The Confessions

An intimate prayer recounts Augustine's conversion and proclaims God's goodness.

The Confessions of Saint Augustine is considered one of the greatest Christian classics. It is an extended poetic, passionate, intimate prayer that Augustine wrote as an autobiography sometime after his conversion, to confess his sins and proclaim God's goodness.

Just as his first hearers were captivated by his powerful conversion story, so have many readers over the following sixteen centuries. His experience of God speaks across time with little need of transpositions.

This translation by Sister Maria Boulding, O.S.B., captures his experience in an elegant and flowing style. Her contemporary translation combines linguistic accuracy with the poetic power Augustine aimed to convey.

This Ignatius Critical Edition is edited by David Vincent Meconi, S.J.