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The paper highlights the importance of Augustine for accounts of social vocations (munera) offered by the Catholic
social doctrine (CSD). First, it reconstructs Hittinger’s claim that CSD’s understanding of lay responsibility depends
on the notion of communicatio, inspired by Augustine and mediated to contemporary Catholic magisterium by
Aquinas. This assessment hints at the distinctively Augustinian elements in Aquinas’ account of social relationships.
Subsequently, the paper develops Hittinger’s idea that there is a fundamental (though partial) analogy between the
royal service of the laity in secular matters and that of the clergy. This is achieved by analysing Augustinian citations
in Christifideles Laici. This operation suggests that the analogy between lay and priestly vocations in CSD is germane
to, and conceptually dependent on, Augustine’s emphasis on the sacramental value of voice and martyrdom.
