TOS034 Watching the Saints-Patrick and Augustine with Patti Brunner
for audio: TOS034: Watching the Saints: Patrick and Augustine – Truth of the Spirit (podcast) | Listen Notes
Episode TOS034 Truth of the Spirit’s “Watching the Saints”. Join Patti Brunner for Christian movies review to look at a couple of saints whose movies are based on their own account of their lives. Today we would call them autobiographies but both St. Augustine’s and St. Patrick’s were called “Confession” and seem to be a “tell all” to the Church. Both of these men had events in their youth that were scandalous which makes their conversion stories more interesting. See the contrasts and similarities of these saints who were contemporaries of one another. A closer look at St. Augustine and St. Patrick shows us how one person who turns their face to God can make a difference as we continue to honor them 1700 years later..
Welcome to Truth of the Spirit’s “Watching the Saints”. On this episode we’ll look at a couple of saints whose movies are based on their own account of their lives. Today we would call them autobiographies but both Augustine’s and Patrick’s were called “Confession” and seem to be a “tell all” to the Church. Both of these men had events in their youth that were scandalous which makes their conversion stories more interesting.
The movies takes these saints’ own words then adds other facts, stories and legends known about the saints. I realize that artistic license sometimes embellishes the truth—sometimes fabricates it—but this gave me pause to think. As a teenager I was a voracious reader. In the summers I turned to science fiction from the public library but during the school year I turned to truth—reading biographies of the saints found in my Catholic school library. What a blessing to have these examples of Christians to be part of my formation.
As I have gotten much older my desire to watch science fiction movies like Star Wars has been replaced by the quality movies currently available on the lives of the saints. My patron saint Patrick is a case in point. The movie I recommend to watch about St. Patrick is the Fox Family TV version “St. Patrick-The Irish Legend”. It is available on DVD and currently on YouTube. It can be watched repeatedly or in stop and start fashion. Some of the details of Patrick’s life, including various miracles, were greatly enhanced for me by the visuals of the conditions of Ireland during his time of slavery and during his time of evangelizing a pagan country.
The story line comes from his written Confession and a letter he wrote about the martyrdom of his early converts. In the movie we see these as written in defense of himself to charges by his own church due to jealousy. In studying saints I have found it very common for holy men and women who aren’t tested by martyrdom to be tested by false accusation. However, the persecution by the Church in the movie is a little over the top. In truth, we don’t know what Patrick did as a teenager but it certainly was something to make him feel guilty and to feel that God was just to allow him to spend six years as a slave as penance.
The storyline of Patrick protesting the killing of his new Irish converts from paganism is true and this writing has also survived since the fifth century along with his Confessions.
The movie makes for a good contrast of the evangelization methods required in more civilized countries verses uncivilized pagan times. A lot of miraculous measures made an impact. Perhaps we need some of those methods in modern times…
Nowadays, we usually think of a “confession” as when a person acknowledges some guilt for wrongdoing: Confession of sin. The movie assumes that Patrick’s confession is in defense of accusations. Another use of Confession has other meanings: Confession of God’s greatness and, Confession of Faith – as in the Creed. “The Confession of St Patrick is the telling of the greatness of God as Patrick has experienced it in his own life, despite all his limitations.” Patrick’s Confession is available to read online for free or you can order copies of it. There is a documentary film called “The True Story of St. Patrick” that seeks to share the truth by Catholic and Anglican Archbishops in Ireland without enhancement. They basically return to Patrick’s own words.
You’ll notice as you search the internet for St. Patrick that you’ll find a lot on Leprechauns. Ignore all that. I think the true life of St. Patrick was so mystical that it gave birth to Irish legends of all sorts. Certainly this great saint has made an impact on our world. If you ever find yourself with a mug of green beer on March 17, the feast day of St. Patrick, or walk in the grand St. Patrick’s Day parades in Chicago or New York, stop and look at the truth about the man whom God used to change the world.
