17. Thus levyth he i wildern's xx^{ii} yere and more Without any company bot the wylde boore. St. Augustine, the first great saint of the Order, and patron of the canons of the cathedral. He was born at Tagaste, in Numidia, A.D. 354. His father, Patricius, was a Pagan, while his mother, Monica, was a Christian. Patricius, perceiving the ability of his son, "spared nothing to breed him up a scholar." When quite young he had a severe illness, and expressed a wish to be baptized, but on his recovery the wish vanished. Later, his morals grew corrupt, and he lived a profligate life until he became a convert of the Manicheans at the age of nineteen. After teaching grammar at Tagaste, and rhetoric at Carthage, he proceeded to Rome, against the wish of Monica. He next became professor of rhetoric at Milan. Ambrose was then archbishop, and through listening to his preaching, St. Augustine abandoned the Manichean doctrines, and was baptized at Easter the following year, A.D. 387. Monica, who had prayed unceasingly for his conversion, now visited him at Milan, and was greatly rejoiced at the answer to her prayers. His mother started to return to Africa with her son, but died at Ostia. At a villa outside Hippo, St. Augustine passed three years in the company of eleven pious men. "They had all things in common as in the early Church; and fasting and prayer, Scripture-reading and almsgiving, formed their regular occupations. Their mode of life was not formally monastic according to any special rule, but the experience of this time of seclusion was, no doubt, the basis of that monastic system which St. Augustine afterwards sketched, and which derived from him its name." He then entered the priesthood, A.D. 390, and five years afterward was made coadjutor in the bishopric of Hippo, and eventually became bishop. The rest of his life he devoted to defending the Christian religion, both by preaching and by writing. He died in Hippo, A.D. 430, while the Vandals were besieging it. St. Augustine is called "the greatest of the Fathers." His great work "De Civitate Dei," "the highest expression of his thought," engaged him for seventeen years. In his well-known "Confessions" is given an account of his spiritual progress, and of his state before he was converted. [Illustration: EAST END OF THE FRATRY AND SOUTH TRANSEPT. From Billings.] ST. AUGUSTINE 1. Her fader and mod^r of sanct Austyne Fyrst put hym her to lerne doctryne 2. Her taught he gramor and rethorike Emongys all doctors non was h[~y] lyke 3. Her promysed he w^{th} hys moder to abide Bot he left her wepyng and stal y^e tyde grace de diu (on the ship's sail) 4. There taught he at rome the sevyn science Y^t was gret prece tyll hys presence 5. Her prechyd Ambrose and oft tymys previd Qd lettera occid_t wych Austin mevid