On Care for the Dead · §16 · Augustine of Hippo

The dead do not know what the living do

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Augustine is answering the question whether the dead can know or be involved in the affairs of the living, arguing from Scripture and from his own mother's silence that they cannot.

Why should we not believe that these angelic operations happen through the dispensation of God's providence, who uses both good and evil well, according to the unsearchable depth of his judgments? Whether the minds of mortals are instructed by them, or deceived, or comforted, or terrified—as mercy is to be offered to each one, or punishment inflicted, by him to whom the church not in vain sings of mercy and judgment. Let each person take what I say as he will. If the souls of the dead were present in the affairs of the living, and they themselves spoke to us when we see them in dreams—to say nothing of others—my pious mother would not desert me on any night, she who followed me by land and sea so that she might live with me. Far be it that she became cruel in a happier life, to such a degree that when something troubles my heart she would not console her grieving son, whom she loved uniquely, whom she never wanted to see sorrowful. But surely what the holy psalm sounds forth is true: "For my father and my mother have forsaken me, but the Lord has taken me up" (Psalm 27:10). If therefore our parents have forsaken us, how are they present in our cares and affairs? But if parents are not present, who are the other dead who know what we are doing or suffering? The prophet Isaiah says: "For you are our Father, because Abraham did not know us, and Israel did not recognize us" (Isaiah 63:16). If such great patriarchs did not know what was happening to the people begotten from them—the very people promised from their stock to those believing in God—how do the dead mix themselves into the affairs and actions of the living, to know and help them? How do we say that those who died before the evils came which followed their death were spared, if even after death they feel whatever happens in the calamity of human life? Or perhaps we say these things in error, and think those are at rest whom the restless life of the living disturbs? What then is this, that God promised the most pious king Josiah as a great benefit that he would die before seeing the evils that threatened to come upon that place and people? These are the words of God: "Thus says the Lord God of Israel: My words which you have heard, and you feared before my face when you heard what I spoke about this place and those who dwell in it, that it should be deserted and be under a curse, and you tore your garments and wept in my sight, and I have heard—says the Lord of hosts. Not so: behold, I will gather you to your fathers, and you shall be gathered in peace; and your eyes shall not see all the evils which I am bringing upon this place and those who dwell in it" (2 Kings 22:19-20). Terrified by God's threats, he had wept and torn his garments; and he is made secure from all future evils by his hastening death, because he would rest in peace in such a way that he would not see all those things. There, then, are the spirits of the dead, where they do not see whatever is done or happens in this life of human beings. How then do they see their tombs or their bodies, whether they lie cast aside or buried? How are they present in the misery of the living, when either they themselves suffer their own evils, if they have contracted such deserts, or they rest in peace, as was promised to this Josiah, where they endure no evils either by suffering or by compassion—freed from all the evils which, while they lived here, they endured by suffering and by compassion?

