Augustine's Catalogue of Miracles in City of God, Book 22

In Book 22 of City of God, written near the end of his life (c. 426 CE), Augustine shifts from philosophical argument to empirical catalogue. He complains that miracles are no longer publicized as they should be, and sets out to remedy this for his own region. He collected roughly seventy cases from the diocese of Hippo and nearby cities, including healings of paralysis, blindness, hemorrhage, and demonic possession. For the most notable cases, he compiled libelli (written depositions read aloud to the congregation), a process unusual in its procedural care.

Among the best-documented cases are the seven Cappadocian siblings (Paulus and Palladia) who came to Hippo shaking from a supposed maternal curse; Palladia was reportedly healed at the altar during Easter services while Paulus had been cured days earlier. Augustine personally witnessed Paulus's cure. Roughly seventy healings in the Hippo area alone were attributed to the relics of St. Stephen brought to North Africa in 416 CE.

The social architecture of the relic cult is the necessary context. The arrival of prestigious relics at a pilgrimage site generates intense communal expectation, and expectation is a well-documented driver of both psychosomatic improvement and selective reporting of positive outcomes. Witnesses report cures to a bishop who is theologically invested in collecting them, and only cures are publicized; failures and non-events leave no record.

Augustine's documentation methods are the best available for late antiquity. "Best available" in 420 CE is not the same as meeting modern evidentiary standards. The cases remain interesting as historical and sociological data about early Christian practice, even if the supernatural interpretation cannot be sustained.