Volume 46, Issue 101, Enero/Junio 2020
William Clemence
Pages 111-162
The Pasio Vincentii in Augustine’s Sermones de Sanctis
The article makes a brief exposition of the context of the first persecutions against the Christians, particularly highlighting the persecution of Diocletian, to later analyze the effects of the Constantinian peace. The importance that within the context of the Constantinian peace acquired the cult of martyrs, like the first Christian heroes, is exposed. Later the importance of the literature about martyrs of the first centuries is revealed. In a second part of the article, the sermons that Saint Augustine dedicated to Saint Vincent are studied, namely, sermons 4; 274-277 / A; 359 / B. A detailed study is made of each one of them, both at the rhetorical level and mainly in terms of content, to highlight the ideas and Augustine’s theology. The role that the sermons of Saint Augustine played in the transmission of the Passio Vincentii is particularly stressed.