Latin

Cur non istas operationes angelicas credimus per dispensationem prouidentiae dei bene utentis et bonis et malis secundum inscrutabilem altitudinem iudiciorum suorum? siue instruantur hinc mentes mortalium siue fallantur siue consolentur siue terreantur, sicut unicuique uel praebenda est misericordia uel inroganda uindicta ab illo, cui misericordiam et iudicium non inaniter cantat ecclesia. ut uolet accipiat quisque quod dicam. si rebus uiuentium interessent animae mortuorum et ipsae nos, quando eas uidemus, adloquerentur in somnis, ut de aliis taceam, me ipsum pia mater nulla nocte desereret, quae terra marique secuta est, ut mecum uiueret. absit enim, ut facta sit uita feliciore crudelis usque adeo ut, quando aliquid angit cor meum, nec tristem filium consoletur, quem dilexit unice, quem numquam uoluit maestum uidere. sed profecto quod sacer psalmus personat, uerum est: quoniam pater meus et mater mea dereliquerunt me, dominus autem adsumpsit me. si ergo dereliquerunt nos parentes nostri, quomodo nostris curis et rebus intersunt? si autem parentes non intersunt, qui sunt alii mortuorum, qui nouerint, quid agamus quidue patiamur? Esaias propheta dicit: tu es enim pater noster, quia Abraham nesciuit nos, et Israhel non cognouit nos. si tanti patriarchae, quid erga populum ex eis procreatum ageretur, ignorauerunt, quibus deo credentibus populus ipse de illorum stirpe promissus est, quomodo mortui uiuorum rebus atque actibus cognoscendis adiuuandisque miscentur? quomodo dicimus esse eis consultum, qui obierunt, antequam uenirent mala, quae illorum obitum consecuta sunt, si et post mortem sentiunt quaecumque in uitae humanae calamitate contingunt? an forte nos errando ista dicimus et hos putamus quietos, quos inquieta uiuorum uita sollicitat? quid est ergo, quod piissimo regi Iosiae pro magno beneficio promisit deus, quod esset ante moriturus, ne uideret mala, quae uentura illi loco et populo minabatur? quae dei uerba ista sunt. haec dicit dominus deus Israhel: uerba mea, quae audisti et ueritus es a facie mea, cum audisti, quae locutus sum de loco isto et qui commorantur in eo, ut deseratur et in maledicto sit, et conscidisti uestimenta tua, et fleuisti in conspectu meo, et ego audiui, dixit dominus sabaoth. non sic, ecce ego adponam te ad patres tuos, et adponeris cum pace; et non uidebunt oculi tui omnia mala, quae ego induco in locum hunc et qui commorantur in eo. territus iste dei comminationibus fleuerat et sua uestimenta consciderat; et fit omnium malorum futurorum de properatura morte securus, quod ita requieturus esset in pace, ut illa omnia non uideret. ibi ergo sunt spiritus defunctorum, ubi non uident quaecumque aguntur aut eueniunt in ista uita hominum. quomodo ergo uident tumulos suos aut corpora sua, utrum abiecta iaceant, an sepulta? quomodo intersunt miseriae uiuorum, cum uel sua ipsi mala patiantur, si talia merita contraxerunt, uel in pace requiescant, sicut huic Iosiae promissum est, ubi mala ulla nec patiendo nec conpatiendo sustineant, liberati ab omnibus malis, quae patiendo et conpatiendo, cum hic uiuerent, sustinebant?

About this text

Paulinus wrote to ask whether it benefits a person after death to be buried near the memorial shrine of a saint.

Augustine of Hippo (354–430) wrote this letter to Paulinus, bishop of Nola. Paulinus had asked whether it benefits a person after death to be buried near the memorial shrine of a saint. The question was prompted by the request of Flora, a religious widow, for her deceased son to be buried in the basilica of the confessor Felix, while the body of Cynegius, a faithful young man and a different person, had already been placed there.

Augustine argues that burial location does not directly help or harm the dead, because the dead cannot sense what happens to their bodies. What helps the dead is the prayerful remembrance of the living, which can be increased when burial is at a holy memorial, so Christians should care for the dead from affection and faith in the resurrection and place hope in prayer and the church commemoration rather than in place. The reader will meet Paulinus, Flora, Cynegius, Felix, Curma who had a vision near death, Eulogius who dreamed of Augustine, John the monk consulted about a civil war, Ambrose at the shrines of Protasius and Gervasius, and Candidianus who carried the letter. Augustine quotes Paulinus to answer him, quotes Scripture from Paul, the Psalms, the prophets and the Gospel, gives the speech of the rich man to Abraham and the reported words of John, and gives Virgil in prose paraphrase rather than verse quotation.

Here memorial shrine means a shrine at the burial place of a martyr or saint meant to keep the dead in remembrance, and burial means the act of burying. Prayer, prayerful commending, sacrifice offered at the altar, alms and the intercession of martyrs are the means by which the living help the dead, while spirit means the soul apart from the body, vision means a dream seeing of the dead, and likeness means only the image seen and not the person himself. Old names keep Augustine Old Latin and Septuagint use, with the books of the Kingdoms meaning 1-2 Samuel and 1-2 Kings, Ecclesiasticus meaning Sirach, Jesus son of Sirach meaning Ben Sira, the Acts of the Apostles meaning Acts, the books of the Machabees meaning Maccabees, and the Psalms numbered as in the Septuagint.

New English from the Latin base text; no published English used as wording.

Printed text used

Translated from CSEL 41 (1900) (Latin)

This work has passed this project's source check. This is an AI-assisted study translation. Source fidelity and completeness have not been independently certified. Open Latin on each section (or the Latin source witness link) for the source text. This is not a complete critical edition.