SUNDAY READINGS.
[1.] “St. Augustine.” (354-430.) One of the fathers of the Christian church. He was born at Tagaste, in Africa. He was sent to Carthage to be educated, and there plunged into the frightful abyss of corruptions which marked that wicked city. In his “Confessions” he describes his life at this time, and does not seek to excuse himself. At the age of thirty-three years he embraced the Christian religion and was baptized by Ambrose. His conversion from his errors was complete and permanent. Monica, his mother, who through all these years had been praying for her son, died shortly after, feeling that she could depart in peace, as her eyes had seen his salvation. He wrote with great zeal and voluminously against all the sects which the church held to be heretical.
[2.] “Bourdaloue,” Louis. (1632-1704.) A most eloquent French preacher. Louis XIV. was an attendant upon his ministry, and on many different occasions invited him to preach the festival sermons before the court of Versailles. He was renowned for the solid dignity of his thought and his fervid religious eloquence.