Franca Ela Consolino

The author takes her starting point from Serm. 285 on Saints Castus and Aemilius to illustrate the Bishop Augustine’s attitude toward both the martyrs and the faithful under his pastoral care. To the latter, the Bishop of Hippo points out the right relationship to entertain with the saints and takes care to reiterate several times that what makes a martyr is not what he suffered, but the cause for which he suffered, and that it is God who gave the martyr the strength with which he faced martyrdom...