>Education is the food of youth, the delight of old age, the ornament of prosperity, the refuge and comfort of adversity, and the provocation to grace in the soul. Does anyone know in which of his writings, the above quote attributed to St. Augustine may be found? If not, does anyone know the *type* of education to which the above quote refers? I ask because for a thousand or so years after St. Augustine, the [*Imitation of Christ*](https://archive.org/details/TheImitationOfChristChalloner) , for example, admonishes us about devoting too much time acquiring secular knowledge at the expense of the spiritual with warnings such as these quotes from [Book 1 Chapter 3 (The Doctrine of Truth)](https://archive.org/details/TheImitationOfChristChalloner/page/n15/mode/2up) (translation by Rev. Richard Challoner, 1893): > *What availeth a great dispute about abstruse and obscure matters, for not knowing which we shall not be questioned at the Day of Judgment?* and > *Tell me where are now all those great doctors, with whom thou wast well acquainted, whilst they were living and flourished in learning? Now others fill their places, and I know not whether they ever think of them. In their lifetime they seemed to be something, and now they are not spoken of.*

Does anyone know if an online copy (e.g. stored at the *Internet Archive*) of Bishop Richard Challoner's translation of Thomas à Kempis' "The Imitation of Christ" exists; and if so, where I may find it? What I do know exist (not necessarily online) are: 1. A 1927 edition published by Benziger Brothers with an Imprimatur by Patrick Cardinal Hayes, Archbishop of New York. 1. A similar version by the same publisher c. 1895 with an Imprimatur by an earlier Archbishop. 1. An 1893 edition published by Desclee, Lefebbre & Co., Belgium with an Imprimatur But alas, I have not been able to locate any of the above editions online. The only edition I have been able to find is a TAN Books "Retypeset and republished" edition (in 1989) of a Benziger Brothers edition (year unknown) translated by Richard Challoner, with imprimaturs by the Archbishop of New York Michael Augustine (1895) and Patrick Cardinal Hayes (1926), which can be found at *archive.org* [here](https://ia802903.us.archive.org/25/items/TheImitationOfChristChalloner/TheImitationOfChristChalloner.pdf) , which I don't want because it isn't a true copy of the original.

According to [*Wikipedia*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_à_Kempis) Thomas à Kempis, the presumed author of *The Imitation of Christ*, is venerated in the Catholic Church. I surmise that his cause for canonization must have been brought up at least two hundred years after his death, as his body was (I am assuming the story is true) exhumed, upon which scratch marks on the wood of the coffin were discovered, as well as some remnants of the wood under his fingernails. Confusion purportedly arose and his cause for canonization seems to have been dropped. Question: **Was Thomas a Kempis ever officially declared a *Servant of God* in the Catholic Church? Was he ever officially declared *Venerable* or *Blessed*?** I am guessing that he must have been at least declared a Servant of God, but I am not sure.