The other saint known for his written “Confession” is Saint Augustine. He lived a few years before Patrick. Patrick, born in 387, lived a great deal of his life in the wild, uneducated, uncivilized island of Ireland, St. Augustine born in 354 in North Africa then lived in places in where education and society was valued such as Carthage, Rome and Milan. Both lived after Emperor Constantine chose to allow the public faith of the Catholic Church putting an end to the persecution of Christians.
Back to the popcorn! The movie that I enjoyed about St. Augustine is “Restless Heart”. The title is taken from a quote by St. Augustine on the first page of The Confessions: “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in you.” Like the St. Patrick-Irish Legend, this movie shows both the youth and the adult saint. The movie starts in the last year of Augustine’s life as he faces the invasion of the Vandals of his diocese of Hippo in Africa, then goes back in time to reveal Augustine’s moving conversion story.
Whereas Patrick had an indiscretion as a youth, Augustine was a real stinker when it came to morality way past his childhood for many years. He chose his friends for financial gain. He embraced the heretical gnostic Manichaean religion, had an illegitimate son and generally led a sinful and immoral life. His mother has been the patron saint of many mothers whose children have turned down the wrong road. She prayed for him for 30 years to have conversion. This Christian woman also prayed for her pagan husband who did turn to God before his death. After Augustine moved to Milan to find success and power he came upon the preaching of the bishop of Milan, St. Ambrose, and for the first time Augustine connected with truth. As Scripture tells us, “The truth will set you free.” And it certainly had an impact on Augustine. The fruit of his mother’s prayers was so great that Augustine became a Christian bishop and eventually joined St. Ambrose, St. Jerome and St. Gregory the Great as a “Doctor of the Church”.
The movie includes two women important in Augustine’s life: his mother and his mistress. Both seemed to be abandoned for a time by Augustine; his mother so that he could live a life of debauchery and his mistress—so he could live according to the Manichaean code for financial benefit.
One of the key points “Restless Heart” makes is about the ability to sway opinion with words. In today’s media it is easy to see how the written, spoken and visual word can form or reform society and certainly affect spending habits. In the early fifth century, like now, the technique was used for financial gain. Augustine was schooled in this art form of persuasion and used it to become a successful lawyer who cared little for ethics. The movie shows that when Augustine eventually heard Ambrose preach he realized it contained more than just technique. In scripture St. Paul reminds us in the second chapter of his first letter to the Corinthians, “1 When I came to you, brothers, proclaiming the mystery of God, I did not come with sublimity of words or of wisdom.2 For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ, and him crucified. 3 I came to you in weakness and fear and much trembling, 4 and my message and my proclamation were not with persuasive (words of) wisdom, but with a demonstration of spirit and power, 5 so that your faith might rest not on human wisdom but on the power of God.” (1 Corinthians 2:1-5)
The tools, that Augustine used to manipulate truth, eventually allow him to defend truth and become and top notch apologist of the truth of Christianity. After the conversion of Augustine the movie jumps back to the beginning of the movie without filling in much of the story of how Augustine became a priest and bishop, but the conversion is the main focus, anyway. Like all great conversion witnesses it is “I was, He did, I am”. The best conversion stories to tell are the ones where the person makes a major change from darkness to light and Augustine doesn’t disappoint us.
The movie is rated by the Catholic Movie Review Board as A-II, for adults and adolescents. There is some violence and sexual misconduct that keeps it from being ok for the whole family. Christian Kids TV has children’s videos about St. Augustine and St. Patrick. If you have little ones, watching these videos would be one way to introduce your children to saints.
There are also plenty of documentary films and discussions on St. Augustine to view and articles to read. The Catechism of the Catholic Church quotes 21 times from 11 documents of St. Ambrose and quotes St. Augustine 85 times from 23 documents including 11 quotes from his Confessions. This shows the importance of following the Way of Jesus of building up the Church as a disciple you must make disciples.
I’ll end with a quote from St. Patrick:
May the strength of God pilot us, may the wisdom of God instruct us, may the hand of God protect us, may the word of God direct us. Amen.
You’ve been listening to “Watching the Saints” – a movie review series on Truth of the Spirit with Patti Brunner. I invite you to subscribe and come back for more. With the Holy Spirit there is always more! Amen.
