October 21, 1985

NEW SOLIDARITY Page 5

St. Augustine: African Founding Father of Western Civilization, Part I

by Stephen Douglas

St. Ambrose (at left) gives Augustine his first communion following his conversion to Christianity in 386. In 391, Augustine was ordained as a priest in Hippo, in North Africa.

World citizens and nation-builders from around the globe will be gathering in Rome on Nov. 1-3 to attend a conference on St. Augustine, sponsored by the Schiller Institute, called "Let's Build the City of God." At the conference, the general staff required to launch large-scale infrastructural, public health, agricultural, and industrial development projects that are desperately needed, on an emergency basis, in International Monetary Fund-ravaged Africa, will be established. That conference will not mark the first time that city-builders have gathered together, to conspire in St. Augustine's name, to rescue civilization from a Dark Age of ignorance, backwardness, disease, and death. That is precisely what the Augustinian circles associated with the great Alcuin of York did with Charlemagne, at the Palace School in Aachen, during the last several decades of the 8th century. Based explicitly on the blueprint for developing civilization outlined in St. Augustine's City of God, Alcuin, the director of the school, worked with Charlemagne to launch building projects, educational programs, and state policies, that propelled civilization out of the Dark Age into which it had been plunged after the deaths of St. Ambrose and St. Augustine, approximately 400 years earlier. Indeed, it was widely reported among his contemporaries that Charlemagne's favorite book was the City of God, and that he was fond of having it read at dinner, and other social occasions. In the following brief survey of aspects of St. Augustine's towering influence on history, we will focus first on his influence on the development of Western civilization, through Alcuin's work at the court of Charlemagne. Then we will outline, in St. Augustine's own words, what he viewed to be the epistemological-philosophical content of Christian doctrine, and its relationship to Plato. In conclusion, we will summarily review some of the most important features of Augustine's work in the 4th and 5th centuries, focusing, in particular, on his campaigns against Gnostic cults. The Plague of the Roman Empire and Its Aftermath The period during and following the sackings of Rome in the 5th century was one of the blackest, most barbaric periods in all of human history. As waves of barbarian invaders swept across Europe and into Italy, and North Africa, under the watchful, approving eyes of the Roman oligarchy (which had largely relocated itself to Constantinople by then), famine, plague, and

pestilence ravaged most of the territory that had formerly been incorporated under the jurisdiction of the Roman Empire. The centuries of evil slavelabor practices, and primitive accumulation schemes, which were the hallmark of the Roman Empire, had destroyed the population and its productive potentials in much the same way that the International Monetary Fund's conditionalities policies have destroyed large parts of the world today. An environment was created which was more conducive to the spread of disease than human life. Devastating plague swept the old confines of the Roman Empire, as a direct consequence of these conditions. The wicked emperor Justinian's mid-6th-century rampages on the Italian peninsula, along with his so-called "legal reforms," severely aggravated what was already an abominable situation. An estimated 100 million people died in the "Justinian Plague." The light of civilization had been all but extinguished. It flickered, dimly, primarily in monastic communities in Ireland, and also Spain. Monastic libraries in Ireland, in particular, were the repositories of many of St Augustine's works, as well as those of other Church fathers, along with numerous manuscripts from ancient Greece and Rome. It was under these aversive circumstances that Augustinian networks among the Irish, and in England, among the Anglo-Saxons (or English), launched evangelizing-civilizing projects onto the European mainland, beginning early in the 7th century. Late in the 7th century, the all-important monastery schools at Wearmouth (674) and Jarrow (682), in Northumbria in northern England, were established. Benedict Biscop, the founder of these two institutions, became in 680 the teacher and mentor of the Northumbrian Bede (673-735), known to history as the Venerable Bede. It was Bede who developed to become the towering intellectual figure of the generation of church leaders that decisively shaped the development of Alcuin. Augustine's influence on Bede was enormous, as Bede, himself, testifies in numerous locations. On Christian Doctrine, the tract written by St. Augustine between the years 396 and 427, was of particular importance for Bede. The guidelines for Christian education which Augustine specifies in that work, were the guidelines which Bede (and so many other members of his city-building faction) used to design the educational curriculum for students during this era.

