Saint Monica

Monica was born around 331 in Thagaste, in North Africa, in present-day Algeria, into a Christian family. She was married young to Patricius, a pagan official with a violent temper, and lived with a difficult mother-in-law. Through patience, gentleness and prayer she won them both over, and Patricius was baptized shortly before his death around 371.

Her greatest sorrow was her eldest son, Augustine, a brilliant student who lived a disordered life and joined the Manichaean sect. For years Monica prayed and wept for him. A bishop consoled her by saying that the son of so many tears could not be lost. She followed Augustine to Italy, and in Milan she rejoiced when, under the influence of Saint Ambrose, he converted and was baptized at Easter in 387. Soon afterward, while waiting at Ostia to sail back to Africa, mother and son shared a profound conversation about heaven. A few days later she fell ill and died there in 387, at fifty-six, as Augustine recounts in his Confessions.

Mothers and grandparents praying for children who have left the faith turn to her with confidence, and many parishes have Saint Monica prayer groups. Her relics are venerated in the Basilica of Sant'Agostino in Rome.

The city of Santa Monica in California bears her name.