Published Work - Le Provocateur

Restless Heart showcases saint's life - Feature - Le Provocateur
Published in February 13, 2013 issue of Le Provocateur  

On Tuesday, February 5, students, faculty and off-campus visitors gathered at 7 p.m. to view the critically acclaimed film Restless Heart: The Confessions of St. Augustine. At the beginning of the evening everyone was welcomed at the top of the stairs of the Hagan Campus Center with a popcorn machine and other refreshments. The campus held the viewing in hopes to better educate the Assumption Community about St. Augustine and his connection to Assumption's history and mission.

Before the movie started, President Francesco Cesareo introduced himself and welcomed everyone to Assumption.

"I would like to welcome you to our campus this evening for this very special viewing of the movie Restless Heart on the confessions of St. Augustine," said Cesareo. "As you may know, St. Augustine holds a special place for us here at Assumption College because of the sponsors of our institution, the Augustinians of the Assumption."

"This is a part of our College's celebration of the year of faith to help bring to light the work of this great theologian and philosopher who continues to be very influential in our church today," said Cesareo. "As you know, Pope Benedict is a great admirer of St. Augustine and is very influenced by St. Augustine's own thinking."

Restless Heart was filmed in Europe and is the first full-length movie about Augustine--one of the Catholic Church's most well known saints.

The film takes place in the city of Hippo and is based around the life of Augustine. He starts out by sharing the story of how his Christian mother, Monica, saved his life when he was born.

When Augustine was young he was lucky enough to experience the famous orator Microbius using his persuasive skills to win over a court room. Microbius was famous for his line "These are facts...not words" to win any argument that was thrown his way. Augustine loved watching Microbius at work and he quickly wanted to become an orator; he was "eager to be eminent."

Augustine's mother, Monica, had a huge impact on the decisions that he made throughout his life and always hoped that "one day, we will be united in our faith." After seeing Microbius, the teenage Augustine immediately went home to tell his parents the news and that he wanted to travel to Carthage in order to learn the ways of Microbius and become a famous orator and lawyer just like him.

when Augustine first arrived he was introduced to a woman who would be his servant for his time there. Augustine was a self-centered person, but eventually proved to be worth of training under the eyes of Microbius.

Augustine quickly took after Microbius' lifestyle and was able to convince a jury to drop the charges against a guilty man who assaulted his wife. Through time, he had won so many cases that he returned home and was asked to go to Milan and become the orator for the emperor. He chose to take the offer even though that meant lying to his mother and wife and leaving them, along with his son, behind.

In one of the most prominent scenes, Catholic-Bishop Augustine has a debate with the bishop of Donatists; an unbiased judge ultimately decided the winner.

After returning to Hippo, also on the eve of an attack by Vandal raiders, Augustine tried to convince the Roman garrison to form a compromise with Genseric, the Vandal King--but they refused. This decision therefore forced Augustine to make his own decision.

In the end, he wrote two documents that are influential in the history of the Church--The Confessions and The City of God.