not crystal clear what St. Augustine is referring to, given the context of his other miracle accounts, it seems likely that he is referring to oil that came from the shrine of St. Stephen, and had perhaps been in contact with his relics. In any event, it is once more clear that St. Augustine fully believed in the miraculous power of the intercession of the saints.

Miracle #21—A Man’s Dead Infant Resurrected at St. Stephen’s Shrine

The twenty-first account once more recounts a resurrection–this time of an infant–through the intercession of St. Stephen:

Likewise Eleusinus, a man of tribunitian rank among us, laid his infant son, who had died, on the shrine of the martyr, which is in the suburb where he lived, and, after prayer, which he poured out there with many tears, he took up his child alive.

Miracle #22—Many More Stories of Miracles Worked by the Relics and Intercession of St. Stephen

The twenty-second account is not a specific story, but St. Augustine’s testimony to the fact that there are many more miracle stories he could report just from the relics and intercession of St. Stephen alone, not to say from other causes as well:

What am I to do? I am so pressed by the promise of finishing this work [City of God], that I cannot record all the miracles I know; and doubtless several of our adherents, when they read what I have narrated, will regret that I have omitted so many which they, as well as I, certainly know. Even now I beg these persons to excuse me, and to consider how long it would take me to relate all those miracles, which the necessity of finishing the work I have undertaken forces me to omit. For were I to be silent of all others, and to record exclusively the miracles of healing which were worked in the district of Calama and of Hippo by means of this martyr—I mean the most glorious Stephen—they would fill many volumes; and yet all even of these could not be collected, but only those of which narratives have been written for public recital. For when I saw, in our own times, frequent signs of the presence of divine powers similar to those which had been given of old, I desired that narratives might be written, judging that the multitude should not remain ignorant of these things. It is not yet two years since these relics were first brought to Hippo-regius, and though many of the miracles which have been worked by it have not, as I have the most certain means of knowing, been recorded, those which have been published amount to almost seventy at the hour at which I write. But at Calama, where these relics have been for a longer time, and where more of the miracles were narrated for public information, there are incomparably more.

Miracle #23—St. Stephen’s Prayers Heal a Woman of a Chronic Illness

The twenty-third account once more involves the prayers of St. Stephen, this time on behalf of a woman who suffered from chronic illness:

At Uzali, too, a colony near Utica, many signal miracles were, to my knowledge, worked by the same martyr, whose relics had found a place there by direction of the bishop Evodius, long before we had them at Hippo. But there the custom of publishing narratives does not obtain, or, I should say, did not obtain, for possibly it may now have been begun. For, when I was there recently, a woman of rank, Petronia, had been miraculously cured of a serious illness of long standing, in which all medical appliances had failed, and, with the consent of the above-named bishop of the place, I exhorted her to publish an account of it that might be read to the people.

She most promptly obeyed, and inserted in her narrative a circumstance which I cannot omit to mention, though I am compelled to hasten on to the subjects which this work requires me to treat. She said that she had been persuaded by a Jew to wear next her skin, under all her clothes, a hair girdle, and on this girdle a ring, which, instead of a gem, had a stone which had been found in the kidneys of an ox. Girded with this charm, she was making her way to the threshold of the holy martyr.

But, after leaving Carthage, and when she had been lodging in her own demesne [type of property] on the river Bagrada, and was now rising to continue her journey, she saw her ring lying before her feet. In great surprise she examined the hair girdle, and when she found it bound, as it had been, quite firmly with knots, she conjectured that the ring had been worn through and dropped off. But when she found that the ring was itself also perfectly whole, she presumed that by this great miracle she had received somehow a pledge of her cure, whereupon she untied the girdle, and cast it into the river, and the ring along with it.

This is not credited by those who do not believe either that the Lord Jesus Christ came forth from His mother’s womb without destroying her virginity, and entered among His disciples when the doors were shut. But let them make strict inquiry into this miracle, and if they find it true, let them believe those others. The lady is of distinction, nobly born, married to a nobleman. She resides at Carthage. The city is distinguished, the person is distinguished, so that they who make inquiries cannot fail to find satisfaction. Certainly the martyr himself, by whose prayers she was healed, believed on the Son of her who remained a virgin; on Him who came in among the disciples when the doors were shut; in fine—and to this tends all that we have been retelling—on Him who ascended into heaven with the flesh in which He had risen; and it is because he laid down his life for this faith that such miracles were done by his means.

