Devotion of St Augustine to the Sacrament of Penance Essay

Devotion of St Augustine to the Sacrament of Penance - Essay ExampleAt a very impressionable age Augustine was quite impressed and influenced by Ciceros dialogue Hortensius and therefore left to Carthage for further studies in rhetoric. He was very unfortunate as he gave up his Christian faith and practiced the Manichaean faith which really broke his mothers heart when she heard about it. Augustine lived a luxuriant lifestyle in his youth and hence developed a close relationship with a childly woman who remained his concubine for fifteen years and got a son by her named Adeodatus. By the age of thirty, Augustine had forge an enviable niche for himself in the Latin world.Confessions written by Saint Augustine, gives us a graphic account of the pagan life he had led as well as his spiritual change as a devout Christian. The word Confessions, take on two meanings one is to confess ones sins out front God and the other is to acknowledge the truth about God. Therefore Confessions, can be taken as praise and glory to God Our Father. (Warner, Rex 1963) Augustine is considered as one of the most steadfast and important figures in Christianity and is considered as a great saint and a patron of the St. Augustine religious order.In Book One, Augustine tells us of how he hated going to school and used to get beaten by his elders. He also claimed Janus-faced victories and pilfered things from his parents and traded them with other children. He was also gluttonous and had other disgusting habits. Finally, when realization comes to him he cries out to the professional in despair saying, Oh, God Woe to the sins of men When a man cries thus, thou showest him mercy, for thou didst create the man and not the sin in him. In his Confessions, St. Augustine tells us of how he lived a tremendous and precarious life and it was only because of Ambrose that he was brought back to the Christian faith.Referring to the topic of