San Agustín y las migraciones

Abstract

The article presents, in the first part, some socio-political phenomena from Saint Augustine’s time, which caused migrations, to discuss which was the reaction of the Bishop of Hippo to these events. The topic of migrations and refugees are dealt taking as point of departure the Favencio’s dossier (epp. 113-116), as well as the case of Fascio, as it is described in Saint Augustine’s ep. 268. As an example of economic migrants, the case of the family of Antonino of Fusala is analyzed, as described in ep. 20*. Starting from the migratory movements of Saint Augustine’s time, as well as the decline of the great institutions and the internal corruption of the Roman Empire itself, the article presents Saint Augustine’s spiritual idea of peregrinus and peregrinatio, highlighting the characteristics of this essential augustinian spiritual anthropological condition, making a diachronic research in the Works of the Bishop of Hippo to identify the presence and meaning of the word peregrinus. Finally, the article presents some practical conclusions to face the reality of migration in our days, taking inspiration from the ideas and the life of Saint Augustine.