An Attempt To Date
Saint Augustine
Apprentice Tyler
October 19, 2014
Background:
Apprentice Tyler takes the Hardouin Challenge. The Hardouin Challenge is an obscure philological test to demonstrate that the writings of the Church Fathers have been known since time immemorial and their writings were not discovered in various libraries during the 15th century. The following are the results of Apprentice Tyler's investigation.
Part the First
Jean Hardouin and his idea of the impious Church Fathers have been previously addressed on our website.
The following definitions and citations are courtesy of the Oxford English Dictionary. Secondary sources are in red.
Etymology: < French Augustin, or < Latin Augustīnus , name of the great Latin father.
A member of the monastic order named after St. Augustine.
c1400 Rom. Rose 7463 Frere prechours ben good men alle..So been Augustins.
1631 J. Weever Anc. Funerall Monuments 314 The Abbey of the Friers Augustines.
1708 London Gaz. No. 4427/13, The Church of the barefooted Augustins.
A. adj.
1. Of or pertaining to St. Augustine or his doctrines.
1673 H. Hickman Hist. Quinq-articularis 34 But what was..become of the Augustinian spirit?
1851 J. Torrey tr. Neander Ch. Hist. (Bohn) IV. 379 The Augustinian doctrine of election.
2. Belonging to the order of Augustines.
1875 T. Lindsay in Sund. Mag. June 589 The Augustinian monks in Brussels.
1882 Athenæum 3 June 692/3 A house of Augustinian canons.
B. n.
1a. A member of the order of Augustines.
1602 W. Watson Decacordon Ten Quodlibeticall Questions 75 Dominicans, Augustinians, and other poore religious Friers.
b. An adherent of the doctrines of St. Augustine.
1860 J. Gardner Faiths World 263 This notion of human freedom was denied by the Augustinians.
2. An adherent of Augustine the Bohemian.
1645 E. Pagitt Heresiogr. 33 Augustinians..affirm the entrance into Paradice to have beene shut up untill Augustine the Bohemian opened it for..those that were of his Sect.
Auguˈstinianess n. a female disciple of St. Augustine.
1853 F. W. Faber All for Jesus 140 Veronica the Augustinianess.
Auguˈstinianism n.
1830 J. Mackintosh Diss. Progress Ethical Philos. 194 The Calvinism, or rather Augustinianism, of Aquinas.
Auˈgustinism n. the doctrines held by him and his followers.
1883 Athenæum 3 Feb. 148/3 [In] the eighteenth epistle..Augustinism is directly opposed.
3. Of the town of Augusta Vindelicorum or Augsburg, where in 1530 Luther and Melanchthon drew up their confession of Protestant principles.
1565 R. Shacklock tr. S. Hosius Hatchet of Heresies 71 (margin) In his Apologie of the Augustane confession.
1647 J. Howell New Vol. of Lett. 46 Some embracing..the Augustane, and some the Helvetian confession.
1796 J. Morse Amer. Universal Geogr. (new ed.) I. 281 They adhere to the Augustan Confession.
The historical coincidence of Martin Luther being an Augustinian monk and posting his 95 theses in the town of Augsburg will be addressed below.
Part the Second
The following section lists the above references to Augustine in chronological order.
1400c Rom. Rose 7463 Frere prechours ben good men alle..So been Augustins.
1565 R. Shacklock tr. S. Hosius Hatchet of Heresies 71 (margin) In his Apologie of the Augustane confession.
1602 W. Watson Decacordon Ten Quodlibeticall Questions 75 Dominicans, Augustinians, ...
1631 J. Weever Anc. Funerall Monuments 314 The Abbey of the Friers Augustines.
1645 E. Pagitt Heresiogr. 33 Augustinians..affirm the entrance into Paradice to have beene shut up untill Augustine...
1647 J. Howell New Vol. of Lett. 46 Some embracing..the Augustane, and some the Helvetian confession.
1673 H. Hickman Hist. Quinq-articularis 34 But what was..become of the Augustinian spirit?
1708 London Gaz. No. 4427/13, The Church of the barefooted Augustins.
1796 J. Morse Amer. Universal Geogr. (new ed.) I. 281 They adhere to the Augustan Confession.
1830 J. Mackintosh Diss. Progress Ethical Philos. 194 The Calvinism, or rather Augustinianism, of Aquinas.
1851 J. Torrey tr. Neander Ch. Hist. (Bohn) IV. 379 The Augustinian doctrine of election.
1853 F. W. Faber All for Jesus 140 Veronica the Augustinianess.
1860 J. Gardner Faiths World 263 This notion of human freedom was denied by the Augustinians.
1875 T. Lindsay in Sund. Mag. June 589 The Augustinian monks in Brussels.
1882 Athenæum 3 June 692/3 A house of Augustinian canons.
1883 Athenæum 3 Feb. 148/3 [In] the eighteenth epistle..Augustinism is directly opposed.
We have only one citation relating to Saint Augustine before the year Martin Luther posted his theses (1517).
