Augustine of Hippo spent many years of his life in the depths of wickedness, held there by his pride.  Even after he had recognised Christianity as the one true religion, he did not follow a Christian life because he was unable to break the evil habits of his lifetime.

Full of self-pity one day, he threw himself down and called,  "How long more, O Lord?  Why does not this hour put an end to my sins?"

Just then, he heard a child singing,  "Take up and read."

Augustine took up the Letters of St Paul.  The first piece his eyes fell on was Paul exhorting people to put impurities out of their way and to live a life in imitation of Jesus.  From then on, he led a new life.

He was baptised by St Ambrose, became a priest (in 391) and bishop in his native north Africa (in 395), was a prodigious writer, supported the poor of his area, preached and preached more, and prayed with great fervour until his death in 430.

On the wall of his study, it is said that Augustine had the sign,  "Here we do not speak evil of anyone."

One of Augustine's great desires was to see unity throughout the Church and it was this wish to live a life of unity in Christ which led Augustine to found his first religious communities.