ST. MONICA
Feast: August 27
St. Monica (333-387) was born in Tagaste, northern Africa
and died in Ostia, near Rome. Monica was a Christian, but her husband Patricius
was a pagan and a man of loose morals. Monica's virtues and prayers, however,
converted him, and he was baptized a year before his death. When her son,
Augustine, joined the Manichean sect and went astray in faith and morals,
Monica's tears and prayers for her son were incessant. She followed him to
Milan, where Augustine went to teach, and there continued to storm heaven with
her prayers for her son. Finally, she had the joy of witnessing St.
Ambrose baptize Augustine in 387. She died in Ostia, as she and her son
gazed at the sea and discoursed about the joys of the blessed.
St. Monica is
an example of those holy matrons of the ancient Church who proved very
influential in their own quiet way.
Through prayer and tears
she gave the great Augustine to the Church of God,
and thereby earned for herself a place of honor in the history of God's kingdom
on earth.
The
Confessions of St.
Augustine
provide
certain biographical details. Born of Christian parents about the year 331
at Tagaste in Africa, Monica was reared under the strict supervision of an
elderly nurse who had likewise reared her father. In the course of
time she was given in marriage to a pagan named Patricius. Besides
other faults, he possessed a very irascible nature; it was in this school of
suffering that Monica learned patience. It was her custom to wait
until his anger had cooled; only then did she give a kindly remonstrance.
Evil-minded servants had prejudiced her mother-in-law against her, but Monica
mastered the situation by kindness and sympathy.
Her marriage
was blessed with three children: Navigius, Perpetua, who later became a nun, and
Augustine, her problem child. According to the custom of the day, baptism was
not administered to infants soon after birth. It was as an
adolescent that Augustine became a catechumen, but possibly through a
premonition of his future sinful life, Monica postponed his baptism even when
her son desired it during a severe illness.
When
Augustine was nineteen years old, his father Patricius died; by patience and
prayer Monica had obtained the conversion of her husband.
The youthful
Augustine caused his mother untold worry by indulging in every type of sin and
dissipation. As a last resort after all her tears and entreaties had
proved fruitless, she forbade him entrance to her home; but after a vision she
received
him back again. In her sorrow a certain bishop consoled her:
"Don't worry, it is impossible that a son of so many tears should be lost."
When
Augustine was planning his journey to Rome, Monica wished to accompany him.
He outwitted her, however, and had already embarked when she arrived at the
docks. Later she followed him to Milan, ever growing in her
attachment to God. St. Ambrose held her in high esteem, and congratulated
Augustine on having such a mother. At Milan she prepared the way for
her son's conversion. Finally the moment came when her tears of
sorrow changed to tears of joy. Augustine was baptized.
And her lifework was completed.
She died in her
fifty-sixth year, as she was returning to Africa.
The description of her death is one of the most beautiful passages in her son's
famous "Confessions.
Excerpted from The Church's Year of Grace, Pius Parsch.
Patron:
Abuse victims; alcoholics; alcoholism; difficult marriages; disappointing
children; homemakers; housewives; married women; mothers; victims of adultery;
victims of unfaithfulness; victims of verbal abuse; widows; wives.
Symbols:
Monstrance; IHC on a tablet; veil or handkerchief; open book; girdle; staff;
tears.
