The importance of "taking the Christian message to the simple ones" was "the deepest intention that drove all his life". This was mentioned about Saint Augustine by the Pope, today. The cue: the "De doctrina christiana", defined by Benedict XVI as "a cultural introduction to the interpretation of the Bible and to Christianity itself", which has had "vital importance for Western culture". Augustine, according to the Pope, was convinced that it was "more useful for him to communicate faith in a way that anyone could understand than writing great theological works".” “As well as feeling "responsible for revealing the Christian message", Augustine, according to the Pontiff, "fought all his life" against the schismatic trends of the African church, because "only in the unity of Church does our relationship with God and with everyone materialise". Noteworthy are Saint Augustine’s sermons: nearly 600 have survived, but "maybe three or four thousand" were those that he really preached off the cuff and wrote down just after that. "Immediately the Pope’s words the sermons of the Bishop of Hippo became much sought-after texts and were used as models which were adapted to ever-new contexts": hence the "liveliness" of Augustine’s sermons, the symbol of the "persisting liveliness of the faith, to which Augustine devoted all his life".” “
