St Monica

Today we celebrate the feast day of St. Monica. St. Monica may have been a Christian, however, her parents gave her in marriage to a pagan, and his name was Patricius. Patricius had also lived in her hometown of Tagaste which was in North Africa. Patricius had some good features, however he had a violent temper and was licentious. St. Monica also had to bear with a cantankerous mother-in-law who had also lived in her home. Patricius had criticized his wife because of her charity and piety, but he always respected her. St. Monica’s prayers and example finally won her husband and mother-in-law to Christianity. Her husband died during the year 371, which was one year after his baptism.

St. Monica had at least three children who were able to survive infancy. The oldest was St. Augustine, who is the most famous. At that time of his father’s death, St. Augustine was around 17 years old and he was a rhetoric student in Carthage. St. Monica was distressed to learn that her son had accepted the Manichean heresy—"all flesh is evil"—and he had been living an immoral life. For a while, she had refused to let him eat or sleep in her house. Later on, during one night she had a vision that assured her that St. Augustine would be able to return to the faith. From that time on, she had stayed close to her son, praying and fasting for him. In fact she often stayed much closer than St. Augustine wanted.

When he was around the age of 29, St. Augustine had decided to go to Rome to teach rhetoric. St. Monica was extremely determined to go along. One night he told his mother that he was going to the dock in order to say goodbye to a very dear friend. Instead he had set sail for Rome. St. Monica was extremely heartbroken when she had learned of St. Augustine’s trick, but she had still decided to follow him. She had later arrived in Rome only to find that he had left for Milan. Although all these travels were difficult, St. Monica pursued him to Milan.

While St. Monica was in Milan, St. Augustine had came under the influence of the bishop, who was St. Ambrose during that time, and he had also became St. Monica’s spiritual director. She had decided to accept his advice in everything and had the humility to give up some of the practices that had become second nature to her. St. Monica was able to become a leader of the devout women in Milan as she had been in Tagaste.

She had decided to continue her prayers for St. Augustine during his years of very intense instruction. During Easter during the year 387, St. Ambrose had baptized St. Augustine and several of his friends. Soon after, his party had left for Africa. Although no one else was aware of what had been occurring, St. Monica knew her life was near the end. She had told St. Augustine, “Son, nothing in this world now affords me delight. I do not know what there is now left for me to do or why I am still here, all my hopes in this world being now fulfilled.” St. Monica had became ill shortly after and she had suffered very intensely for nine days before her death.

Almost all of the information that we know about St. Monica is in the writings of St. Augustine, especially in his Confessions. St. Monica is the patron saint of alcoholics, conversions, mothers and wives. St. Monica’s feast day is celebrated on August 27.

Prayer to St. Monica

St. Monica intercede that we may be able to pray for others and serve others just like you did during your life. St. Monica help us to guide others to Christ and help us to strengthen our devotion to Christ.

Amen

St. Monica pray for us

St. Joseph pray for us

May we continue to strengthen our journey to sainthood and keep others in our prayers.

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Works cited

Information (read from, not taken):

Franciscan media. “Saint Monica. ”Saint Monica | Franciscan Media. Accessed August 27, 2021.

Images:

Saint Monica. August 27, 2021. Saint Monica - Google Search.