Lost Writings of Saint Augustine Found in Medieval Manuscript
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Two previously unknown sermons by St Augustine have been identified in a twelfth-century manuscript preserved in Poland, adding new texts to the extensive body of writings left by one of Christianity’s most influential thinkers.
The discovery was made by Professor Christian Tornau of the University of Würzburg. In 2024, he was contacted by the Bad Doberan Monastery Association to decipher a twelfth-century manuscript that had originally belonged to Bad Doberan Abbey but is now housed in its daughter monastery in Pelplin, Poland. The manuscript contains six sermons attributed to Augustine of Hippo, but closer examination revealed that two of them had never been known before.
“Two of the six sermons are previously undiscovered writings by Augustine,” says Professor Tornau, delighted with the unexpected find. He is now collaborating with Professor Dorothea Weber and Dr Clemens Weidmann of the Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum (CSEL) to prepare the first edition of the texts, which is expected to appear at the end of 2026. Augustine of Hippo (354–430), bishop of Hippo Regius in what is now Algeria, ranks among the most influential thinkers in the history of Christianity.
His writings shaped Western philosophy and theology, particularly ideas about grace, faith, and the Church. The newly discovered sermons deal with the Old Testament story of the Witch of Endor from the First Book of Samuel. In the biblical account, King Saul seeks guidance before a battle against the Philistines after God no longer answers his prayers.
He turns to a woman who summons the spirit of the prophet Samuel. “Saul believes himself to be in a hopeless situation shortly before a battle against the Philistines. God does not listen to his prayers.
He turns to a witch,” explains Tornau. He notes that this episode raised difficult theological questions for Christian thinkers: “Why can a necromancer summon the spirit of a prophet? This in turn opens up the theodicy problem: how can an omnipotent God allow this or is he not really omnipotent?” Christian theologians offered two possible answers.
Either the witch deceived Saul, or God permitted the event in order to warn the king of his impending death. According to Tornau, the sermons themselves explore both possibilities. “The first was preached during the Sunday service and ends with the theodicy question and the interpretations.
It was not until the second sermon on the following Wednesday that the options were weighed up.” This approach gave the congregation time to consider the biblical passage and its implications before hearing further discussion.
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