Saint’s Life Story

Her Early Life

Monica, the mother of Saint Augustine of Hippo, was born around 332 of a Christian family of the ancient city of Tagasta in northern Africa (now Souk Ahras, Algeria), about 60 miles from Carthage. She was the eldest of three children of Christian parents, raised by a strict servant.

According to one story, the servant never allowed them to drink between meals because, “It is water you want now, but when you become mistresses of your own cellar, you will want wine – not water – and the habit will remain with you. Nevertheless, when as a young girl she was given the duty of drawing wine for the family, she ignored the maxim and indulged in wine until the day an angry servant caught her drunk and called her a “winebibber.” From that day she made a vow (that she kept) that she would never drink anything but water.

Married

Monica married very young, probably at the age 13 or 14, to an older man named Patricius, who was neither wealthy nor Christian. Her marriage was challenging due to her husband’s uncontrollable temper and immoral unfaithful lifestyle, but Monica bore these trials with patience and prayer. Monica’s mother-in-law, also a pagan, usually sided with Patricius, telling lies to the servants. Monica received all their insults and criticism with silence. Although he felt some contempt for Monica’s devoutness, prayer habits, and generosity to the poor with alms, he respected her. Her silence would overcome her husband’s wrath. He never physically abused her, despite his explosive temper.

Mother of Saint Augustine

Monica had three children who survived infancy: two sons, Saint Augustine and Navigius, and a daughter, Perpetua. Unable to secure baptism for them, Monica grieved heavily when Saint Augustine fell ill. In her distress, Monica asked Patricius to allow Augustine to be baptized. Patricius agreed and then withdrew this consent when Saint Augustine recovered.

Monica sought refuge in God through an intimate prayer life and in caring for her three children: Saint Augustine, Navigius, and Perpetua. In answer to her constant prayers, both her mother-in-law and her husband Patricius converted to Christianity. Monica had been praying for the two of them for 20 years. Patricius died a year after his conversion and baptism.

But Monica’s relief at Saint Augustine‘s recovery turned to anxiety as he misspent his renewed life being wayward and, as he himself says, lazy. When Saint Augustine was 17 studying rhetoric in Carthage, Patricius died. Augustine kept bad company and was immersed in a sinful lifestyle. He took a Carthaginian woman as his mistress and lived with her for fifteen years. They had a son named Adeodatus or “given by God.”

Widow

At the age of 40 around 371, Monica vowed to belong wholly to God, renounced all worldly pleasures, and ministered to the poor and orphaned while still fulfilling her maternal duties, especially the conversion of her wayward son. The family was relatively poor, but a rich citizen of Tagaste met Saint Augustine’s educational expenses at the university in Carthage. Monica hoped studying philosophy and science would bring back her wayward son to God, but she did not realize Carthage was a seething mass of iniquity.

Threw Her Son Out

In Carthage, Saint Augustine joined the heretical Manichees, embracing a hedonistic lifestyle, and persuaded others to follow suit. The Manichean doctrine that bodily actions had no moral significance brought relief to Augustine’s troubled soul. He returned to Tagaste for his vacation and Monica threw him out. When Monica heard that Augustine had become a Manichean and was living a dissolute life, she refused to allow him to live in her home. He was not to return until he had renounced his errors and submitted to the truth. Unlike many modern minds, Monica refused to allow her son’s life to be devastated by a vain deceit.

Then, Monica had a vision in which she seemed to be standing on a wooden beam, despairing of his fall, when a shining being asked her the reason for her lamentation. She answered and he told her to stop crying. Looking toward the spot he indicated, she saw Saint Augustine standing of the beam next to her. She repeated the vision to her son. Flippantly, he replied that they might easily be together if Monica renounced her faith. Monica promptly replied, ” He did not say that I was with you: he said that you were with me”.

Monica’s quick retort made a great impression upon her son, who in later days regarded it as an inspiration.

Prayed Constantly

Monica prayed constantly for his faith. In her sorrow, a certain bishop consoled her: “Don’t worry, it is impossible that a son of so many tears should be lost.” Then one night, Monica had a vision that assured her son would return to the faith. From that time on, Monica stayed close to her son, praying and fasting for him.

