Restless Hearts

The earliest known portrait of St. Augustine, from about a century after his death.

While some famous people may have amazing rags-to-riches stories to tell, the drama that launched Saint Augustine of Hippo (354-430) to greatness went from reprobate to repentant. Born in Thagaste, Numidia, which is modern-day Souk Ahras, Algeria, Africa, to an African father, and mother – both whom are thought to have been Berbers, an indigenous North African ethnic group – Augustine was a brilliant young man who indulged in Earthly pleasures to excess (which greatly dismayed his mom, Saint Monica). After his baptism and conversion to Christianity in 386 – his “born again” experience – he emotionally swung to, and embraced the opposite extreme, and condemned everything that appealed to the senses. Thankfully, this champion of church teaching finally came to his right mind and proper senses by choosing a more forgiving path and admitting that, “Thou hast formed us for Thyself, and our hearts are restless till they find rest in Thee.” (writing in his autobiographical The Confessions of St. Augustine, Bishop of Hippo, Book 1, Chapter 1, 1, by St. Augustine)