and
to teach and defend among his own people Catholic doctrines and
interests--henceforth to be the sole aim of his life. In August or
September therefore of that same year he set out with his mother and
friends for Africa. But the death of Monica at Ostia in Italy changed
his plans. And after paying all the duties of religion and filial
tenderness to this devoted mother, he went to Rome. But in the spring of
the year 388 he finally set foot on his native shores. He betook himself
immediately to the environs of Tagasta and found an asylum for study,
contemplation, and prayer.

It happened that, prompted by zeal and affection, he went on one
occasion in 391 to Hippo, which was on the Mediterranean Sea five
leagues from Carthage, and the site of the present Bona, for the purpose
of inducing a certain friend to join him in his solitude. While here he
entered the church where the holy bishop, Valerius, was preaching to the
people and complaining of his sad need of a priest to aid him in his
duties, and especially to exercise the office of preaching, since an
impediment in his speech rendered that duty very difficult and extremely
painful for him. Preaching was the exclusive function of the bishop. And
when Augustine as a priest assumed the duty, he was the first in
priest's orders who had ever preached in presence of a bishop. And it
was in that capacity that he arose in the Council of Hippo (393) and
delivered his famous discourse on "Faith and its Creed." As Augustine
entered the church while the bishop was making the above complaint, the
congregation, who recognized him (for his fame had spread over all
Africa), immediately, as if by divine inspiration, proposed him for the
office of priest. Valerius was of course overjoyed; and after a short
time which the saint requested for preparation, he was ordained and
attached to the church of Hippo. The esteem in which the new priest was
held, his apostolic labors, his eloquence, his piety, soon impelled the
aged bishop to raise his sacerdotal co-laborer to the episcopal dignity
and associate him still more closely with himself in the government of
the See of Hippo. He was accordingly consecrated a little before
Christmas of the year 395. And the subsequent thirty-five years were the
busiest, the most arduous, and the most fruitful of his long and
eventful career. His energy was indefatigable and extended in every
direction. The religious movements of his time brought into play