Saint Monica
Monica was a woman born in northern Africa around 332 AD, still in the days of the Roman Empire. A Christian woman, she was married at a young age to a non-believing Roman official named Patricius.
Monica determined to set a Christian example for her husband. Despite his raging temper and propensity to cheat, she prayed for him and for her three children: two sons and a daughter. Patricius mocked her piety, but allowed her some freedom to attend church and give alms. Over time, he grew to admire her virtues and became deeply affected by her genuine love for him. When he grew ill at a relatively early age, Patricius came to faith just prior to his death in the year 370. Patricius’ mother and two of Monica’s children came to faith shortly after.
Praying fervently for her remaining son, Augustine, Monica was known to weep over his soul. She later recounted the counsel of one church leader who told her, “the child of those tears shall never perish.” Augustine chased the trappings of the world and traveled to Carthage to study Rhetoric – the art of public speaking and persuasion. Enmeshed in Greek Philosophy and captivated by the ‘rock star’ status of a successful Rhetorician, Augustine met a woman with whom he lived and even had a child by that woman, despite Monica’s warnings against fornication.
Taking a teaching post in Rome Augustine moved there, and eventually moved from there to Milan. He couldn’t outrun Monica though, either her prayers or her physical presence. In Milan, Monica met the great church father Bishop Ambrose who joined Monica in praying for her son. Monica’s persistence wore her son down, and he agreed to go with her to church to hear Ambrose – hoping that the famed Bishop could teach him a trick or two of oratory.
Augustine was unimpressed with Ambrose’s skills in rhetoric, but in talking to him was stricken by the deep convictions of Ambrose. Around the year 387, at the age of 33, Augustine came to faith and was personally baptized by Ambrose.
The two made the decision to travel back to Carthage. En route, Monica fell ill passed away outside of Rome. Augustine’s grief over the loss of his mother prompted him to write his autobiography ‘Confessions.’ In that book, he records some of Monica’s last words to him: “Son, for my own part I have no further delight in any thing in this life. What I do here any longer, and why I am here, I know not, now that my hopes in this world are accomplished. There was one thing for which I desired to linger for a while in this life, that I might see you as a Christian before I died. My God has done this for me more abundantly, that I should now see you…become His servant.”
The Catholic Church holds Monica in high esteem, considering her the Patron Saint of homemakers, married women, mothers, abuse victims, alcoholics, and widows. We hold her in high esteem as a diligent Christian woman, a warrior in prayer, and the mother of one of the great theologians of the early church.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Monica