In this account, we see St. Augustine affirm everything else we have already discussed, and one more thing: his belief in the perpetual virginity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. While that subject is for another time, it is worth nothing that this belief is rejected by most protestants. But St. Augustine would have obviously rejected their rejection, and considered it a symptom of unbelief, as the perpetual virginity was, in a sense, a miracle itself.

Interlude—Many Miracles Continue to be Worked

Before continuing to his final miracle account, St. Augustine pauses and ponders the reality that miracles continue to take place among the Catholic faithful. He also expresses regret that Catholics are not recording these accounts more systematically so they can be read among the faithful:

Even now, therefore, many miracles are worked, the same God who worked those we read of still performing them, by whom He will and as He will. But they are not as well known, nor are they beaten into the memory, like gravel, by frequent reading, so that they cannot fall out of mind. For even where, as is now done among ourselves, care is taken that the pamphlets of those who receive benefit be read publicly, yet those who are present hear the narrative but once, and many are absent. And so it comes to pass that even those who are present forget in a few days what they heard, and scarcely one of them can be found who will tell what he heard to one who he knows was not present.

Miracle #24—A Brother and Sister Healed of Seizures at St. Stephen’s Relics

St. Augustine then proceeds to the twenty-fourth and final miracle account in his “Hall of Miracles.” This one is more detailed, and concerns the healing of a brother and sister of seizures by the relics of St. Stephen:

One miracle was worked among ourselves, which, though no greater than those I have mentioned, was yet so signal and conspicuous, that I suppose there is no inhabitant of Hippo who did not either see or hear of it, none who could possibly forget it.

There were seven brothers and three sisters of a noble family of the Cappadocian Caesarea, who were cursed by their mother, a new-made widow, on account of some wrong they had done her, and which she bitterly resented, and who were visited with so severe a punishment from Heaven, that all of them were seized with a hideous shaking in all their limbs.

Unable, while presenting this loathsome appearance, to endure the eyes of their fellow-citizens, they wandered over almost the whole Roman world, each following his own direction. Two of them came to Hippo, a brother and a sister, Paulus and Palladia, already known in many other places by the fame of their wretched lot.

Now it was about fifteen days before Easter when they came [during Lent], and they came daily to church, and specially to the relics of the most glorious Stephen, praying that God might now be appeased, and restore their former health. There, and wherever they went, they attracted the attention of everyone. Some who had seen them elsewhere, and knew the cause of their trembling, told others as occasion offered.

Easter arrived, and on the Lord’s day, in the morning, when there was now a large crowd present, and the young man was holding the bars of the holy place where the relics were, and praying, suddenly he fell down, and lay precisely as if asleep, but not trembling as he was wont to do even in sleep. All present were astonished. Some were alarmed, some were moved with pity; and while some were for lifting him up, others prevented them, and said they should rather wait and see what would result.

And behold! He rose up, and trembled no more, for he was healed, and stood quite well, scanning those who were scanning him. Who then refrained himself from praising God? The whole church was filled with the voices of those who were shouting and congratulating him. Then they came running to me, where I was sitting ready to come into the church. One after another they throng in, the last comer telling me as news what the first had told me already; and while I rejoiced and inwardly gave God thanks, the young man himself also enters, with a number of others, falls at my knees, is raised up to receive my kiss. We go in to the congregation: the church was full, and ringing with the shouts of joy, “Thanks to God! Praised be God!” everyone joining and shouting on all sides, “I have healed the people,” and then with still louder voice shouting again.

Silence being at last obtained, the customary lessons of the divine Scriptures were read. And when I came to my sermon, I made a few remarks suitable to the occasion and the happy and joyful feeling, not desiring them to listen to me, but rather to consider the eloquence of God in this divine work.

The man dined with us, and gave us a careful account of his own, his mother’s, and his family’s calamity. Accordingly, on the following day, after delivering my sermon, I promised that next day I would read his narrative to the people [Sermon 321]. And when I did so, the third day after Easter Sunday, I made the brother and sister both stand on the steps of the raised place from which I used to speak; and while they stood there their pamphlet was read [Sermon 322]. The whole congregation, men and women alike, saw the one standing without any unnatural movement, the other trembling in all her limbs, so that those who had not before seen the man himself saw in his sister what the divine compassion had removed from him. In him they saw matter of congratulation, in her subject for prayer.

