Born Augustinus Aurelius in 354 CE in Roman Africa and known to history as Saint Augustine of Hippo, Augustine is the narrator and protagonist of Confessions. Augustine grew up in a noble but financially unstable family in the small town of Thagaste (modern Souk Ahras, Algeria). He began to struggle with lust and pride as he matured, and he found himself involved in some petty crime. A student of considerable academic promise, his parents sent him away to school, where his habits heightened. In Carthage, he entered a committed relationship with a woman whose name his writings do not preserve. Although they never married, she would bear Augustine a son, Adeodatus, when he was 18 years old. Around this time, Augustine came home to Thagaste to begin his career as an instructor of rhetoric but soon returned to Carthage to escape his depression following a friend’s death.

After reading Hortensius, a book by Cicero that praises philosophy, Augustine began his search for truth, which led him to the controversial teachings of Manicheism. He converted and, though it greatly distressed his Christian mother and brought him little contentment, remained a Manichee for about a decade.