A letter between two Saints

Yesterday was the feast of St. Augustine, the saint I chose for Confirmation. I read an abridged version of the City of God when I was a freshman in high school, and the Confessions when I was a sophomore, and On the Trinity when I was a senior. It all started during the summer before ninth grade, when we went on a family vacation to St. Augustine, Florida, and I walked inside the lovely Catholic basilica there. Who is this St. Augustine, anyway? I thought. When I got home I was looking through a bookstore and found a little paperback copy of the City of God. It took me the whole year to get through it, and I doubt whether I understood much, though I did take time to underline and look up any words I didn't know, and I read all the footnotes, too. The biggest impression the book made on me was that the early Christians were Catholics, which is why I chose St. Augustine when I converted.

I spent the weekend in the library reading from St. Augustine and St. Jerome. I thought I'd share this letter St. Jerome sent to St. Augustine, in St. Augustine's honor.

Jerome to the saintly lord and blessed father [Latin papa, 'pope'], Augustine (c. 418)

I have always revered your Blessedness with the respect which befits you and I have loved the Lord our Saviour dwelling in you, but now we add something to the heap, and, if that is possible, we fill up what was full, so as not to allow one single hour to pass without mention of your name; because the ardor of your faith has stood firm against the blasts of the wind, and you have chosen, in so far as it rests with you, to be delivered from Sodom rather than to remain there with the doomed. Your Prudence knows what I mean. Bravo to your valor! Your fame is world-wide; Catholics revere you and accept you as the second founder of the ancient faith, and - which is a mark of greater fame - all the heretics hate you, and pursue me, too, with equal hatred; they plan our death by desire if they cannot achieve it by the sword. May the mercy of Christ our Lord keep you safe and mindful of me, revered lord, most saintly father.