Letter 206: Augustine asks Valerius to help Bishop Felix.
Augustine of Hippo→Valerius, count of Africa|c. 420 AD|Augustine of Hippo|From Hippo Regius|AI-assisted
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Source-visible Augustine letter absent from the New Advent/NPNF English index; modern English is a first-time Roman Letters translation from Latin.
To my deservedly Illustrious and most excellent lord Valerius, and my dearest son in Christ: Augustine sends greetings in the Lord.
Whenever people ask me to commend them to your kindness and good faith, if I do not do it, I seem to myself to judge wrongly either your mercy toward those who need help or your good will toward us. So I do it, and I especially do not hesitate to commend ministers of Christ to Your Excellency, men who care for the church, whose co-heir and son we rejoice that you are, my deservedly Illustrious and most excellent lord, and my dearest son in Christ.
So when our holy brother and fellow bishop Felix asked this of me, I certainly ought not to have refused. I therefore commend to you a bishop of Christ who needs the help of a powerful man. Do what you can, because the Lord has granted you very great power, and we know you are eager for his gains.
EPISTOLA 206
Scripta ca. a. 420.
A. Valerio, Africae comiti, Felicem episcopum commendat.
DOMINO MERITO ILLUSTRI ET PRAESTANTISSIMO, ATQUE IN CHRISTO CARISSIMO FILIO VALERIO, AUGUSTINUS, IN DOMINO SALUTEM.
1. Quotiescumque a me petunt homines, ut eos tuae benignitati fideique commendem, si non facio, non mihi recte videor de tua vel erga opis indigos misericordia, vel erga nos benevolentia iudicare. Itaque facio, et maxime ministros Christi, qui Ecclesiae curam gerunt 1, cuius te cohaeredem et filium esse gaudemus, tuae Praestantiae commendare non dubito, domine merito illustris atque praestantissime, atque in Christo carissime fili. Sanctus itaque frater et coepiscopus noster Felix cum hoc me rogasset, utique negare non debui. Commendo ergo tibi episcopum Christi egentem auxilio viri sublimis: fac ergo quod potes; quoniam tibi plurimum posse praestitit Dominus, cuius te lucrorum avidissimum novimus.
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To my deservedly Illustrious and most excellent lord Valerius, and my dearest son in Christ: Augustine sends greetings in the Lord.
Whenever people ask me to commend them to your kindness and good faith, if I do not do it, I seem to myself to judge wrongly either your mercy toward those who need help or your good will toward us. So I do it, and I especially do not hesitate to commend ministers of Christ to Your Excellency, men who care for the church, whose co-heir and son we rejoice that you are, my deservedly Illustrious and most excellent lord, and my dearest son in Christ.
So when our holy brother and fellow bishop Felix asked this of me, I certainly ought not to have refused. I therefore commend to you a bishop of Christ who needs the help of a powerful man. Do what you can, because the Lord has granted you very great power, and we know you are eager for his gains.
AI-assisted translation - This translation was produced with AI assistance and has not been peer-reviewed. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek below for scholarly use.
Latin / Greek Original
EPISTOLA 206
Scripta ca. a. 420.
A. Valerio, Africae comiti, Felicem episcopum commendat.
DOMINO MERITO ILLUSTRI ET PRAESTANTISSIMO, ATQUE IN CHRISTO CARISSIMO FILIO VALERIO, AUGUSTINUS, IN DOMINO SALUTEM.
1. Quotiescumque a me petunt homines, ut eos tuae benignitati fideique commendem, si non facio, non mihi recte videor de tua vel erga opis indigos misericordia, vel erga nos benevolentia iudicare. Itaque facio, et maxime ministros Christi, qui Ecclesiae curam gerunt 1, cuius te cohaeredem et filium esse gaudemus, tuae Praestantiae commendare non dubito, domine merito illustris atque praestantissime, atque in Christo carissime fili. Sanctus itaque frater et coepiscopus noster Felix cum hoc me rogasset, utique negare non debui. Commendo ergo tibi episcopum Christi egentem auxilio viri sublimis: fac ergo quod potes; quoniam tibi plurimum posse praestitit Dominus, cuius te lucrorum avidissimum novimus.