Paracelsus’s concept of seeds is an important contribution toRenaissance theories of matter. Unlike the alchemists’ notion of metalseeds, it has a strong Christian orientation, based on a particular inter-pretation of the biblical Creation story. It is in this cosmogonical aspectthat Paracelsian seeds are more akin to the seminal reasons of Augustinethan to the “logoi spermatikoi” of the Stoics or Plotinus. The present studyexamines the Augustinian background of this Paracelsian concept andMarsilio Ficino’s intermediary role in its origination.