Augustine was born in Tagaste, Souk-Ahras, Algeria on November 13, 354 to Patricius, a pagan, and Monica, a devout Catholic. He was given abundant human and intellectual gifts and an inquisitive mind and a passionate spirit.   all of these brought him great pain at times, while leading him to great discoveries about himself, life, and God, as well. Through the generosity of a family friend, he was able to do studies beyond the basic course in his hometown, and became an accomplished rhetorician and teacher in Africa and later in Rome and Milan. Though he had been baptized into the  Catholic Church by his mother as a child, he fell away during adolescence and young adulthood, and instead was drawn to other forms of spiritual expression, especially in the Manichean sect and later in astrology. 

Finally, he embraced skepticism. He was able to discern various moments of spiritual growth or conversion until a final climactic moment when he decided to embrace Christ fully in the Catholic Church. He had already separated from the woman with whom he had lived for many years and who he had a son.   He was preparing for marriage with another, but he felt required that he abandon any possibility of marriage and commit himself instead to a life of chastity as a celibate 'servant of God'. Following baptism in Milan in 387, together with his son and some friends, he returned with them to his hometown of Tagaste to begin a monastic life. Against his personal wishes, he was ordained a priest in Hippo in 391 and became bishop of that See in 397, all the while continuing in his monastic lifestyle.