PRO MILITIA

ORATIO S. AVGVSTINI — COR INQVIETVM

Prayer of St. Augustine — The Restless Heart

From the Confessions of St. Augustine (c. 397-400 AD), this passage combines the famous 'Sero te amavi' (Late have I loved Thee) from Book X with the foundational 'Fecisti nos ad te' (Thou hast made us for Thyself) from Book I. Augustine's journey from sin to conversion provides the perfect antidote to acedia: the soul finds no rest until it rests in God.

LATINE
Sero te amavi, pulchritudo tam antiqua et tam nova,
sero te amavi!
Et ecce intus eras et ego foris,
et ibi te quaerebam,
et in ista formosa quae fecisti deformis irruebam.
Mecum eras, et tecum non eram.
Ea me tenebant longe a te,
quae si in te non essent, non essent.
Vocasti et clamasti et rupisti surditatem meam:
coruscasti, splenduisti et fugasti caecitatem meam.
Fragrasti, et duxi spiritum et anhelo tibi.
Gustavi et esurio et sitio.
Tetigisti me, et exarsi in pacem tuam.
Fecisti nos ad te, Domine,
et inquietum est cor nostrum donec requiescat in te. Amen.
ENGLISH
Late have I loved Thee, O Beauty so ancient and so new;
late have I loved Thee!
For behold, Thou wert within me, and I outside;
and I sought Thee outside
and in my ugliness fell upon those lovely things that Thou hast made.
Thou wert with me and I was not with Thee.
I was kept from Thee by those things,
yet had they not been in Thee, they would not have been at all.
Thou didst call and cry to me and break open my deafness:
and Thou didst send forth Thy beams and shine upon me and chase away my blindness.
Thou didst breathe fragrance upon me, and I drew in my breath and do now pant for Thee.
I tasted Thee, and now hunger and thirst for Thee.
Thou didst touch me, and I have burned for Thy peace.
Thou hast made us for Thyself, O Lord,
and our heart is restless until it rests in Thee. Amen.
NOTA
FONS
S. Augustinus, Confessiones X, xxvii; I, i
USUS
Prayer against spiritual restlessness, seeking God after sin
CONTEXT
St. Augustine's Confessions, written c. 397-400 AD, are the first Western autobiography. These passages frame his journey from sin to conversion.