Sequence 48. The Conversion of St. Augustine

May 5TH.
LET all the faithful tell around
Augustine's praises publicly ;
And tongue, heart, life, together sound
In spiritual ecstasy !

Our father's solemn festal rites,
Returning to us year by year,
Invite us to those pure delights,
Which nevermore shall disappear.

Well-learned in all those arts was he,
Which "liberal " we account to be ;
And in all Scriptures equally,
From which his thoughts were never free.

At first, puffed up with earthly lore,
Which neither end nor object knew.

He wished unseen things to explore
By light his senses on them threw.

Whilst he was still a Gentile youth,
He falls into that error's snares,
Which would believe as very truth,
That fig-trees, stripped of leaves, shed tears.

When there from Carthage he had come
To lecture upon rhetoric,
Thou calledst him, O Lord ! at Rome
To the true faith, the Catholic.

When, by God's will and not his own,
He comes to Milan to reside,
To Ambrose there becoming known,
He straightway takes him for his guide.

When afterwards he was baptized
By that blest prelate, throughly he
The pomp of this poor world despised,
And changed his life most wondrously.

He, whilst his studies he directs
Towards the words of Holy Writ,
The witness for all time collects
Of many a writer touching it.

He 'gainst the Manichaean sect
Proved an insuperable wall ; *
And by his preaching a respect
Most wonderful obtained from all.

When Monica his mother, who
Had come from Africa, first knew
Of the conversion of her boy,
Her heart within her leaped for joy.

For she beholds that very son,
Once as a Manichsean known,
Converted from his former state,
Seeking his Lord to imitate.

Illustrious pastor ! us, we pray,
Who now thine endless praise declare,
From this world's ruin and decay
Preserve thou by unceasing prayer.

Jesu ! sweet refuge, where those slake
Their griefs, who refuge with Thee take !

Grant us for this our father's sake
A good departure hence to make. Amen.

6o SS. NEREUS ET ACHILLEUS.