“Come on. Shake it!”
The pear tree trembled.
“Get more!”
“Quick!”
It was a dark night in Thagaste, North Africa, around 370. 16-year-old Augustine and his friends were stealing pears from a neighbor’s tree.
They were not hungry. They did not need the fruit. They simply wanted to steal it.
They carried the pears away and threw most of them to the pigs. Yup, nag-trip lang.
Years later, Augustine remembered that night in his Confessions. What troubled him was not the fruit, but why he had enjoyed doing something wrong, especially with his friends.
That boy would become Saint Augustine of Hippo, one of Christianity’s greatest thinkers.
Augustine grew up in a mixed religious household. His father, Patricius, was a pagan, while his mother, Monica, who would later be known as Saint Monica, was a Christian who worried about him and continued praying for him. Patricius later converted to Christianity near the end of his life.
At 17, Augustine went to Carthage to continue his education. There, he became absorbed in romance, pleasure, entertainment, and ambition. He entered a long-term relationship, and they later had a son.
He also joined the Manichaean movement, a religious movement that promised answers to the problem of good and evil.
Augustine eventually became a teacher and successful speaker. His search took him to Milan, where he heard the preaching of Bishop Ambrose. His years of questioning were beginning to lead him toward Christianity.
In 386, at about 32, he reached a turning point.
During a painful inner struggle, Augustine went into a garden and wept. He heard what he understood as a child’s voice saying, “Take up and read.” He opened the writings of Saint Paul and read a passage that moved him to leave his old life behind.
Augustine was baptized by Bishop Ambrose in 387.
He later returned to North Africa, became a priest, and eventually Bishop of Hippo. The boy who once stole pears for the thrill of it became a major Christian writer and thinker.
Saint Augustine’s story carries a simple message for teenagers today: your mistakes do not have to decide who you become.
Let’s keep learning the saints’ way—day by day.
⌨ ᴛʸᵖⁱⁿᵍ ᴏᵘᵗ ᵒᶠ ᵗʰᵉ ʙˡᵘᵉ ᵈᵃʳᵉᵐ ᵐᵘˢⁱᶜ ᵇˡᵒᵍ