Confessions

The Confessions of Bishop Augustine of Hippo reveal one man’s weaknesses, desires, and sin as well as his repentance and conversion. In this work, Augustine makes known his prayers on behalf of the reader: “Stir up the heart when people read and hear the confessions of my past wickedness, which you have forgiven and covered up to grant me happiness in yourself” (p. 180). It was his prayer that the heart, by reading these confessions, would be “aroused in the love of [God’s] mercy and the sweetness of [His] grace” (p. 180).