Saint Monica:

Feast day : 27 August

Today the Church celebrates the feast of Saint Monica, mother of Saint Augustine of Hippo, one of the most celebrated theologians of the Catholic Church. Through her patient endurance, silent tears and fervent prayers she won for God the souls of her pagan husband and wayward son. Before his death, her husband had a true conversion of heart, became a Christian and lived from thereon till his death, a year later, as a faithful Christian. God was pleased to reward her relentless tearful prayers for her son Augustine too by raising him from his wayward ways to become one of the greatest theologians and Doctors of the Church. As Saint Augustine himself wrote about her later in his life, “You have heard her vows, and You have not despised her tears: for she shed torrents in Your presence, in all places where she offered to You her prayers.” She is the patron saint for married women, difficult marriages, disappointing children, victims of adultery or unfaithfulness, victims of verbal abuse and conversion of relatives

Early life and conversion of her husband:

Saint Monica was born in Thagaste into a pious God fearing family in the year 332. She was married to Patricius who was a Roman pagan. However she obeyed and served him as her Lord and master, waiting patiently upon him and enduring all his adultery. She laboured to make him overcome his vices through her constant prayers. She had three children by him, two sons and a daughter. Though he was wayward and hot tempered there was never an instance of domestic violence in their home because Saint Monica would bear his temper tantrums in patience and later when he had calmed down, she would explain her actions. She would often advice women who suffered great physical abuse at their husband’s hands to imitate her ways and those who did often testified to peace and happiness in their homes. Eventually her prayers were rewarded and Patricius converted to Christianity. A year later, he died but before he did he became a transformed man, fulfilling all his duties as a husband and father and a faithful Christian. Saint Monica also won the soul of her mother-in-law for Christ through her prayers and they lived in peace and harmony. Her virtues and faith inspired not only her family members but also the people in the society she lived. She was known to be a peacemaker among families and neighbours. She served at the altar in the local Church and was generous and served the poor, always imitating Christ and the Saints and desiring to grow in virtues. After the death of her husband, she focused on raising her children and desired to give them a good education.

Conversion of Saint Augustine:

At the time of the death of Patricius, Saint Augustine was studying in Carthage. There he was drawn into the Manichee heresies and became a Manichaean, much to the sorrow of his mother. She refused to let him in her house and took all her sorrows to God. Through her tears and penances she persevered hard to win him back for God. As Saint Augustine himself wrote later, “You have heard her vows, and You have not despised her tears: for she shed torrents in Your presence, in all places where she offered to You her prayers.”

God was pleased to see her earnest prayers and rewarded her by raising her wayward son to become one of the most enlightened theologians of the Church. According to tradition, God answered her in a dream in which she seemed to be standing on a rule of wood all by herself, sorrowful and in tears and just then a young man, shining with light, asked her the cause of her grief and bade her to dry up her tears, saying, “Your son is with you”. Then casting her eyes towards the place he pointed at her son who was now standing on the rule with her. When she told her son about it he retorted that she should give up her ways and join him in his beliefs. But she retorted back saying “No, it was not told me that I was with you, but that you were with me.” Her quick answer made a deep impact on him and he accepted it as a divine admonition. Though he still continued with his heretic views, she received him back into her house and continued with her prayers and tears to win him back. She often asked of prelates and religious leaders of the Church to speak to him and on seeing her earnest prayers and efforts, the Bishop once remarked “Go: continue to do as you do; it is impossible that a child of such tears should perish” which she received as a divine message.

When Saint Augustine was 29 years of age he planned to go to Rome. Though she dissuaded him and followed him with the intention of accompanying him to Rome, he silently left her and set sail on his own. Saint Monica was heartbroken but continued to pray for him. In Rome, he fell dangerously sick but recovered and went to Milan to preach his rhetoric. There he met Saint Ambrose who convinced him of his errors and soon he renounced that heresy and began his search for the truth. Saint Monica followed him to Milan and was greatly pleased to hear that he was no longer a Manichee. Encouraged by his turning away from falsehood, she further strengthened her prayers for a full conversion. She had the joy of seeing her son fully converted in August of 386. He was later baptised by Saint Ambrose in 387 along-with some of his friends in the church of St. John the Baptist at Milan.

Death and Sainthood:

She continued to live with her son and his friends, taking care of all of them as her own children. She accompanied them on their journey to Africa. During the last days of her time on earth, she said to Saint Augustine “Son there is nothing now in this life that affords me any delight. What have I to do here any longer, or why I am here, I know not; all my hopes in this world being now at an end. The only thing for which I desired to live was that I might see you a Catholic and child of Heaven. God has done much more, in that I see you now despising all earthly felicity and entirely devoted to His service. What further business then have I here?” She also spoke to him about her death and burial saying she was not afraid to die away from her home because “Nothing is far off from God. Neither do I need to fear that God will not find my body to raise it with the rest.”

Five days later, she fell sick with a fever and before dying she said “Lay this body anywhere; be not concerned about that. The only thing I ask of you both is, that you make remembrance of me at the altar of the Lord wheresoever’s you are.” She continued to suffer with her illness and on the ninth day, in the year 387, she died at Ostia at the age of fifty five.

Her body was laid to rest at Ostia and was later moved from Ostia to Rome in 1430 under Pope Martin V. Later the Archbishop of Rouen, Guillaume d'Estouteville, built a church at Rome in honour of St. Augustine, the Basilica di Sant'Agostino, and deposited the relics of St. Monica in a chapel to the left of the high altar. She is the patron saint for married women, difficult marriages, disappointing children, victims of adultery or unfaithfulness, victims of verbal abuse and conversion of relatives

Prayer for the intercession of Saint Monica for wayward children