And indeed Augustine is a deep well! "_Man shall come to a deep heart!_"
he was fond of saying, and those words of the Psalmist might stand for a
motto at the head of his works. Traditionary art represents him with his
heart in his hand, and the sentiment is true, for "great-hearted" is the
epithet which best suits him, and those who use these pages for
meditation or spiritual reading will find that whereas S. Thomas teaches
how we ought to pray, S. Augustine makes us pray; not in vain had he
studied and taught rhetoric for so many years!
This likeness between the two great Saints forms the theme of one of the
_Responsories_ for the Office for S. Thomas in the Dominican Breviary.
It is based on a famous vision. "There appeared to me as I watched in
prayer," said Brother Albert of Brescia in his deposition, "two revered
personages clothed in wondrous splendour. One of them wore a mitre on
his head, the other was clad in the habit of the Friars Preachers. And
this latter bore on his head a golden crown; round his neck he wore two
rings, one of silver, the other of gold; and on his breast he had an
immense precious stone, which filled the church with light. His cloak,
too, was sewn with precious stones, and his tunic and his hood were of
snowy white. And the one who wore the mitre said to me: 'Brother Albert,
why art thou thus filled with wonder? Thy prayers are heard;
for--listen: I am Augustine, the Doctor of the Church, and I am sent to
thee to tell thee of the doctrine and of the glory of Brother Thomas of
Aquin who is here with me. For he is my son; he in all things has
followed my doctrine and that of the Apostles, and by his teaching he
has illumined the Church of God. This is signified by the precious
stones which you see, and especially by the one he carries on his
breast, for it signifies the upright intention which he ever had in view
in his defence of the faith and which he showed in his words. These
precious stones, then, and especially that great one, signify the many
books and works that he wrote, and they show that he is equal to me in
glory save only that in the aureola of Virginity he surpasseth me.'"[21]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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