Part the Third
The town of Augusta Vindelicorum becomes Augsburg.
Martin Luther is connected to Augsburg.
Augustine created the Augustinians.
Martin Luther is an Augustinian monk.
There is only one reference to Augustine before the Reformation.
Conclusion
Although we have no proof, there is enough circumstantial evidence and we are inclined to believe that Martin Luther was posthumously made an adherent of the Augustinian order.
Addendum
1340 Ayenbite (1866) 155 Ase zayþ þe boc of collacions of holy uaderes.
1549 Bk. Common Prayer (STC 16267) Pref., If a manne woulde searche out by the auncient fathers.
1598 Shakespeare Love's Labour's Lost iv. ii. 146 As a certaine Father saith.
1641a R. Montagu Acts & Monuments (1642) 200 To this discourse of Basil, other Fathers agree.
1654 J. Hall Of Govt. & Obed. iii. xii. 354 The..promises also, heretofore made ... the Church Fathers and Founders.
1710 H. Prideaux Orig. & Right Tithes 141 Irenaeus and Origen, and other Fathers.
1776–81 Gibbon Decline & Fall xlvii. (note) , The Greek as well as the Latin fathers.
1787a J. Brown Posthumous Wks. (1797) 96 The scriptures..have authority from God, and contain his mind and meaning; and not as authorised, explained, or understood by the church-fathers, councils, or mens own conscience.
1839 H. W. Longfellow Hyperion iv. vii, I gazed with rapture on the vast folios of the Christian Fathers.
1866 J. M. Ludlow Woman's Work in Church 236 The praises of virginity and of widowhood which occur in the works of perhaps every church father—in Cyprian and in Ambrose, in Augustin, in Jerome, in Chrysostom.
1887 J. R. Lowell Democracy in Prose Wks. (1890) VI. 14 A Father of the Church said that property was theft many centuries before Proudhon was born.
1927 Publ. Mod. Lang. Assoc. Amer. 42 907 Scholarly divines who attempt, by studying the writings of the Church Fathers and other records of ecclesiastical antiquity, to make out a case for the prelatical form of Church-discipline.
2008 C. M. Moreman Beyond Threshold iii. 62 The preeminent among church fathers was St. Augustine of Hippo (354–430).
Apprentice Tyler takes the Hardouin Challenge. The Hardouin Challenge is an obscure philological test to demonstrate that the writings of the Church Fathers have been known since time immemorial and their writings were not discovered in various libraries during the 15th century. The following are the results of Apprentice Tyler's investigation.
Part the First
Jean Hardouin and his idea of the impious Church Fathers have been previously addressed on our website.
The following definitions and citations are courtesy of the Oxford English Dictionary. Secondary sources are in red.
Etymology: < French Augustin, or < Latin Augustīnus , name of the great Latin father.
A member of the monastic order named after St. Augustine.
c1400 Rom. Rose 7463 Frere prechours ben good men alle..So been Augustins.
1631 J. Weever Anc. Funerall Monuments 314 The Abbey of the Friers Augustines.
1708 London Gaz. No. 4427/13, The Church of the barefooted Augustins.
A. adj.
1. Of or pertaining to St. Augustine or his doctrines.
1673 H. Hickman Hist. Quinq-articularis 34 But what was..become of the Augustinian spirit?
1851 J. Torrey tr. Neander Ch. Hist. (Bohn) IV. 379 The Augustinian doctrine of election.
2. Belonging to the order of Augustines.
1875 T. Lindsay in Sund. Mag. June 589 The Augustinian monks in Brussels.
1882 Athenæum 3 June 692/3 A house of Augustinian canons.
B. n.
1a. A member of the order of Augustines.
1602 W. Watson Decacordon Ten Quodlibeticall Questions 75 Dominicans, Augustinians, and other poore religious Friers.
b. An adherent of the doctrines of St. Augustine.
1860 J. Gardner Faiths World 263 This notion of human freedom was denied by the Augustinians.
2. An adherent of Augustine the Bohemian.
1645 E. Pagitt Heresiogr. 33 Augustinians..affirm the entrance into Paradice to have beene shut up untill Augustine the Bohemian opened it for..those that were of his Sect.
Auguˈstinianess n. a female disciple of St. Augustine.
1853 F. W. Faber All for Jesus 140 Veronica the Augustinianess.
Auguˈstinianism n.
1830 J. Mackintosh Diss. Progress Ethical Philos. 194 The Calvinism, or rather Augustinianism, of Aquinas.
Auˈgustinism n. the doctrines held by him and his followers.
