St. Augustine, in the time before his conversion, had contracted an illicit relationship with an unnamed woman and, from this union, came a son. What became of these two – this mother and son – after St. Augustine’s conversion?
What brought about this great conversion in Augustine?
AdeodatusWhen only seventeen years of age, Augustine entered into relations with a young woman. She conceived and bore him an illegitimate son, whom he named Adeodatus or “Gift of God”.
When the future saint traveled to Rome and then to Milan, the woman and child accompanied him. She and Augustine continued their illicit union.
The guilt of their relations was a source of great sorrow for St. Monica, Augustine’s mother, who prayed for her son’s conversion with many tears. Her prayers were very nearly answered by a marriage, but this was postponed and ultimately abandoned for a reason which has been lost to history.
However, the son, Adeodatus, was a bright young lad with a promising future. His intellectual capabilities were evident even from his young teenage years. He was the joy of his parents.
The conversion of the mistress
When it became clear that marriage would not be contracted (and, most likely, related to whatever the difficulty was), the unnamed lover of St. Augustine experienced a strong conversion. The couple ended their illicit relationship.
“She was stronger than I,” wrote St. Augustine, “and made her sacrifice with a courage and generosity which I was not strong enough to imitate.”
The mother of Adeodatus, gave her son to his father (a sacrifice which was great indeed) and abandoned the world to devote herself to a life of penance in a monastery in Carthage. There this woman made atonement for her sins and sought God above all things. We can suppose that she died a very holy death.
St. Augustine’s conversion
The Doctor of Grace was, however, slower to respond to the divine assistance. While desiring holiness, he yet desired pleasures and so fell to yet another illicit relationship. This was, however, short lived and his true conversion followed shortly.
Hearing of how others had been converted by reading the Life of St. Anthony of the Dessert (the first great Life of a Saint, itself written by the great St. Athanasius), Augustine was moved to strive in earnest for heaven.
While praying in a garden in Milan (and weeping over his attachment to sin), Augustine heard a faint voice say tolle, lege or “Take up and read.” The Saint opened the Letters of St. Paul at random and found Romans 13:13-14, Not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying, but put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh to fulfill the lusts thereof.
At the Easter Vigil of 388, St. Augustine was baptized together with Adeodatus by the saintly bishop of Milan, St. Ambrose. And so began his Christian life which has benefited the Church through the ages to the present day.
