Benozzo Gozzoli, Augustine Reading the Letters of St. Paul The Love of Christ urges us on

This painting, which precedes the one of Augustine’s baptism, depicts the definitive moment of his conversion to Christianity. The scene employs a complex artistic structure to symbolically portray Augustine’s conversion. The person standing next to him is St. Ambrose, who is showing Augustine the depth and beauty of the sacred texts.

The picture is divided in half by an apple tree. As is often the case in Renaissance art, a space that appears to be a unified whole in reality conveys two different messages. To the left is a building and some young people who look surprised to find the renowned professor of philosophy pensively absorbed in reading.

To the right are fields and wood-covered hills cut by a winding road that leads the eye toward the horizon. The countryside is separated from the figures in the forefront of the painting by a rose hedge and lawn. At the feet of the two main figures are small flowering plants: a sign that the “interior garden” of Augustine’s soul is beginning to bloom.

The tree separates time and space: the time and space of Augustine’s soul, which is slowly being conquered by the words of Paul. Through his Letters, the Apostle continues to carry out his mission of converting hearts to Christ.

«Most eagerly did I seize that venerable writing of Thy Spirit, and chiefly the Apostle Paul… and all my difficulties vanished.» (St. Augustine, Confessions).

All the saint’s doubts and uncertainties are resolved through his discovery of a path leading to a “somewhere” that is not depicted but alluded to in the dawn breaking over the horizon.

Paul opens the door for Augustine, as he did for the people of his time and as he does for us today, reminding us that we all belong to Christ.

Paul is depicted by Benozzo Gozzoli as a missionary “voice” speaking across time and space to all the future generations of the universal Church, so much so that we can still hear today the echo of his unforgettable words: «For we do not proclaim ourselves; we proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord and ourselves as your slaves for Jesus’ sake.» (2 Co. 4:5)