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Augustine taught evolution:

“Specifically, we’re talking about Book V
Chapter 7 Paragraph 20, where he lays out
what his topic is: “the production of things in
the course of time following the creation of
the world.” And the first point he makes is
this: “The [Book of Genesis] appropriately
begins with [water,] from which all kinds of
animals, plants, and trees are born [and]
develop in time...each according to its
nature.” This is interesting because what
he’s going to try to show is that every type
of animal, plant, and tree was generated
from water and earth and gradually
developed into their present forms. In the same paragraph he also speaks of “primordial seeds,
whence all flesh and all vegetation are brought forth.” The reference to “seeds” is an analogy
that he’ll get into a bit later: he compares the origin of species to the bringing forth of trees,
which start out as a seed and then grow out of the earth into their mature form.”

“Moving on, a couple of paragraphs later he gets to the heart of it: “The things [that God] had
potentially created…[came] forth in the course of time on different days according to their
different kinds…[and] the rest of the earth [was] filled with its various kinds of creatures, [which]
produc[ed] their appropriate forms in due time.” (Chapter 7 Paragraph 22) That is evolutionary
thinking. God didn’t create all species of animals all at once, according to St. Augustine; He
created them in a potential kind of way, so that they would develop later, “producing their
appropriate forms in due time.”

“But he has more to say about that: “It is obvious that in accordance with those kinds of
creatures which He first made, God makes many new things which He did not make then.” (New
species from an old genus.) “It is thus that God unfolds the generations which He laid up in
creation when first he founded it.” (Chapter 20 Paragraph 41) After that he explains this by
means of the tree analogy I mentioned earlier.”

http://cainaweb.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/AugustineonEvolution.pdf

“The purpose of the Bible is redemptive, said Augustine. God gave us the Bible to instruct us in the knowledge of salvation, not science. In his Literal Commentary Augustine asked what Scripture teaches about the shape or the form of the heavens, a topic that many ancient writers addressed. Are the heavens spherical or flat like a disc? Or, does it matter? He responded: “Many scholars engage in lengthy discussion on these matters, but the sacred writers with their deeper wisdom have omittedthem. Such subjects are of no profit for those who seek beatitude, and, what is worse, they take up very precious time that ought to be given to what is spiritually beneficial.” These words may seem to suggest that Augustine disparaged science, and he has been interpreted that way by secular-minded readers. He did not think that natural knowledge was worthless, only that it was inferior to knowledge of God, who made nature. Augustine was saying that the biblical authors were not giving a definitive theory of the heavens in a scientific fashion.”

“Augustine warned against a danger among Christians of his day and ours. If the Christian insists on a certain scientific theory as if it were the teaching of the Bible, and it turned out to be wrong, then the unbeliever will reject the Bible wholesale and miss the saving purpose God has in composing it. This danger is so real that Augustine emphasized it a number of times in his writings. Unreliable knowledge of nature is not damning but it can be a stumbling block “if he thinks his view of nature belongs to the very form of orthodox doctrine, and dares obstinately to affirm something he does not understand.” In this case, the Christian’s lack of true knowledge becomes an obstacle to the unbeliever’s embracing the truth of the gospel. The great harm, says the bishop of Hippo, is not that “an ignorant individual is derided” but that “people outside the household of faith think our sacred writers held such opinions and . . . the writers of Scripture are criticized and rejected as unlearned men.”

https://www.catholic.com/magazine/print-edition/how-augustine-reined-in-science