Following Saint Augustine

At the age of 29, Saint Augustine finally tired of the frivolity of Carthage, moved to Rome to teach rhetoric. Monica was determined to accompany him, but he tricked her and sailed alone. Soon after his arrival he became deathly ill. He recovered and opened his school. Monica fretted because of the tone of his letters and the reputed vice of Rome. So, she followed him after selling her few remaining possessions. In the meantime, Saint Symmachus offered Saint Augustine a chair in rhetoric in Milan, after he won a competition. When she arrived in Rome, he had already left, but she hurried on to Milan.

Meeting Bishop Saint Ambrose of Milan

Upon arrival in Milan, Saint Augustine had paid a courtesy visit to Bishop Saint Ambrose, to whom he felt attraction of a kindred spirit. Saint Augustine came to love the Bishop as a father and went every Sunday to hear Saint Ambrose as an orator as he preached.

At the age of 30, Augustine began to see the folly of Manicheism and its gross misrepresentation of the Church. However, he still did not believe. When Monica arrived in Milan, her first visit was also to Saint Ambrose. They understood one another at once. She became his faithful disciple and Ambrose’s “heart warmed to Monica because of her truly pious way of life, her zeal in good works, and her faithfulness in worship. Often when the Bishop saw Saint Augustine, he would break out in praise of her, congratulating him on having such a mother.” And Saint Augustine wryly notes: “He little knew what sort of a son she had.”

Monica and Saint Augustine began to attend Mass together and to discuss the bishop’s sermons afterwards. Monica had deeply studied philosophy and theology so that she might be able to deal intelligently with Augustine’s difficulties. He began to realize how many things he believed that he could not prove, but accepted on the testimony of others. And so Augustine fulfilled the maxim that “conversions are rarely brought about though an immediate influx of divine grace, but through the agency of events and persons.” Saint Monica used every possible wile to bring her son into contact with the bishop. Under Saint Ambrose’s guidance, Saint Augustine began to study Scripture seriously.

Saint Augustine had reached a critical point, he must choose God or his mistress. Ever the meddlesome mother, Monica arranged a marriage for him but had to leave him to his decision. She began her penitential discipline in a convent.

Converted Son

Finally after 17 years, Monica had the joy of seeing Augustine convert to Christianity. In 387, Saint Augustine was baptized by Bishop Saint Ambrose in the church of St. John the Baptist at Milan.

Her Death

Augustine tired of teaching and resolved to return to North Africa. Monica and he set out on their journey, stopping at Civitavecchia, Italy and then at Ostia, Italy. Four years after their arrival in Milan, during a stop at Ostia en route back to Tagaste, Monica told her son: “What I am still to do, or why I still linger in this world, I do not know. There was one reason, one alone, for which I wish to tarry a little longer: that I might see you a Catholic Christian before I die. God has granted me this boon, and more, for I see you his servant, spurning all earthly happiness. What is left for me to do in this life?”

Peacefully, Monica died in 387 in Ostia, Italy. As result of the emotions, Augustine experienced at that time, hew wrote his “Confessions”. Her body was initially buried in Ostia. But, in the 15th century, Monica’s relics were moved to Rome and are enshrined at Saint Augustine’s Church in Rome, Italy near the Piazza Navona.

Saint Monica’s example reminds Christians that no soul is beyond the reach of God’s grace and that patient faith can bring about miraculous transformations.

Born:                 Around 332 in Thagaste, North Africa (now Souk Ahras, Algeria)

Died:                  387 in Ostia, Italy

Beatified:          Pre-Congregation

Canonized:       Pre-Congregation

Feast Day:        August 27, formerly May 4

Patron Saint:    Abuse Victims; Alcoholics; Difficult Marriages; Disappointing Children; Homemakers; Housewives; Married Women; Mothers; Ostia, Italy; Victims of Adultery; Victims of Unfaithfulness; Widows; Wives

Source:

• • St. Monica – Patron Saint of Mothers and Conversion – All Saint Stories
  • St. Monica, Patron of Married Women and Mothers – Catholic Fire
  • CatholicSaints.Info » Saints of the Day – Monica, Matron by Katherine I Rabenstein
  • Saint Monica – Saint for a Minute: Saints & Blesseds
  • Saint Monica – Wikipedia

Prayers

Video Link

Cradio Saint of the Day: Saint Monica – YouTube (CatholicSaints.Info)