Portrayal of Four Evangelists, from a Carolingian manuscript, dated c. 800 ADthe year Charlemagne was crowned Holy Roman Emperor at Rome.

Bede's close friend and associate, Egbert, was ordained Archbishop of York in 732, and established a cathedral school there that year. Shortly thereafter, Aelbert, Egbert's former student, assumed the responsibilities for directing the school. Alcuin came under his tutelage when he entered the school

At the Palace School at Aachen, Charlemagne, under Alcuin's direction, brought together the Christian world's greatest scholars in the first stage of what was to become the first drive for mass education in modern history.

c. 745 at about the age of 10. When Egbert died in 766, Aelbert was made Archbishop of York, and Alcuin became master of the cathedral school there. That was the position which Alcuin occupied when he first met Charlemagne in Pavia in northern Italy in 781. Boniface The other key Augustinian figure organizing on the continent in this period was the English missionary, Boniface. Born c. 675, Boniface (his original name was Wynfrith) deployed to initiate the Christianizing of the Frisia area in 716. The impact he had on the political map of Europe in the 8th century can hardly be overstated. In 719, he went to Rome to receive an official commission from Pope Gregory II as a missionary to the heathen in Germany.

He worked very closely with the Carolingian leader in France, Charles Martel. Martel was the most powerful figure in northern Europe, at this time. In 732, he led the forms that defeated the Arabs at the battle of Poitiers, and drove them south to the Pyrenees. In 723, Martel officially took Boniface under his protection, stating in a circular that was issued that year, "Let it be known that the apostolic father, Bishop Boniface, has come into our presence and begged our protection. Know then that it has been our pleasure to do this." Working with the backing of Martel and Pope Gregory III, Boniface established the four bishoprics of Salzburg, Ratisbon, Freising, and Pasau in 739. In the next two years, he set up four more new bishoprics, such that by 741, he was the "Archbishop of East France," responsible for fully eight bishoprics. Under Boniface's guidance, his student, Sturmi, established the abbey at Fulda in Hessean institution which was to produce some of the most important Augustinian Christian leaders in Europe in the centuries to come. Boniface did more than any other figure of his age to consolidate a centralized, top-down, diocesan organizational structure of the Church, that worked closely with Rome. In the process, he established a very close relationship between the Church and secular dynasts which became the axis around which all European politics revolved in subsequent centuries. This relationship was already developed to such an extent in Boniface's lifetime that, first he, in 751, and then Pope Stephen II in 754, formally anointed Pippin King of the Franks. It must be emphasized here that, in speaking of the shape of the institutional form Boniface and his associates gave to the Church, dating back to the Synod of Whitby in England, we are speaking of the form which they gave to the Church in the course of their efforts to most effectively communicate the Augustinian content of Christian doctrine to the "sheep" they were shepherding and organizing. For these Augustinian Church shepherds, the particular form they determined for the Church was a function of the content of the principles which they were attempting to order society in Europe. Alcuin, Charlemagne, and the Christian Imperium Charlemagne was Alcuin's leading pupil at the Palace School which started in 782. The curriculum was organized basically along the lines outlined by St. Augustine in his On Christian Doctrine. As we mentioned, Charle-

