This year, 2011, the Vigil is also celebrated on the 24th of April: this is also the date on the Augustinian calendar when the conversion of St. Augustine is commemorated. It is called the “conversion of St. Augustine” but it would be better recognized as the anniversary of his baptism. Why was he baptized on this day? It was not something which he had chosen or even selected on his own. In the ancient church, there was only one date for baptisms which was the Vigil of Easter and, in 387, this date happened to be the same, the 24th of April.
This date marks a division of Augustine’s life into two distinct periods. Both Augustine and those who were baptized with him, his son, Adeodatus and his friend, Alipius, had to interrupt their stay in Cassiciaco where they had been on retreat. They had to begin the program for Lent during which the candidates for baptism were taught the catechism. During the months of March and April, they would have diligently assisted at the lessons given by the bishop who at the time was Ambrose. They would have been required to memorize the “Our Father” and the symbol of faith or the credo. It would have been for them also a time of prayer, a time of asking others to pray for them, and a time to study and to practice fasting and other forms of mortification.
Finally, the great night of 23-24 April arrived. The faithful of Milan had been notified of the gathering in the basilica which was brightly illuminated with lights and decorations. All were dressed for the festal occasion. It was, indeed, a glorious feast, the celebration of the Light and the Life, the day of the Resurrection of Christ. The first part of the ceremony was dedicated to the readings of the principal episodes narrating God’s salvation of His people.
Naked
Then, it came to the ceremony of baptism. It took place in the baptistery, a fixed place attached to the basilica. The baptistery may still be located among the ruins of the Milan basilica and may be seen from one of the stations of the modern metro. These remains can be viewed also in the foundation of the magnificent Gothic Cathedral which was constructed between the XIV and XIX centuries.
The baptistery was pool with an octagonal shape into which those who were to be baptized lowered themselves naked as a reminder that one is born naked and, through baptism, will be born again naked. There Augustine and his companions were baptized by the bishop. Upon emerging from the pool, the newly baptized were vested with a white tunic which they would wear for a week.
St. Augustine did not give us all of these details. As a matter of fact, when he speaks of his baptism in the Confessions, he is very brief. He gives us only this phrase, “we were baptized, and anxiety over our past life fled away from us”. In this way, he expressed the separation from a life dedicated to material goals and his birth to a new life concerned only with his search for God and the following of Christ. This, after all, is baptism, nothing more, nothing less.