St. Augustine of Hippo

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“Give me chastity and continency, only not yet.”

Today, August 28, is the Roman Catholic feast day of St. Augustine, commemorated on the day of his death in 430 AD.

Augustine was born in the Roman city of Thagaste, (Souk Ahras, Algeria) and died in Hippo, now known as Annaba, Algeria.  Annaba is on the Mediterranean Sea about 350 miles east of Algiers, and Souk Ahras is about 50 miles south of Annaba.

Augustine was both educated and taught school in his hometown area, before going to Carthage for further education.  Carthage was also on the Mediterranean, about 175 miles east of Souk Ahras.  In Augustine’s era, eastern Algeria and northern Tunisia were part of the Roman client-kingdom of Numidia, with its capital at Constantine, Algeria, formerly known as Cirta.  It was renamed for the Emperor Constantine and still retains the name.

Augustine eventually left Carthage to study in Rome.  He was offered a position in Milan, and while in Milan he converted to Christianity and returned to his native Annaba, where in mid-life he became bishop.  (He died at 75)

I had to read the “Confessions of St. Augustine” when I was in college, most of which I forget.  But I’ve always remembered the part I’ve quoted at the top.  He seems to have led an interesting life in Carthage.  In the “Confessions” Augustine recounts events of his youth, like being urged to engage promiscuously in sexual adventures and bragging about them with his buddies.   He had an illegitimate son.  The more expanded quote:  “Give me chastity and continency, only not yet.  For I feared lest Thou shouldest hear me soon, and soon cure me of the disease of concupiscence, which I wished to have satisfied, rather than extinguished.” 

So Happy Feastday, St. Augustine.

Prague IV -- Around Old Town

Just about all of these pictures are from the Old Town, within a few blocks of the river and the square.  Prague is remarkably well preserved, and much restoration work has been done.  Block after block of the art nouveau buildings look like they would have when built and freshly painted, which was about 1890 - 1914, with the outbreak of World War I bringing new building to a stop.  The Czech Republic of today was at that time part of the Hapsburg Austro-Hungarian Empire.  In the closing days of the war  a new Czechoslovakia declared its indenpendence.  Czechoslovakia existed in more or less the same configuration but with many different governments, being taken over by Germany from 1939-1945 and part of the Soviet Union sphere of influence from 1945-1990.  In 1992 Czechoslovakia peacefully split into two countries, the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

The names of the major sections of the old city are pretty plain:  old town, lesser town, new town, and the Jewish quarter.  The new town dates from the mid 14th Century.

Anyway, here are Cindy and I in Prague.

This is not an art nouveau building.  The Astronomical Clock in the Old Town Square.  It was originally made in the 14th Century, but has been broken or damaged and subsequently repaired many times.

Tyn Church rising right behind a row of buildings.

 The Baroque St. Nicholas Church, early 18th Century.

Statue of Jan Hus on the left in the middle of the square.

This old water wheel is powered by a little diversion canal from the Moldau River; it is right at the end of the Charles Bridge.

The Charles Bridge towers guarding the entrance to the Lesser Quarter.

Random buildings in downtown Prague.  Note the details on the facades.

The Jewish Quarter.  

Back to Tyn Church and Jan Hus.

 This is the Town House, containing three restaurants, concert hall, civic rooms.

Random streets and buildings:

The Spanish Synagogue, late 19th Century.

I like the balcony supports.

More random buildings, sidewalks in the Old Town.

This is the guard tower at the end of Charles Bridge leading to the Old Town.

Franz Kafka was born and educated in Prague, worked here as a lawyer, and wrote when he could.  He had published virtually nothing at his death, and directed his good friend and executor of his will to destroy everything, but the executor published them instead.  If not for his decision, nothing would ever be Kafkaesque.  This is the Kafka Museum on the banks of the Moldau.

The guard tower at the end of the Charles Bridge.  The towers originally were adjoined by city walls, but all the walls were destroyed in the 19th Century to make way for new construction.

The Smetana Museum.

The Prague Opera House

I don't know the name of this church, but I liked the spires.  It is upriver from the Old Town.

Random buildings.

Buildings near the Jewish Quarter:

Back to the Old Square.

This is a church very close to the hotel where we stayed off Wenceslas Square, The Church and Convent of Our Lady of the Snows.  I have no idea what that name signifies.  The odd size of this church is because this was originally designed to be only one part of a much larger cathedral, (the presbytery) but this portion is all that was built.

I was lucky that someone was playing the organ when I was there. 

As originally planned, the transept would be under where the pipes are with the nave extending out past the double doors, for several hundred feet, evidently.

Prague III -- St. Vitus Cathredral

 St. Vitus dominates the Prague skyline, and is by far the largest building inside the castle complex.
It's a real tribute to perseverance:  started in 1377 and finished in 1929.

The Charles Bridge, also from the same era.  Started in 1357, it only took 45 years to complete.

Some of the pipes by the console.

The nave --

-- stained glass windows --

-- and the nave again.

The mosaics on the main entrance doors.