magne's favorite book was Augustine's City of God. In his biography of Charlemagne, Einhard reports that Charlemagne enjoyed reading the City of God to his dinner guests. On one occasion, Charlemagne was reported to have demanded of Alcuin, "Why can I not have 12 clerks such as Augustine and Jerome?" To which Alcuin replied, "What? The Lord of heaven had but two such, and wouldst thou have 12?" Educators from all over Europe were assembled at the extraordinary Palace School in Aachen. Peter of Pisa, Paulinus, and Paul the Deacon were brought in from Italy to teach at the school. Adalard and Angilbert, two prominent Frankish scholars, were also brought in for the effort. And Theodulf, a Christian scholar from Narbonne, took up residence at the school, along with several collaborators of Alcuin's from Northumbria who accompanied Alcuin on his trip from England to Aachen in 782. With Alcuin's guidance and direction, Charlemagne implemented the policies of a philosopher-king. Alcuin's educational policy was the hub around which all the other policies revolved. In 787, Charlemagne issued his famous capitulary on education. This extraordinary directive has no known precedent. It was the first call for mass public education in modern history. It reads in part as follows: Be it known to your devotion, pleasing to God, that in conjunction with our faithful we have judged it to be of utility that, in the bishoprics and monasteries committed by Christ's favor to our charge, care should be taken that there shall be not only a regular manner of life and one conformable to holy religion, but also the study of letters, each to teach and learn according to his ability and the divine assistance. . . . There has arisen in our minds the fear lest, if the skill to write rightly were thus lacking, so too would the power of rightly comprehending the Sacred Scriptures be far less than was fitting, and we all know that though verbal errors be dangerous, errors of the understanding are yet more so. We exhort you, therefore, not only not to reject the study of letters, but to apply yourself thereto with perseverance and with that humility which is well pleasing to God; so that you may be able to penetrate with greater ease and certainty the mysteries of the Holy

Scriptures. For as these contain images, tropes, and similar figures, it is impossible to doubt that the reader will arrive far more readily at the spiritual sense, the better he is instructed in learning. Let there, therefore, be chosen for this work men who are both willing and able to learn, and also desirous of instructing others; and let them apply themselves with a zeal equaling the earnestness with which we recommend it to them. (Emphasis added.) The Homilary of Charles, written at about this time, stated: "As it is our desire to improve the condition of the Church, we make it our task to restore with the most watchful zeal the study of letters, a task almost forgotten through the neglect of our ancestors. We, therefore, enjoin on our subjects, so far as they are able, to study the liberal arts, and we set them the example." Another capitulary, issued from Aachen in 802, stated: "Every one should send his son to study letters, and the child should remain at school with all diligence until he should become well instructed in learning." Theodulf, Bishop of Orleans, responded to Charlemagne's first directive by issuing the following instructions to the clergy in his diocese: "Let the priests hold schools in the towns and villages, and if any of the faithful wish to entrust their children to them for the learning of the letters, let them not refuse to receive and teach such children. . . . And let them exact no price from the children for their teaching, nor receive anything from them, save what their parents may voluntarily offer from affection." There are two particularly notable aspects of these educational edicts issued by Charlemagne-Alcuin. One is that Charlemagne was taking responsibility for the educational development of the clergy as well as laymenand indeed, saw the Church as the most viable institution through which the education of laymen could be effected. The other most notable aspect of these proclamations of State is what was defined as the relationship between education and faith. The formulation in these edicts on this issue is strictly Augustinian. Faith is truly Christian faith (and not some form of paranoid belief), only insofar as faith is continuously informed by a process of education which is improving one's powers of judgment and reason. Faith, as defined by Alcuin, is active and purposeful,

not passive or contemplative, a la Aristotle. An individual is truly faithful, according to Alcuin, only to the extent that he is acting on the basis of faith which is informed by the development of "God's image" in manhis mind.

Charlemagne was Alcuin's leading pupil at Aachen, and enjoyed reading St. Augustine's City of God to his dinner guests.

Augustine addresses this issue throughout all of his writings. We quote here from a famous passage in On Christian Doctrine which had enormous influence on the shape that the monastery and cathedral school curricula took during this period. If those who are called philosophers, especially the Platonists, have said things which are indeed true and are well accommod-

