ABSTRACT
Aurelius Augustinus, whom we know as St Augustine, was born in 354 in the small North African town of Thagaste. His mother Monica was a Christian; his father Patricius was a pagan, who received baptism on his death-bed. Augustine began to teach, first in Thagaste and then in Carthage. He formed a stable liaison with a woman of a lower social class than himself, and a son was born to them. The effects of Augustine's thought on Latin theology have been incalculable. In both the Confessions and the De catechizandis rudibus, Augustine writes of the methods of teaching he prefers. The teacher needs to go out to the pupil's condition and to offer encouragement, but not simply so that information may be transferred from the mind of the one who teaches to the mind of the one who learns. The pupil must be aroused to use upon what is being said to him the powers that he has within.
