New St. Augustine Sermons Discovered in 12th-Century Polish Manuscript

Written by Simon Williams

Two previously unknown sermons by St. Augustine have been identified in a 12th-century manuscript held at the diocesan library in Pelplin, Poland. The find follows nearly two years of research by scholars from Germany and Austria, and gives historians a rare, direct addition to the preaching record of one of Christianity's most influential theologians, over 1,600 years after he delivered the sermons.

The manuscript was traced to Pelplin by researcher Paul Nebauer, who identified it among volumes originally belonging to the Cistercian abbey at Bad Doberan. Working with Latin scholar Christian Tornau of the University of Würzburg and colleagues at the Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum in Vienna, the team confirmed Augustine's authorship through close linguistic, liturgical and theological analysis. "No disciple, no author of later times would have been so familiar with Augustine's style and thinking to compile an 'Augustinian sermon' by putting together so many stylistic features found across his writings," Clemens Weidmann said.

Both sermons address Saul's consultation with the Medium of Endor in the Book of Samuel, an episode that has long tested Christian interpreters of the supernatural. Augustine, true to form, refuses to settle on a single explanation, weighing whether the prophet Samuel truly appeared or whether Saul was deceived by an evil spirit. That same question of how the medieval mind drew the line between sanctioned belief and forbidden magic runs through Histories and Castles' own coverage of the period, including Witchcraft in Medieval Times: Why the Church Never Won, which traces how Augustine's framework, magic as real in effect but demonic in cause, shaped Church policy on folk practice for centuries after his death. The critical edition of the two new sermons is due for publication by the end of 2026.

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