Dear Friends of the Kolbe Center,
Glory to Jesus Christ!
Catholic champions of theistic evolutionism continually appeal to St. Augustine as the one Father of the Church whose writings justify a non-literal interpretation of the first chapters of Genesis. In addition, since they recognize that the overwhelming majority of the Church Fathers believed in the literal historical truth of the entire sacred history of Genesis, it is not uncommon to hear them say that the requirement to adhere to the unanimous consent of the Fathers was a “temporary discipline” which is no longer binding on the faithful. By the grace of God, Chris de Vos has published an expanded version of his great work Catholic Creationist: St. Augustine in which he exposes and thoroughly refutes both of these errors.
St. Augustine and the Literal Interpretation of Genesis
As Joseph Gedney has demonstrated in his article on the Kolbe website “St. Augustine Rediscovered,” St. Augustine was just as committed to upholding the literal historical truth of Genesis as the rest of the Church Fathers. Chris de Vos reinforces this conclusion with many quotations from St. Augustine’s works which testify to his unqualified belief in the inerrancy of the sacred history of Genesis and which show that he formulated his speculative non-literal interpretation of “day” in Genesis Chapter One in response to an inaccurate Latin translation of the Hebrew text of Genesis. Far from exalting the fallible human science of the pagan intellectual elite of his day above the literal historical truth of Genesis, St. Augustine counsels against any compromise of that kind. He writes:
But since the words of Scripture that I have treated are explained in so many senses, critics full of worldly learning should restrain themselves from attacking as ignorant and uncultured these utterances that have been made to nourish all devout souls. Such critics are like wingless creatures that crawl upon the earth and, while soaring no higher than the leap of a frog, mock the birds in their nests above (St. Augustine, The Literal Meaning of Genesis, trans. John Hammond Taylor, Vol. 1, Book 1, Chapter 20, paragraph 40, (New York: Newman Press, 1982).
St. Augustine’s fervent defense of the literal historical truth of Genesis extended to its chronological data—in spite of the fact that most pagan intellectuals adhered to speculative long-age chronologies of the world. In the masterpiece of his mature years, The City of God, St. Augustine addresses the dissatisfaction of the pagan intellectual elite with the Biblical chronology derived from Genesis:
According to Scripture, less than 6000 years have elapsed since he began to be . . . If it offends them that the time that has elapsed since the creation of man is so short, and his years so few according to our authorities, let them take this into consideration, that nothing that has a limit is long, and that all the ages of time being finite, are very little, or indeed nothing at all, when compared to the interminable eternity (St. Augustine. The City of God, trans. by G. G. Walsh and G. Monahan, Book 12, Chapter 12 (Washington, DC: Catholic University of America Press, 1952.)
The Unanimous Consent of the Fathers
The claim that the requirement to adhere to the unanimous interpretation of the Church Fathers on any passage of Scripture that pertains to a doctrine of faith or morals was a temporary discipline can easily be refuted since this requirement was included in the Profession of Faith of the Ecumenical Council of Trent. It follows that when Vatican I reaffirmed this requirement, it was not merely reaffirming a temporary discipline but upholding an unchangeable safeguard of orthodox belief. The Roman Ritual of 1964 contains a Profession of Faith which attests to the Church’s constant insistence upon this rule right up to recent times:
I admit the Sacred Scriptures in the sense which has been held and is still held by holy Mother Church, whose duty it is to judge the true sense and interpretation of Sacred Scripture, and I shall never accept or interpret them in a sense contrary to the unanimous consent of the Fathers.
In the face of this incontrovertible truth, some theistic evolutionists and progressive creationists fall back on the claim that St. Augustine’s non-literal interpretation of “day” in Genesis One still proves that the Fathers were not unanimous in their adherence to the literal historical truth of Genesis 1-11 so that the requirement of Trent and Vatican I to uphold the unanimous interpretation of the Fathers does not apply. But Chris de Vos refutes this argument in two ways. In the first place, he shows that in the masterpiece of his mature years, The City of God, St. Augustine returned to the literal interpretation of day in Genesis One that he had learned from his first teacher, St. Ambrose of Milan. He writes:
[A]ccording to Scripture, the sun was made on the fourth day. Of course, there is mention in the beginning that ‘light’ was made by the Word of God, and that God separated it from darkness, calling the light day and the darkness night. But no experience of our senses can tell us just what kind of ‘light’ it was and by what kind of alternating movement it caused ‘morning’ and ‘evening.’ Not even our intellects can comprehend what is meant, yet we can have no hesitation in believing the fact (St. Augustine, The City of God, trans. by G. G. Walsh and G. Monahan, Book 11, Chapter 7 (Washington, DC: Catholic University of America Press, 1952), 212-213.
