The conversion of Saint Augustine is celebrated on the 24th of April. It is the moment wherein all his doubts and indecisions fade away by the impact of the Word of God and he decides to have himself baptized and to live as a monk. It is an endeared feast especially for the Augustinian Recollects, who traditionally identified themselves with this Augustine of the garden scene of Milan. It is likewise, as it appears, a fitting date for the convocation of the congresses on the life and works of the Saint.
The letters of the bishop
In Pavia, a northern City of Italy where the remains of the Bishop of Hippo are kept, they have been convoking the Augustinian Week for 44 years already. It is organized by the University of Pavia in collaboration with the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart of Milan and the Augustinianum Patristic Institute of Rome.
It has outstanding experts of international stature, who have been reviewing, year after year and work after work, the greater part of the Augustinian opus. Thus, for this year, they will focus on the Epistolary of Augustine during the period of his episcopacy. The congress will take place in San Pietro in Ciel d’Oro, adjacent to the very tomb of the Saint, and, just like the previous years, the talks will be published.
Education
Few days after, the fifth International Congress of Catholic Education for the XXI Century takes place from May 2-4. It is organized by the Catholic University of Valencia.
Whilst the focus of Pavia is more technical, that of Valencia looks at the world in which we live. Its title is very meaningful: Education according to Saint Augustine, a response to postmodernity. The theme is wide and complex: it is not reduced to the academic ambience, but it includes the field of preaching and other very important realities like language and dialogue. Professors from the Faculty of Theology of the city will mostly take charge of the talks, even though there will also be some experts from Louvain (Belgium) and from different places in Italy.
At one level or another, within the university ambience or popular religiosity, Augustine of Hippo continuously marks our present culture and responds to questions that arise in the modern man.