Patron Saint of Cagayan de Oro
By: Rev. Peter C. Tuit
It is fiesta time again in Cagayan de Oro City. All the business going on right now will culminate in the big fiesta day on August 28. The fiesta in Cagayan de Oro is in the honor of its patron saint Augustine.
Many may not be aware of this but Augustine is not just considered an important Roman Catholic theologian. Any Protestant theologian worth his salt will also know the writings of Augustine. Augustine was born around 354 in North Africa. His father Patricius was a pagan and converted only shortly before he died. His mother Monica came out of a Christian family and was a God-fearing woman.
At first, Augustine lived an immoral life and was influenced by false teachers. His mother was very concerned about him. When she told the bishop of her concern he told her, “A child of so many prayers will never be lost.” His mother’s prayers were answered.
Augustine became a Christian and was baptized on April 25, 387 AD by Bishop Ambrosius in Milan. In 396 Augustine became a bishop and was a very active and pastoral worker. He died on August 28 in the year 430 AD. Augustine was also a great scholar. Many of his works are still with us today.
One of his well-known works is his “Confessions.”This is basically a spiritual biography. It spells out his restless search for and the rest and peace he found in Jesus Christ.
Another well-known work is his “De Civite dei, The City of God”, the fall of the city of Rome was the occasion of Augustine’s review of history from a Christian point of view.
In this book, Augustine contended that the pagan gods had done nothing to encourage temporal and spiritual welfare, and in fact had betrayed both. Augustine interprets world history as a battle between the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of the World.
Through his writings, Augustine influenced the development of doctrine. He influenced the Roman Catholic Church because of his teachings on the church and baptism. His writings on predestination, sin and grace influenced the theologians of the Reformation and the resulting Protestant Churches. Augustine is in a sense an ecumenical church father.
Religious artists have portrayed Augustine with the symbol of the open book and the burning heart.
His life expressed his famous dictum: “Thou hast made us for thyself, and our heart is restless until it rests in thee.”
Chocrane wrote, “Augustine was born into a world the perplexities of which have probably never been exceeded by any period, before or since, in human history.”
The once great Roman Empire had decayed both from within and from without. The power of Rome was all but finished. However, not a superior nation was replacing Rome, but the Barbarians.
Our world and nation today could do with people such as Augustine. May we all be people with hearts that burn with love for God and with lives hat are directed by the Word of God, even during fiesta time.
