Confessions - Saint Augustine

Written ten years after his conversion (397-400), the Confessions are still today a model of autobiographical narration. The dense, tightly-written text, nourished by thoughtful quotations from Scripture and philosophical reflections, is a great mirror of Augustine's restless and troubled soul.

They reveal an intense desire to find the ultimate, absolute truth that satisfies their immense thirst for knowledge, for belief, for forgiveness. A unique book, the Confessions reveal the gifts, the drive of life, and the sensitivity to the problems of human existence. They refer to human life as an example of what the search for God is for human beings.

The title, Confessions, indicates the purpose of the work. The word simultaneously signifies confession of errors, failings, and sins, and praise to God. Augustine himself, in Retractationes II, 6, referring to this work, reveals: "The thirteen books of my Confessions praise the just and good God for my evils and my goods, and raise the minds and hearts of men to Him; I felt this effect while writing them, and I feel it again every time I read them." The Confessions stimulate the spirit and heart of man towards God.