Source edition
Augustine. Sancti Aureli Augustini Opera, Sectio VII, Pars III (Corpus scriptorum ecclesiasticorum Latinorum, Volume 53). Petschenig, Michael, editor. Prague; Vienna; Leipzig: F. Tempsky; G. Freytag, 1910.
Source data
Open Greek and Latin · CC BY-SA 4.0
Cloned and adapted by Humanitext, with ongoing edits.
Summary
This sermon focuses on the subdeacon Rusticianus, who abandoned the Catholic Church to join the rival Donatist faction. The author begins by mourning the death of the previous bishop and acknowledging his own heavy responsibilities, while expressing profound grief over his former subordinate's defection. He then exposes the process of Rusticianus's moral decline, driven by debauchery and debt, which ultimately led him to the Donatists. The author reveals how he attempted to prevent the Donatist bishop Macrobius from rebaptizing Rusticianus, only to be rejected, leaving the final judgment to God. In the latter part, the sermon vigorously defends the sanctity and truth of Catholic baptism, pointing out the logical contradictions of Donatist rebaptism and correcting their misinterpretations of Scripture. Ultimately, the author asserts that baptism only holds true efficacy when one returns to the communion of the Catholic Church, concluding with a prayer for unity.