AUGUSTINE, SAINT (354-430), Roman Theologian

The man who gave us the wonderful epigram,"Lord, grant me chastity - but not yet!" practiced what he preached. Augustine was born in northern Africa; he was raised as a Christian by his mother, then experienced with the gloomy philosophy of Manichaeanism for a time, and finally converted back to Christianity at the age of thirty-three. He is best remembered for his Confessions, in which he describes his passionate, youthful attachment to another young man: "I felt that his soul and mine were one soul in two bodies." Most authorities agree that this was a sexual as well as spiritual relationship. But the object of that attachment died young. Augustine went on to become involved with several women, and eventually did become celibate.