ated to our faith, they should not be feared; rather, what they have said should be taken from them as from unjust possessors and converted to our use. . . . Even some truths concerning the worship of one God are discovered among them. Alcuin-Charlemagne's educational policy defined the content of the conception of the "Christian Imperium" which Charlemagne first articulated in about 794. The conception of State which guided the deployments of Alcuin and Charlemagne was that which Augustine had developed in the "City of God." The raison d'etre of the state was the elevation of its citizens' souls. Church-State relations were subordinated to that end. Charlemagne's was an empire whose growth was measured not merely by territorial expansion, but rather principally by the development and education of the population of the realm. Alcuin sought to do nothing less than make Charlemagne into a philosopherking. He writes in one of his letters to the King: Happy is the people ruled by a good and wise Prince, as we read in Plato's dictum that kingdoms are happy if philosophers, that is lovers of wisdom, are their kings, or if kings devote themselves to philosophy. For nothing in the world can be compared to wisdom. . . . I know it was your chief concern, to love and preach it. Indeed, another letter from Alcuin attests to the fact that Charlemagne's efforts to make Aachen the "Athens of Frankland" were widely known throughout Europe: "For so many follow your well-known interest that a new Athens is created in France, indeed a far finer one. For that which is ennobled by the teaching of our Lord Jesus Christ surpasses all academic education; that which had only Plato's teaching owed its reputation to the seven arts, while ours is enriched by the sevenfold Spirit and so excels all earthly wisdom." Alcuin directed Charlemagne to be ruthless in fulfilling the leadership responsibilities: "The people should be led, not followed, as God has ordained; hence, power and wisdom is given by God to His chosen, power to crush the arrogant and defend the lowly against the wicked, and wisdom to rule and teach his subjects with virtuous care. . . . Those who say, 'The

voice of the people is the Voice of God,' are not to be listened to, for the unruliness of the mob is always close to madness." At the same time, Alcuin did not hesitate to rebuke Charlemagne at points when the King's conduct was contrary to those development policies which he had charted for the realm. Alcuin repeatedly took the King to task on the issue of Saxon policy, bitterly criticizing the harsh tithe (tax) policy that was

Under Alcuin's guidance, following St. Augustine's teachings in "The City of God," Charlemagne tried to create an "Athens in Frankland." imposed on the Saxons. In a letter to Megenfrid, Charlemagne's Treasurer, Alcuin wrote: "Faith, as St. Augustine says, is a matter of will, not necessity. A man can be attracted into faith, not forced. . . . If the light and easy load of Christ were preached to the hard Saxon race as keenly as tithe were levied and the penalty of the law imposed for the smallest faults, perhaps they would not react against the rite of baptism. . . . The teachers of the faith should be schooled in the examples of the apostles. They should be preachers, not predators."

To Charlemagne Alcuin wrote: "Therefore you should consider whether it is right to impose the yoke of tithes upon a simple people who are beginners in the faith. . . It is better to lose the tithe than destroy the faith. . . . When their faith is strengthened and they are established in the Christian life, they may, as adults, be given harder teaching, which minds soundly based in Christianity will not reject. . . . Careful thought must be given to the right method of preaching and baptizing, that the washing of the body in baptism be not made useless by lack in the soul of an understanding of the faith. . . . A man must first be taught about the immortality of the soul and the future life and rewards for good and evil and both kinds of eternity, later the particular sins for which he must suffer eternal punishment." Alcuin knew that the key to winning the wars against the Saxons was having a strategy for securing the peace. He recognized that a durable peace could be secured only under circumstances where the conquered population was being uplifted morally and intellectually. Alcuin prevailed over Charlemagne to the effect of getting the King to recognize that the policy of citybuildingof realized economic progresswas the indispensable means of mediation through which the moral and intellectual development of the general population could be effected. Alcuin understood, as the great Pope Paul VI did, that development is the name for peace. While the organizing initiatives undertaken by Alcuin and Charlemagne did not remain state policy for long after the death of Charlemagne in 814, a civilizing flame had been lit which proved to be inextinguishable in the succeeding centuries. Mediated through Augustinian networks in the Church and their allies among the Saxon and Salian kings in the secular realm, and culminating in the reign of Frederick II of Hohenstaufen, the work of Alcuin and Charlemagne was the omnipresent point of reference for the subsequent city-building Holy Roman Emperors. To be continued