For him, as for Petrarch, St Augustine was the model of a Christian student.
His first work was an inquiry into the authorship of the Commentary on St Paul's Epistles and the Treatise on Biblical Questions, ascribed to Ambrose and Augustine respectively.
The Historiae adversum Paganos was undertaken at the suggestion of Augustine, to whom it is dedicated.
Amongst the more important buildings for ecclesiastical and philanthropic purposes erected to the north of the city since 1860 are the Russian cathedral, hospice and hospital; the French hospital of St Louis, and hospice and church of St Augustine; the German schools, orphanages and hospitals; the new hospital and industrial school of the London mission to the Jews; the Abyssinian church; the church and schools of the Church missionary society; the Anglican church, college and bishop's house; the Dominican monastery, seminary and church of St Stephen; the Rothschild hospital and girls' school; and the industrial school and workshops of the Alliance Israelite.
There is little evidence of the imposition of fines as ecclesiastical penalties; but there are references to the practice in the epistles of St Gregory the Great, notably in his instructions to St Augustine.