In addition, Chris de Vos demonstrates that the greatest Catholic commentators on Scripture, like the Belgian Jesuit Cornelius a Lapide, have always held that the “unanimous” interpretation does not require that every single Father agree on a particular interpretation of Scripture but only that a moral unanimity exist—which can exist, even if one or two of the Church Fathers adhere to a different view. Chris de Vos gives a powerful example of an interpretation of Scripture that the Church considers definitive, in spite of the fact that two prominent Church Fathers dissented from the majority view. Commenting on the sanctification of St. John the Baptist in the womb of St. Elisabeth, he explains:
Was John then really and truly cleansed from Original Sin in the womb and justified? S. Augustine (epist. 57 ad Dardanum) and S. Jerome (in cap. 1 Jeremiae) maintain that he was not; for they say that John and Jeremias are both said to have been sanctified in the womb not really, but only according to the predestination of God; for they were destined by God to future sanctity, so that the same is said here concerning John that the Apostle says of himself in Galatians 1, “who separated me (i.e., set me apart) from my mother’s womb.” The reason that S. Augustine gives is, that to be born again presupposes being born; but John, when in the womb, was not yet born; therefore, he could not have been born again in reality, but only according to the predestination of God.
But the common opinion of the Fathers is contrary to this (SS. Athanasius, Cyprian, Cyril, Ambrose, Gregory, and Bernard, who are quoted and followed by Toletus, Barradius, Jansen, Franz Lucas and others, passim). I prove this: First, because the angel here most clearly promises “he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother’s womb.” This means that he will be holy, indeed full of the Holy Spirit. Secondly, because at the salutation of the Blessed Virgin, John believed in Christ while in the womb, adored and loved Him, and leaped for joy, as I will explain at verse 44. For it was at that time when he was visited and saluted by the Blessed Virgin, in the sixth month from his conception, that this wonderful sanctification took place. S. Athanasius, S. Bernard nd others attribute the same privilege to Jeremias, as is plain at Jeremias 1:5 (See commentary). To the argument of S. Augustine I answer, that a man, in order to be born again by grace, may be considered as born when he has been conceived in the womb and has received a soul and life from God; for then, just as he is born in Original Sin, so also he can by grace be purified of it and born again and even baptized, as is clear if the infant still in the mother’s womb is baptized, whether the mother has died or is still living, for example, if the infant’s hand or foot has emerged, so that it can be washed with water, as is the practice of the Church (Loreto Publishers, Cornelius a Lapide, Commentary on Luke, Ch. 1, V. 15, pp. 133-134).
Chris de Vos comments:
We see that this heavyweight of Scripture commentary, Fr. a Lapide, is not the least interested in following the likes of St. Augustine on this position on this occasion. However, it is not just the common opinion of the Fathers of the Church. Medieval Catholic saints such as St. Thomas Aquinas taught this as well. To the objection that no person can be sanctified in the mother’s womb, St. Thomas states:
On the Contrary, is what is said: before you came forth out the womb, I sanctified you (Jer 1:5); and what is said of John, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from his mother’s womb (Luke 1:15). Therefore, certain people have been sanctified in utero. Furthermore, the Church only celebrates a feast day for someone who is a saint. But it celebrates the birth of John. Therefore, he was holy at his birth; therefore, he was sanctified in utero (St. Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on the Sentences, Book IV, D.6, Q. 1, A. 1, Quaestiuncula 2.)
Chris de Vos has done the faithful a tremendous service by producing an expanded version of Catholic Creationist: St. Augustine. I do not think that anyone who reads his book with an open mind can fail to conclude that—like every other Father of the Church—St. Augustine would have shed his last drop of blood for the literal, historical truth of every word in the sacred history of Genesis.
Through the prayers of the Holy Theotokos, of St. Augustine, and of all the holy angels and saints, may the Holy Ghost guide us all into all the Truth!
In Domino,
Hugh Owen
P.S. Chris de Vos will be one of the speakers at our annual leadership retreat from July 3-9, 2026, at the Catholic Conference Center in Hickory, North Carolina. For more information and to register, please email Hugh Owen at howen@shentel.net.
P.P.S. The great Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoyevsky prophesied through his fictional, Christ-like character Prince Myshkin that “Beauty will save the world!” And it is no coincidence that sacred art that celebrates the fiat creation of all things is especially beautiful. Keith Jones and his family have created an array of beautiful flags that can be used to adorn your home or garden, one of them is a Creation Garden Flag. Please visit their Catholic Flags website.