Meanwhile, their pamphlet being finished, I instructed them to withdraw from the gaze of the people, and I had begun to discuss the whole matter somewhat more carefully, when lo! as I was proceeding, other voices are heard from the tomb of the martyr, shouting new congratulations. My audience turned round, and began to run to the tomb. The young woman, when she had come down from the steps where she had been standing, went to pray at the holy relics, and no sooner had she touched the bars than she, in the same way as her brother, collapsed, as if falling asleep, and rose up cured. While, then, we were asking what had happened, and what occasioned this noise of joy, they came into the basilica where we were, leading her from the martyr’s tomb in perfect health. Then, indeed, such a shout of wonder rose from men and women together, that the exclamations and the tears seemed like never to come to an end. She was led to the place where she had a little before stood trembling. They now rejoiced that she was like her brother, as before they had mourned that she remained unlike him; and as they had not yet uttered their prayers in her behalf, they perceived that their intention of doing so had been speedily heard. They shouted God’s praises without words, but with such a noise that our ears could scarcely bear it.

What was there in the hearts of these exultant people but the faith of Christ, for which Stephen had shed his blood?

Once more, we see that St. Augustine holds thoroughly Catholic beliefs about the power of the saints through their relics and intercession. But one point is worth making here, namely, that not only St. Augustine, but all his flock, fully believed in the power of the intercession of the saints. However, this was in no way in competition with the power of God, to Whom they were interceding. “Thanks to God! Praised be God!” they exclaimed. As St. Augustine said, he encouraged them to “consider the eloquence of God in this divine work,” and concluded the account by ascribing it all to “the faith of Christ, for which Stephen had shed his blood.”

St. Augustine Explains the the Power of the Saints’ Prayers

That brings us to two final chapters from the same book, in which St. Augustine explains Catholic theology of the intercession of the saints, and the power of their relics. Reading these words for the first time as a protestant were quite shocking, because they addressed head on a number of the objections I had always had to such beliefs and practices. St. Augustine nonetheless made a convincing argument, and showed quite clearly that venerating the saints was in no way about venerating them as divine or as gods or as anything apart from Christ, but venerating them precisely because of their being in Christ, and the way in which God exercised His own power through their intercession.

Ultimately, St. Augustine considered the miracles brought about by relics and the intercession of the saints as testimony to the fact that Christ had risen in the flesh and was in heaven (Book 22, Ch. 9):

To what do these miracles witness, but to this faith which preaches Christ risen in the flesh, and ascended with the same into heaven? For the martyrs themselves were martyrs, that is to say, witnesses of this faith, drawing upon themselves by their testimony the hatred of the world, and conquering the world not by resisting it, but by dying. For this faith they died, and can now ask these benefits from the Lord in whose name they were slain. For this faith their marvelous constancy was exercised, so that in these miracles great power was manifested as the result. For if the resurrection of the flesh to eternal life had not taken place in Christ, and were not to be accomplished in His people, as predicted by Christ, or by the prophets who foretold that Christ was to come, why do the martyrs who were slain for this faith which proclaims the resurrection possess such power? For whether God Himself wrought these miracles by that wonderful manner of working by which, though Himself eternal, He produces effects in time; or whether He wrought them by servants, and if so, whether He made use of the spirits of martyrs as He uses men who are still in the body, or effects all these marvels by means of angels, over whom He exerts an invisible, immutable, incorporeal sway, so that what is said to be done by the martyrs is done not by their operation, but only by their prayer and request; or whether, finally, some things are done in one way, others in another, and so that man cannot at all comprehend them—nevertheless these miracles attest this faith which preaches the resurrection of the flesh to eternal life.

In reading this, I saw very clearly that St. Augustine did not have a protestant view of the saints and their intercession. Indeed, he rhetorically asks why they “possess such power?” such as to bring about miracles. At the same time, he clearly affirms that God is capable of bringing about miracles by His own direct agency, but also that He sometimes chooses to do so “by servants,” which include the saints, as well as “by means of angels.” He is quite clear: none of this has anything to do with the power of the saints themselves, for “what is said to be done by the martyrs is done not by their operation, but only by their prayer and request.”

This is Catholic belief to this day, and to the extent Catholics explain this belief to protestants in this way, they are doing nothing more than imitating St. Augustine: God choose to work through His saints, not by necessity, but out of love, and the power of His own resurrection and ascension in the flesh. Indeed, if God eschewed working through human beings, why would He Himself assume human nature in Christ, and enter into heaven with that nature, and seat it on the throne of the universe? The God who redeemed humanity by assuming humanity, by His choice, continues to work through humanity in the person of His saints and martyrs, who are members of His Body.

