Saint Augustine of Hippo Medal Necklace - Doctor of the Church, Patron of Converts

Saint Augustine of Hippo, Patron Saint of Converts

Augustine was born in 354 in what is now Algeria, to a pagan father and a devout Christian mother named Monica. He was brilliant, restless, and almost entirely uninterested in his mother's faith, studying rhetoric, taking a mistress, fathering a son, and spending nine years in a heretical sect before chasing a career that matched his intellect through Carthage, Rome, and Milan. His mother followed him and prayed for him for seventeen years without stopping. In Milan he encountered the bishop Ambrose, whose preaching dismantled his objections to Christianity one by one, and in a garden in the summer of 386, he heard a child's voice say "take up and read," opened a letter of Paul, and later wrote that a light of certainty flooded his heart. He was baptized at Easter 387. His mother died that same year, on the way home to Africa, having lived to see the thing she had prayed for.

A Gift For...

• Anyone who came to faith late, through doubt, or the hard way
• A recent convert, or someone recently received into the Church
• A theology student, graduate, or serious reader of ideas
• A confirmation gift for a boy who takes hard questions seriously
• A parent still praying for a child who isn't there yet - pair with the Saint Monica Medal, the patron of mothers
• Anyone who needs "Our heart is restless for Thee" close by

A Confirmation Gift for Augustine

Choosing Augustine for confirmation is a specific statement, not a generic one, an acknowledgment that conversion isn't always early or easy, and that this doesn't disqualify it. Most people engrave a name and confirmation date.

The Saint Augustine of Hippo Medal

This medal depicts Augustine full face in full episcopal vestments, the mitre, the cope with ornate detailing, a cross medallion at his chest, holding a crozier in one hand and an open book in the other. His face is direct and intense, not serene, which suits a man who spent his adult life thinking harder than most people are willing to. The natural gold or silver of the metal forms the illustration itself. Black ink is applied to the pendant surface and the metal shows through as the image. A shatterproof liquid glass coating seals the surface.

Personalization and Engraving

The optional engraving on the reverse is rendered in Tangerine cursive. Two lines, up to 20 characters each. Two lines that fit: "Our heart is" and "restless for Thee." For a convert, most people engrave a name and the date of baptism or reception into the Church.

Saint Augustine of Hippo's feast day is August 28. He spent the first half of his life running and the second half writing down everything he found when he finally stopped, and the Church has been reading it ever since.