Saint Augustine of Hippo (/o gvstIn/; 13 November 354 - 28 August 430 AD) was a Roman African, early Christian theologian and philosopher from Numidia whose writings influenced the development of Western Christianity and Western philosophy. He was the Bishop of Hippo Regius in North Africa and is viewed as one of the most important Church Fathers in Western Christianity for his writings in the Patristic Period. Among his most important works are The City of God, De Doctrina Christiana and Confessions. Augustine imagined the Church as a spiritual City of God, distinct from the material Earthly City.