As a protestant, I often compared Catholic belief about the saints to pagan belief about their “gods.” But St. Augustine, besides providing the framework for recognizing that objection was invalid, addressed the issue quite directly in the following chapter, drawing a sharp contrast between pagan belief in multiple deities for their own glory, and Catholic belief in the power of the saints’ relics and intercession, all of which pointed to Christ and was for His glory (Book 22, Ch. 10):

Here perhaps our adversaries will say that their gods also have done some wonderful things, if now they begin to compare their gods to our dead men. Or will they also say that they have gods taken from among dead men, such as Hercules, Romulus, and many others whom they fancy to have been received into the number of the gods? But our martyrs are not our gods; for we know that the martyrs and we have both but one God, and that the same.

Nor yet are the miracles which they [pagans] maintain to have been done by means of their temples at all comparable to those which are done by the tombs of our martyrs. If they seem similar, their gods have been defeated by our martyrs as Pharaoh’s magi were by Moses. In reality, the demons wrought these marvels with the same impure pride with which they aspired to be the gods of the nations; but the martyrs do these wonders, or rather God does them while they pray and assist, in order that an impulse may be given to the faith by which we believe that they are not our gods, but have, together with ourselves, one God.

In conclusion, they [pagans] built temples to these gods of theirs, and set up altars, and ordained priests, and appointed sacrifices; but to our martyrs we build, not temples as if they were gods, but monuments as to dead men whose spirits live with God.

Neither do we erect altars at these monuments that we may sacrifice to the martyrs, but to the one God of the martyrs and of ourselves; and in this sacrifice they are named in their own place and rank as men of God who conquered the world by confessing Him, but they are not invoked by the sacrificing priest. For it is to God, not to them, he sacrifices, though he sacrifices at their monument; for he is God’s priest, not theirs. The sacrifice itself, too, is the body of Christ, which is not offered to them, because they themselves are this body.

Which then can more readily be believed to work miracles? They who wish themselves to be reckoned gods by those on whom they work miracles [pagans], or those whose sole object in working any miracle is to induce faith in God, and in Christ also as God? They who wished to turn even their crimes into sacred rites [pagans], or those who are unwilling that even their own praises be consecrated, and seek that everything for which they are justly praised be ascribed to the glory of Him in whom they are praised? For in the Lord their souls are praised.

Let us therefore believe those who both speak the truth and work wonders. For by speaking the truth they suffered, and so won the power of working wonders. And the leading truth they professed is that Christ rose from the dead, and first showed in His own flesh the immortality of the resurrection which He promised should be ours, either in the beginning of the world to come, or in the end of this world.

Here, St. Augustine made another argument I had also heard from contemporary Catholics which made all the sense in the world: Catholic veneration of the saints was in a completely different category than pagan worship of the gods, for Catholics did not offer sacrifice to the saints, but rather to the God of the saints! These saints “are not invoked by the sacrificing priest. For it is to God, not to them, he sacrifices.” What is this sacrifice? The Body of Christ: the Eucharist. The saints are not offered this body, St. Augustine points out, because they are part of this body by adoption. Rather, as members of this Body, they are joined to Christ, and thereby offer themselves to God through Christ’s own self-offering. They have thereby “won the power of working wonders,” not as of right, but because of the love of God, who delights in working through His children.

As Christ Himself said to the Apostles, “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I go to the Father” (John 14:12). Note those words, “because I go to the Father,” for they are precisely what St. Augustine identified as the reason saints and martyrs are able to bring about miracles through intercession on our behalf: because the divinized human flesh of Jesus Christ has risen and ascended into heaven, thereby seating human nature in the highest of thrones, from which He delights in working through this same human nature via the members of His Body in heaven and on earth.

Conclusions

So what can we conclude from St. Augustine’s “Hall of Miracles”? Going back to our original thesis in Part 1, we can indeed conclude that miracles have been a normal part of Catholic life since ancient times; that the Catholic Faith is true; and that St. Augustine was Catholic. Almost every single one of these (more than) twenty miracle accounts are evidence that the Catholic Faith is true, and that St. Augustine believed it. Whether miracles wrought by sacraments (baptism, the Eucharist, and Holy Orders), the relics of saints and martyrs, and the power of their intercession from heaven, if such things happened, they are indeed strong evidence for both the truth of the Catholic Faith, and St. Augustine’s belief in it.

Footnotes

1. St. Augustine, Sermon 325: On the Birthday of the Twenty Martyrs (§1); St. Augustine, Edmund Hill, OP, trans., The Works of Saint Augustine, Vol. 9: Sermons 306-340A (Hyde Park, NY: New City Press, 1994), 168. ↩︎