What’s in the fresco?

This fresco captures the climax of Augustine’s shift in the moment that he hears the child “singing over and over again, ‘Pick it up and read, pick it up and read’ ” (8.12.29).  (Tolle Lege is Latin for “pick up and read.”)  After Augustine experiences this he immediately disassociates with his sinful habits. God’s direct message for Augustine is to find answers to his problems in the Bible. The tree in the middle of the work captures the audience’s attention and represents Augustine’s growing spirituality. His being seated at the base of the tree equates him to the tree’s roots.  A tree needs strong roots in order to flourish; God’s word gives Augustine the strength to understand and plant good roots. As the tree grows higher, Augustine grows in his understanding of God’s plan. Alypius is standing on the right side of the picture reading the Bible. He is surrounded by two children on the left, who represent the messengers of God. The pair of children parallels the camaraderie between Alypius and Augustine. Alypius’s extended hand shows how he yearns for inspiration from Augustine in order to develop strong roots as well. 

What’s in Confessions?

Finally, Augustine’s heart finds rest in God, as he notes in the beginning that “our heart is unquiet until it rests in you” (1.1.1). He has finally been inspired and blossomed into a new person, maturing from sinful and reckless to understanding and spiritual. Augustine can be compared to the large tree in the center of the picture, as he finally comprehends God’s message to him and now bears the fruit of truth. Augustine realizes that “we may also be called upon to supply the stout, oak-like protection of a fruit-bearing tree, which in its benign strength can lift an injured person clear of the grasp of a powerful oppressor, and furnish protective shade by the unshakable firmness of just judgment” (7.13.19); he must share this goodness with Alypius. There a common thread of trees throughout Augustine’s spiritual journey. In the beginning, he steals pears from a tree simply for the rush he felt when he sinned by plucking the fruit with his friends: “Yet I wanted to steal, and steal I did. I already had plenty of what I stole, and of much better quality too, and I had no desire to enjoy it when I resolved to steal it I simply wanted to enjoy the theft for its own sake, and the sin” (2.4.9). From this experience, Augustine learns that he must not sin and realizes that God has a greater plan for him; he hands his life over to the Lord. The fruit of knowledge can be compared to the fruit of knowledge that we see in Genesis with Adam and Eve. Augustine had to open himself to receive grace and understanding, while Adam and Eve deceitfully wanted God’s knowledge when they ate the fruit in the Garden of Eden. 

What’s in it for us?

We can take a look into our own lives just as Augustine did during his spiritual journey in Confessions. In doing so, we recognize that learning from our mistakes helps us to better ourselves and through this we can grow in our lives just like a tree. Augustine has the recollection of his past events: his sorrow over losing his friends, his life as a Manichee, and his theft of fruit from the pear tree. At first he steals from the pear tree for his own pleasure, in contrast to his second encounter with a tree during which he is converted and in which the tree now represents a symbol of life. The tree is used in the same way with Adam and Eve; it is a symbol of new direction in that Adam and Eve need to go out on their own and face a new world. In this way we can use Augustine’s example of reading Scripture as a guide to our own life; through reading and educating ourselves, we can recognize the truth in reality.