Hippo

The Early North African Liturgy

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It is thought that North Africa was the birthplace of Latin Christianity. Because of Muslim expansion, however, the church did not survive in North Africa beyond the eighth century. Since no actual texts of the ancient North African liturgy are extant, the outline of the rite can only be reconstructed from other sources.

It is certain that North Africa, the cradle of Latin Christianity, was likewise the first place to use Latin in the liturgy. Without discouraging the ancient practice of improvisation, councils and synods (e.g., Hippo [393], canon 25) provided guidelines for formulating liturgical prayers and insisted that prayers composed elsewhere be approved by the teachers (fratres instructiores). The composition of prayers by heretics prompted a later synod to direct that “preces, prefationes, commendationes and impositiones manuum” be composed under the supervision of the hierarchy and used by all (Carthage [407], canon 10).

African collections of libelli missarum and even sacramentaries are referred to in writings from the fifth century; but, apart from a few Arian fragments, no actual liturgical texts have survived. Nevertheless, details of the rite have been gleaned from non-liturgical sources, e.g., conciliar decrees like those already mentioned and especially the writings and sermons of Augustine of Hippo. The following order of the Mass is based on a reconstruction by F. Van der Meer (Augustine the Bishop [New York: Harper & Row, 1961], 388–402).

ENTRANCE OF THE CLERGY
Greeting

EPISTLE
PSALM (Augustine considered this a reading)

GOSPEL
Homily
[announcements]
Dismissal of the Catechumens
Solemn Intercessions
Offering with Psalm singing
Preface dialogue
Improvised Preface without Sanctus
Approved Eucharistic prayer
“Amen”
Fractio
Lord’s Prayer
Communion with Psalm 33
Final prayer

DISMISSAL

The year after Augustine’s death (430) the African church saw the beginning of more than a century of bitter persecution by the Arian Vandals. In 698, Carthage was taken by the Moors and the church that had given birth to Latin Christianity ceased to exist altogether.

City of God, The

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The most renowned thinker among of the fourth and fifth centuries was Augustine, Bishop of Hippo in North Africa (350-430). Trained at Carthage, he became a teacher at Carthage and Rome, and later was a professor of rhetoric at Milan. There he came under the influence of Ambrose and became a Christian. He had such conviction about personal sin and forgiveness that it shaped his thinking about theology. During his thirty-five years in the bishopric of Hippo, he worked out a system of Latin theology that became the Catholic standard for more than a thousand years. Augustine’s insistence on the personal relation of humanity to God made him acceptable even to the Protestants of the sixteenth century. In his Confessions Augustine wrote his spiritual autobiography. Convinced of the reality of sin, he felt that his only escape was through the mercy of God. Augustine was also the father of a philosophy of history, set forth in his City of God. He lived at a time of political and social upheaval when the foundations of the Roman Empire were being undermined. The Visigoths sacked the city of Rome in the year 410. Many pagans felt that Rome’s misfortunes were the consequence of the neglect of the old gods. Augustine wrote to show that the decline of paganism was due to other causes and to foretell the triumph of the Christian order in place of the empire whose end was near. He believed that God intended that the Church should rule the State rather than the State the Church.

Impact: Augustine’s idea of the City of God became the political philosophy of the medieval papacy.

Augustine, Aurelius

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Aurelius Augustine (354-430) was one of the church’s great theologians. Augustine converted to Christianity at the age of 33 due largely to the influence of his devout mother, Monica. His father, a prominent citizen in Numidia, North Africa sent Augustine to the finest schools in that city and in Carthage where he studied rhetoric. As a teacher, he traveled from Carthage to Rome to Milan. His search for truth led him to study the ancient Greek philosophers, dualistic Manichaeism, and Skepticism. In Milan he heard Ambrose preach and, after studying the Scriptures, he converted to the faith of his mother in 381. She died shortly afterward. He returned to North Africa and entered a monastery in Hippo. In 395 he was chosen as bishop, a position he held until his death. His powerful writings served to defend the faith against the many popular heresies of that time including the Donatists, the Pelagians, and the Manichaeans. His seminal works include The City of God, a philosophy of Christian history; the Enchiridion, a theological work; and Confessions, which told of his conversion. His influence extends to this day in both Roman Catholic and Protestant theologies.