On Care for the Dead · §18 · Augustine of Hippo

The dead can learn of the living afterwards

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Augustine is answering the question how the dead can know what happens among the living, since he has just shown that Abraham learned of the rich man's life only after death.

So it must be admitted that the dead do not know what is done here while it is done here, but afterwards they hear it from those who pass from here to them by dying—not everything, but what those are permitted to indicate, who are also permitted to remember these things, and what those to whom they indicate them ought to hear. The dead can also hear something from the angels, who are present at the things that are done here, whatever the One to whom all things are subject judges that each of them ought to hear. For if there were no angels who could be present in the places of both the living and the dead, the Lord Jesus would not have said: “It happened that the poor man died and was carried away by the angels into Abraham’s bosom” (Luke 16:22). Therefore they were able to be now here, now there, who carried from here to there whomever God willed—namely, the angels. The spirits of the dead can also know some things that are done here—things that it is necessary for them to know, and for those whom it is necessary to know them—not only present or past things but even future things, by the Spirit of God revealing them, just as not all human beings but the prophets knew them while they lived here, and not even they knew all things, but only what God’s providence judged should be revealed to them. Divine Scripture also testifies that some of the dead are sent to the living, just as, on the other hand, Paul was caught up from the living into paradise. For the prophet Samuel, after his death, foretold even future things to King Saul while he was alive; although some think that it was not Samuel himself—who could have been called up by magic arts—but some spirit suited to such evil works that figured his likeness. Yet the book of Sirach, which Ben Sira is handed down to have written and which is pronounced Solomon’s because of a certain likeness of eloquence, contains in the Praise of the Fathers that Samuel prophesied even after death. But if this book is also contradicted by the Hebrews because it is not in their canon, what are we to say about Moses, who certainly both died in Deuteronomy and is read to have appeared to the living in the Gospel with Elijah, who did not die?

Latin

Proinde fatendum est nescire quidem mortuos quid hic agatur, sed dum hic agitur, postea uero audire ab eis. qui hinc ad eos moriendo pergunt, non quidem omnia, sed quae sinuntur indicare, qui sinuntur etiam ista meminisse, et quae illos, quibus haec indicant, oportet audire.. possunt et ab , angelis, qui rebus, quae aguntur hic, praesto sunt, audire aliquid mortui, quod unumquemque illorum audire debere iudicat, cui cuncta subiecta sunt. nisi enim essent angeli, qui possent interesse et uiuorum et mortuorum locis, non dixisset dominus Iesus: contigit autem mori inopem illum et auferri ab angelis in sinum Abrahae. nunc ergo hic, nunc ibi esse potuerunt, qui hinc illuc quem deus uoluit abstulerunt. possunt etiam spiritus mortuorum aliqua, quae hic aguntur, quae necessarium est eos nosse et quos necessarium est ea nosse, non solum praesentia uel praeterita, uerum etiam futura spiritu dei reuelante cognoscere, sicut non omnes homines, sed prophetae, dum hic uiuerent, cognoscebant, nec ipsi omnia, sed quae illis esse reuelanda dei prouidentia iudicabat. mitti quoque ad uiuos aliquos ex mortuis, sicut e contrario Paulus ex uiuis in paradisum raptus est, diuina scriptura testatur. nam Samuhel propheta defunctus uiuo regi Sauli etiam futura praedixit: quamuis nonnulli non ipsum fuisse, qui potuisset magicis artibus euocari, sed aliquem spiritum tam malis operibus congruentem illius existiment similitudinem figurasse: cum liber Ecclesiasticus, quem Iesus filius Sirach scripsisse traditur et propter eloquii nonnullam similitudinem Salomonis pronuntiatur, contineat in laude patrum, quod Samuhel etiam mortuus prophetauerit. sed si et huic libro ex Hebraeorum quia in eo non est canone contradicitur, quid de Moyse dicturi sumus, qui certe et in Deuteronomio mortuus et in euangelio cum Helia, qui mortuus non est, legitur adparuisse uiuentibus?

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.