- Feb 5, 2002
- 186,332
- 68,667
- Country
- United States
- Gender
- Female
- Faith
- Catholic
- Marital Status
- Married
- Politics
- US-Others
St. Augustine’s retreat at Cassiciacum shows us that education is more than instruction — it’s a reordering of desire that leads to wisdom and communion.
In the fall of 386, a newly converted Augustine withdrew to the countryside villa of Cassiciacum with friends, family and students. Their goal? To seek the happy life, not by escaping the world, but by gathering around the Word in conversation, prayer and mutual search.
Augustine’s first work from this retreat, De Beata Vita (On the Happy Life), remains one of the clearest portraits of what education in an Augustinian key might look like: personal, philosophical, prayerful, and ordered toward the possession of wisdom as its ultimate goal. That vision can feel increasingly foreign compared to the contemporary educational landscape, yet it remains a living possibility. I am confident that this renewal is not only imaginable but imperative.
Continued below.
www.ncregister.com
In the fall of 386, a newly converted Augustine withdrew to the countryside villa of Cassiciacum with friends, family and students. Their goal? To seek the happy life, not by escaping the world, but by gathering around the Word in conversation, prayer and mutual search.
Augustine’s first work from this retreat, De Beata Vita (On the Happy Life), remains one of the clearest portraits of what education in an Augustinian key might look like: personal, philosophical, prayerful, and ordered toward the possession of wisdom as its ultimate goal. That vision can feel increasingly foreign compared to the contemporary educational landscape, yet it remains a living possibility. I am confident that this renewal is not only imaginable but imperative.
The Crisis Beneath the Crisis
Continued below.
St. Augustine’s Prescription for Catholic Schools: Conversion, Not Just Programs
St. Augustine’s retreat at Cassiciacum shows us that education is more than instruction — it’s a reordering of desire that leads to wisdom and communion.