1883 Athenæum 3 Feb. 148/3 [In] the eighteenth epistle..Augustinism is directly opposed.
3. Of the town of Augusta Vindelicorum or Augsburg, where in 1530 Luther and Melanchthon drew up their confession of Protestant principles.
1565 R. Shacklock tr. S. Hosius Hatchet of Heresies 71 (margin) In his Apologie of the Augustane confession.
1647 J. Howell New Vol. of Lett. 46 Some embracing..the Augustane, and some the Helvetian confession.
1796 J. Morse Amer. Universal Geogr. (new ed.) I. 281 They adhere to the Augustan Confession.
The historical coincidence of Martin Luther being an Augustinian monk and posting his 95 theses in the town of Augsburg will be addressed below.
Part the Second
The following section lists the above references to Augustine in chronological order.
1400c Rom. Rose 7463 Frere prechours ben good men alle..So been Augustins.
1565 R. Shacklock tr. S. Hosius Hatchet of Heresies 71 (margin) In his Apologie of the Augustane confession.
1602 W. Watson Decacordon Ten Quodlibeticall Questions 75 Dominicans, Augustinians, ...
1631 J. Weever Anc. Funerall Monuments 314 The Abbey of the Friers Augustines.
1645 E. Pagitt Heresiogr. 33 Augustinians..affirm the entrance into Paradice to have beene shut up untill Augustine...
1647 J. Howell New Vol. of Lett. 46 Some embracing..the Augustane, and some the Helvetian confession.
1673 H. Hickman Hist. Quinq-articularis 34 But what was..become of the Augustinian spirit?
1708 London Gaz. No. 4427/13, The Church of the barefooted Augustins.
1796 J. Morse Amer. Universal Geogr. (new ed.) I. 281 They adhere to the Augustan Confession.
1830 J. Mackintosh Diss. Progress Ethical Philos. 194 The Calvinism, or rather Augustinianism, of Aquinas.
1851 J. Torrey tr. Neander Ch. Hist. (Bohn) IV. 379 The Augustinian doctrine of election.
1853 F. W. Faber All for Jesus 140 Veronica the Augustinianess.
1860 J. Gardner Faiths World 263 This notion of human freedom was denied by the Augustinians.
1875 T. Lindsay in Sund. Mag. June 589 The Augustinian monks in Brussels.
1882 Athenæum 3 June 692/3 A house of Augustinian canons.
1883 Athenæum 3 Feb. 148/3 [In] the eighteenth epistle..Augustinism is directly opposed.
We have only one citation relating to Saint Augustine before the year Martin Luther posted his theses (1517).
Part the Third
The town of Augusta Vindelicorum becomes Augsburg.
Martin Luther is connected to Augsburg.
Augustine created the Augustinians.
Martin Luther is an Augustinian monk.
There is only one reference to Augustine before the Reformation.
Conclusion
Although we have no proof, there is enough circumstantial evidence and we are inclined to believe that Martin Luther was posthumously made an adherent of the Augustinian order.
Addendum
1340 Ayenbite (1866) 155 Ase zayþ þe boc of collacions of holy uaderes.
1549 Bk. Common Prayer (STC 16267) Pref., If a manne woulde searche out by the auncient fathers.
1598 Shakespeare Love's Labour's Lost iv. ii. 146 As a certaine Father saith.
1641a R. Montagu Acts & Monuments (1642) 200 To this discourse of Basil, other Fathers agree.
1654 J. Hall Of Govt. & Obed. iii. xii. 354 The..promises also, heretofore made ... the Church Fathers and Founders.
1710 H. Prideaux Orig. & Right Tithes 141 Irenaeus and Origen, and other Fathers.
1776–81 Gibbon Decline & Fall xlvii. (note) , The Greek as well as the Latin fathers.
1787a J. Brown Posthumous Wks. (1797) 96 The scriptures..have authority from God, and contain his mind and meaning; and not as authorised, explained, or understood by the church-fathers, councils, or mens own conscience.
1839 H. W. Longfellow Hyperion iv. vii, I gazed with rapture on the vast folios of the Christian Fathers.
1866 J. M. Ludlow Woman's Work in Church 236 The praises of virginity and of widowhood which occur in the works of perhaps every church father—in Cyprian and in Ambrose, in Augustin, in Jerome, in Chrysostom.
1887 J. R. Lowell Democracy in Prose Wks. (1890) VI. 14 A Father of the Church said that property was theft many centuries before Proudhon was born.
1927 Publ. Mod. Lang. Assoc. Amer. 42 907 Scholarly divines who attempt, by studying the writings of the Church Fathers and other records of ecclesiastical antiquity, to make out a case for the prelatical form of Church-discipline.
2008 C. M. Moreman Beyond Threshold iii. 62 The preeminent among church fathers was St. Augustine of Hippo (354–430).