St. Monica is lovingly known as the patron saint of mothers. She was born to Christian parents in the fourth century in Northern Africa. At a young age she was given to Patritius in marriage. He was a government official in Tagaste. He was also a pagan with a violent temper and disdain for Christianity. He refused to allow any of their three children to be baptized. Yet Monica persevered in her Christianity. She prayed unceasingly for the conversion of Patritius. She continued a live devoted to prayer and generously gave alms to those less fortunate. Her sweet disposition and patience in the face of her unhappy domestic life served as a model to other women in the community of Tagaste. She never admonished Patritius in times of anger but waited until his temper cooled and offered charitable correction. Her prayers were answered shortly before the death of Patrius when he accepted Christ and was baptized. Her mother-in-law who had contributed to their marital discord was also converted.
After the death of Patritius, her attention turned more to Augustine. He was a brilliant young man, but when he went away to study in Carthage, he fell into a life of sin. To Monica's great sorrow, Augustine had rejected Christianity for Manichaeism. He returned home and proclaimed great heresies against Christianity. Monica's first impulse was to drive Augustine out of her home. However, a prayerful vision caused her to call him back home. Eventually Augustine left home for Rome where he continued his life of debauchery. Monica followed him to Rome only to find that he had moved on to Milan. She continued on to Milan where she found him and continued to lovingly admonish and cajole him back to Christianity. Perhaps this is why she is informally called the Patron of Nagging Mothers. More important than her maternal correction, however, was her constant prayer for Augustine's conversion. Through the grace of God and with the help of St. Ambrose in Milan, she was able to eventually see Augustine accept Christianity after nearly seventeen years of resistance. Augustine now applied his great intellect to the service of Christ and his Church. He and Monica embarked on a journey Africa but in the city of Ostia, just north of Rome, Monica became ill and died.
Even in her death, Monica conveyed lessons of faith to Augustine. In his well known work, The Confessions, he wrote of his mother's death:
Later, I heard that already during our stay at Ostia she was one day talking with motherly openness with some of my friends, in my absence, about contempt for this life and the blessing of death. They were amazed at such courage in a woman--for it was you who had given it to her--and asked whether she was not afraid to leave her body so far from her own city. "Nothing is far from God," she replied. "There is no danger that at the end of the world he will not know where to find me and raise me up."
St. Monica embodies the true vocation of the Catholic wife and mother. Her calling is to help her husband and children get to Heaven. Never did Monica compromise her own faith in deference to her husband. Never did Monica express acceptance or approval of Augustine's sinful lifestyle and heretical ideas, but she also never rejected him. She trusted that God would answer her prayers and though it took her entire lifetime, she eventually saw both her husband and her son as Christians. The intercessory prayers of St. Monica are often invoked by those with loved ones who have fallen away from the Church. Today, the Feast of St. Monica, would be a good day to offer a special prayer for lapsed Catholics. Sending them a link to Catholics Come Home is a gentle and very Monica-like invitation for them to consider returning to the Church.
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St. Monica biographical information
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