The conversion of Saint Augustine is the central scene of Confessions. It takes place in a garden in Milan, and revolves around two words: tolle, lege, take and read.
The scene in the garden
Augustine was already intellectually convinced, but he was unable to change his life. Divided, in tears, he hears the voice of a child in a neighboring house, repeating in a game: tolle, lege, tolle, lege. Take it as a sign. He goes to where he had left the book of Saint Paul's letters, opens it at random and falls on Romans 13: "let us put away the works of darkness... put on the Lord Jesus Christ".
The passage responds exactly to the struggle that consumed him. “I didn’t want to read anything else, nor was there any need,” he writes. The doubt disappeared.
What the scene teaches
Augustine's conversion is not the surrender of someone who has stopped thinking. It is the arrival point of years of search: Manichaeism, skepticism, Neoplatonism, the preaching of Ambrose. He didn't believe despite thinking, he believed because he thought until the end. That's why his story is the best example of the formula he himself bequeathed: believes to understand, understands to believe.
The mother, Mônica, who had prayed for years for that moment, is at the center of the episode, and will die shortly afterwards, in Ostia, in one of the most beautiful pages of the book.
Afternoon I loved you
The meditation that crowns everything is the lament: "Late I loved you, beauty so ancient and so new, late I loved you." It's not sterile guilt, it's gratitude from someone who finally understands what they were looking for without knowing it.
Augustine's conversion opens the second great moment of ancient church history. See also the Confessions in full.
In-depth study
Church History Course, with Prof. Dr. Rodrigo Bitencourt
In-depth reading of the work of Daniel Rops, where Augustine's conversion and the world that formed him appear in full.
Discover the courseFrequently asked questions
What does tolle, lege mean?
It's Latin for take and read. Augustine hears a child's voice repeating the phrase in the garden, takes it as a sign and opens Saint Paul's letters at random.
What passage did Augustine read during his conversion?
Romans 13, 13-14, about leaving the works of darkness and putting on Christ. The passage responds exactly to the struggle that consumed him, and the doubt disappears.
What does late I loved you mean?
It is the phrase with which Augustine regrets having delayed turning to God. Late I loved you, beauty so old and so new, late I loved you, sums up your conversion.
Continue: Confessions: summary and analysis · The robbery of the pears · Credo ut intelligam: believe to understand
Source class (YouTube): Confissões, de Santo Agostinho (NousCast)