17 AUGUST 1929, Page 17

BAPTISM OF ST. AUGUSTINE

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.]

SIR,—Some few years ago I was in Milan and making my way to the Church of St. Ambrogio, where, according to Baedeker, Augustine was baptized by Ambrose, when, in the Via Lanzone,

my eye caught sight of a tablet over the doorway of a tiny chapel. The inscription read :—

Divus Augustinus ad lucem fidei Per sanctum Ambrosium evocatus Hie unda ccelesti Abluitur Anno Domini CCCLXXXVIII."

This chapel is only a couple of minutes from the great Church with the doors which the Bishop closed in the face of the Emperor Theodosius. Can any of your readers throw light on this ?

I have tried in various quarters to discover where Augustine was actually baptized, but so far without success. One would naturally have expected it to have been in the great Church.—

10 Westfield Terrace, Aberdeen.