Augustine, AURELIUS AUGUSTINUS, SAINT (354-430), a renowned father of the Christian Church. He was sent to Carthage to be educated and there entered into the vices and gay life of the time. In 383 he went to Rome and thence to Milan, where he came under the influence of Saint Ambrose and was converted to Christianity. He divided his goods among the poor, retired to private life and gained a reputation by his writings. He was a man of great enthusiasm, powerful intellect and strong influence, and his Confessions form a remarkably written autobiography. It is said "he moulded the spirit of the Christian Church for centuries," and both Protestants and Catholics appealed, during the Reformation, to his authority.