On Christian Asylum in Augustine’s Sermones
Abstract
In the late 4th century, bishops utilized the so-called ius intercessionis right to intervene in order to help those in need, be they the persecuted, the accused or the convicted. These actions of a bishop were rooted foremost in the idea of mercy and it was also due to this right that a bishop became the one to decide about the granting of the right to asylum – a right which was gradually extended to Christian churches at the time. St. Augustine encounters the issue of Christian asylum as the bishop of Hippo Regius in Africa mainly in his preserved correspondence, but he talks about seeking sanctuary in Christian churches also in one of his sermons, specifically in Sermo 302 delivered on the feast of St. Lawrence. This paper focuses on presenting the circumstances of a violent act in Hippo Regius and its implications to potentially sanctuary seeking in local Christian church, particularly on the ground of analysis of post sermonem to Sermo 302.
Keywords:
St. Augustine, Sermo 302, sanctuary, ecclesiastical asylumReferences
Augustinus, Epistulae, CSEL 34/2, ed. A. Goldbacher, Wien 1898; CSEL 57, ed. A. Goldbacher, Wien 1911; CSEL 88, ed. J. Divjak, Wien 1981, tr. Augustinus, Letters 211-270, 1*-29* (Epistulae), WSA 2/4, New York 2005.
Augustinus, Sermons (273 – 305A) on the Saints, WSA 3/8, ed. J.E Rotelle, New York 1994, Aureli Augusti Sermo CCCII. Testo, traduzione e commento, ed. B. Pietri, Bologna 1998, tr. Sermon 302. On the feast of St. Lawrence, in: Augustine: Political Writings, ed. E.M. Atkins – R.J. Dorado, Cambridge 2001.
Concilia Galliae a. 314 – a. 506, CCL 148, ed. Ch. Munier, Turnholt 1963.
Histoire des Concils d ́apres les documents originaux, v. 2/2, ed. Ch. J. Hefele, Paris 1907.
Babo M., Kirchenasyl – Kirchenhikesie. Relevanz eines historischen Modells im Hinblick auf das Asylrecht der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, Münster 2003.
Brown P., Power and Persuation in the Late Antiquity Towards a Christian Empire, Madison 1992.
Brown P., Throught the Eye of a Needle: Wealth, the Fall of Rome, and the Making of Christianity in the West, 350–550 AD, Princeton 2012. (Crossref)
Delmaire R., Largesses sacrées et res privata: l’aerarium impérial et son administration du IVe au VIe siècle, Rome 1989.
Derlien J., Asyl. Die religiöse und rechtliche Begründung der Flucht zu sakralen Orten in der griechisch-römischen Antike, Marburg 2003.
Dreher M., Die Ursprünge des Kirchenasyls und die Gesetzgebung Theodosius’ II, in: Staatlichkeit und politiches Handeln in der römischen Kaiserzeit, ed. H-U. Weimer, Berlin 2006, p. 150-174.
Ducloux A., Ad ecclesiam confugere. Naissance du droit d ́asile dans les église (IV.e- milieu V.e s.), Paris 1994.
Dupont A., Preacher of Grace. A Critical Reappraisal of Augustine’s Doctrine of Grace in his Sermones ad Populum on Liturgical Feasts and During the Donatist Controversy, Leiden 2014. (Crossref)
Franke G., Das Kirchenasyl im Kontext sakraler Zufluchtnahmen der Antike, Frankfurt am Main 2003.
Gaudemet J., Asylum, AL I, ed. C. Mayer, Basel 1986-1994, p. 490-493.
Gamauf R., Ad statuas confugere in der frühen römischen Kaiserzeit, in: Das antike Asyl. Kultische Grundlagen, rechtliche Ausgestaltung und politische Funktion, ed. M. Dreher, Köln 2003, p. 177-202.
Hallebeek J., Church Asylum in Late Antiquity, Concession by the Emperor or Competence of the Church?, in: Secundum Ius. Opstellen aangeboden aan prof. mr. P.L. Nève, ed. E.C. Coppens, Gerard Noodt Instituut 2005, p. 163-182.
Hrnčiarová D., Právo cirkevného azylu – otázka kontinuity a diskontinuity v neskorej antike. Stav súčasného bádania. „Kultúrne dejiny” 11 (2020) p. 127-141.
Langenfled H., Christianisierungspolitik und Sklavengesetzgebung der römischen Kaiser von Konstantin bis Teodosius II, Bonn 1977.
Magalhães de Oliveira J.C., Le “Pouvoir de Peuple”: Une émuete à Hippone au début du Ve siècle connue par le Sermon 302 de Saint Augustine pour la fête de Saint Laurent, „Antiquité Tardive” 12 (2004) p. 309-324. (Crossref)
Müller H., Preacher Augustine and His Congregation, in: A Companion of Augustine, ed. M. Vessey – Sh. Reid, Oxford – Chichester 2012, p. 297-309. (Crossref)
Poque S., Spectacles et festins offerts par Augustin d’Hippone pour les fêtes de martyrs, “Pallas” 15 (1968) p. 103-125. (Crossref)
Rapp C., Holy Bishops in Late Antiquity. The Nature of Christian Leadership in an Age of Trasition, Berkley – Los Angeles 2005. (Crossref)
Traulsen Ch., Das sakrale Asyl in der Alten Welt, Tübingen 2004.
Traulsen Ch., Barmherzigkeit und Buße – Zur christlichen Gehalt des spätantiken Kirchenasyls, „Zeitschrift der Savigny-Stiftung für Rechtsgeschichte, Kanonistische Abt.” 93 (2007) p. 128-153. (Crossref)
Comenius University, Bratislava https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5977-9253
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Papers published in Vox Patrum are covered by the Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-ND 4.0) licence. Authors and users can use published works licensed under the CC-BY-ND since 2018. For earlier publications, copyrights are available under fair use rights in accordance with the Act of February 4, 1994 on copyrights and related rights.
