Saint Monica: A Mother Who Never Stopped Praying for Her Son

Saint Monica is known as the mother of Saint Augustine. But her story is not merely a backdrop to her famous son's conversion. She herself was a woman who lived her faith within her family, and then persevered in prayer when the son she loved drifted away from God.

Monica was born into a Christian family at Tagaste. She lived her vocation as a wife and mother in an exemplary way. According to Pope Benedict XVI, Monica helped her husband, Patricius, discover the beauty of faith in Christ and the power of Gospel love, a love that overcomes evil with good. The sources do not say exactly how this happened.

Patricius died before reaching old age. From then on, Monica courageously devoted herself to caring for her three children. One of them was Augustine. In the Confessions, Augustine recalls that he had known the name of Jesus ever since he was nursing at his mother's breast, and that Monica raised him in the Christian faith.

Yet Augustine grew up with a somewhat rebellious temperament. He himself admits that in his youth he pursued worldly beauty in a selfish and possessive way, which caused his mother great pain. He lived far from the faith, both spiritually and morally. Even so, by his own testimony, the teaching his mother had instilled in him left a lasting mark.

Monica did not give up. She kept praying for Augustine and for his conversion in a long spiritual struggle, full of prayer and tears. Pope Benedict XVI notes that the Bishop of Tagaste once assured Monica that a son wept over with so many tears would not perish; the bishop's name is not given. Later Augustine said that his mother gave birth to him twice, and that second birth came about through those prayers and tears.

The change did not come all at once. Through a difficult journey, and also thanks to his mother's prayers, Augustine became more and more open to truth and love. He was finally converted in Milan under the guidance of Bishop Saint Ambrose. Monica received the consolation she had long awaited: her son returned to the faith, received baptism, and gave himself completely to the service of Christ.

As Augustine remembered it, their last spiritual conversation took place in a house at Ostia, while they were waiting for a ship that would sail to Africa. By then Monica had become more than a mother to him; she had become the source of his Christianity. Monica died at the age of 56. Before that, she asked Augustine not to trouble himself about her burial, but to remember her at the Lord's altar wherever he was.

The Church celebrates the memorial of Saint Monica and regards her as a model and patron of Christian mothers. Her example shows in everyday faithfulness: living the faith at home, caring for her children, and continuing to pray when the Lord's answer could not yet be seen.

Church status

Saint; celebrated with a liturgical memorial and regarded as a model and patron of Christian mothers

Place of birth

Tagaste, into a Christian family

Family

Wife of Patricius and mother of three children, including Saint Augustine

Died

August 27, 387, at the age of 56, according to the Angelus of Pope Benedict XVI (date requires source review)

Last event with Augustine

A spiritual conversation in a house at Ostia while waiting for a ship to Africa, according to Augustine's testimony