Aurelius Augustinus was born on the thirteenth of November 354 AD, in a city called Thagaste, in the Roman Numidia (Numidia Cirtensis) in North Africa, then part of the Roman Empire since the conquests of Scipio Aemilianus, who became Scipio Africanus after conquering North Africa and destroying Carthage.

During his time, Thagaste was an intellectual city with a prestigious school and was also close to Madaurus, an ancient center of higher learning and home to the eminent Apuleius.  Just like the tutor to the emperors, Fronto of Cirta (the capital of Roman Numidia), the three men were famous for their work in Latin and were orators, writers, thinkers, and Platonist philosophers who never knew each other and were born at different times. Yet, they had a lot in common, the three of them were rhetoricians who gained intellectual immortality and admiration. Also, the three of them were Numidians from a region now called Algeria. Saint Augustine became bishop of Hippo Regius in Numidia Cirtensis, ancient Bone and present-day Annaba, Algeria, where he died in 430 AD at the age of 75. Although during the time of these famous Latin-speaking men, it was Numidia and part of the Roman Empire, Algerian intellectuals are proud to say that they were Algerians, just as they are proud to say that Albert Camus was Algerian.

Augustine converted to Christianity and monotheism in 386 AD, after being raised by a devoted Christian mother and a pagan father. He was raised in a Latin-speaking upper-class Roman family and went to school in Madaurus, again, the city of Apuleius. In his book Confessions, he regrets the incident when he and his friends took fruit from someone else’s garden. He did not need the fruit, nor was he poor, but under peer pressure or an irresponsible childhood act, he committed a sin. This episode of his life shows who he was for real, but also makes us think about our present time and who the people we see are.

Augustine studied rhetoric as a teenager in Carthage, where he gained eloquence and lived a pagan life, which saddened his Christian mother. Sainthood did not grow in him or did not mature yet, since he lived with a woman who was not his wife and had a son who did not live long. As he was about to marry another woman, he felt God’s calling. He also felt guilty after ending his 15 years relation with the mother of his son, again a guilt he suffered from and was maybe part of his decision to become a saint. After years as a teacher in Thagaste, Carthage, Rome, and Milan, where he was influenced by Ambrose of Milan, who later baptized him, and after hearing a child say, “Take it and read it” (take up and read: tolle lege) at 31, he became a Christian.

Like many men of God, he found that reading the Bible changed his life, and he became a Christian in 386. He then became a preacher and teacher for the rest of his life. He returned to North Africa and devoted his life to the occupation of the prophets. He was close to the people, even physically, since he would get down from his elevated pulpit and walk to them during his sermons. He became the bishop of Hippo Regius in 395 AD until he died in 430 AD.

I discovered him at an early age through history and theology readings and then through his books. I never forgot about him and use him as an example in my lectures or writings, but he came back in the news because of the Pope’s visit to Algeria on April 14, 2026. The Vatican website published the Pope’s itinerary, and I saw that he will visit the French Catholic Basilica of Our Lady of Africa in Algiers and then fly the next day to Annaba/Hippo to visit the archaeological site of Hippo and lead Mass at the Saint Augustine Basilica. Sixteen centuries after his death, he remains in people’s minds and is still highly respected.

 I felt my intellectual thirst hydrated and was so enlightened by the fact that the first American Pope from Chicago happens to be an Augustinian and will visit Saint Augustine Basilica in the modern world, where I hope Saint Augustine’s message of faith and brotherhood will be revived in a place where tolerance is suffering, knowledge corrupted, and intellectuals silenced. In a place where Jews and Christians are called infidels and Muslims apostates, a place where the People of the book are mistreated and must hide or leave, while it is the native place of the beacon of faith, brotherhood, and knowledge. This visit is an important event for Saint Augustine and for his contributions to Algeria and the world. I hope the corrupted souls will see the light through it, and peace and tolerance will prevail over domination, fake theocracy, and authoritarianism.