Widow (ca. 323-387)
St. Monica is chiefly remembered through the loving testimony of her son, St. Augustine, who gave her special credit for his conversion: “In the flesh she brought me to birth in this world; in her heart she brought me to birth in Your eternal life.”
Monica was an African, born near Carthage of Christian parents. She married and bore three children, of whom Augustine was the eldest and clearly her favorite. For years she suffered from the fact that her brilliant son did not share her faith, a suffering compounded by his amoral conduct and his immersion in the Manichean cult. Constantly she prayed for his conversion and wept over his sins, until finally a sympathetic bishop consoled her: “Go now, I beg of you; it is not possible that the son of so many tears should perish.”
When Augustine left for Rome to study, Monica followed close behind. She found him in Milan, and was greeted with the joyous news that he wished to become a Christian. She
witnessed his baptism by the holy bishop Ambrose. By this time, Monica’s days were numbered. While awaiting a ship to return to Africa, she fell ill. While discussing the eternal
Wisdom with her son, it seemed “for one fleeting instant” as if they had touched it. Monica confided that she had no need for further life: “There was one reason and one alone, why I wished to remain a little longer in this life,” she told her son, “and that was to see you a Catholic Christian before I died. God has granted my wish. . . . What is left for me to do in this world?”
“Nothing is far from God.”
—St. Monica, asked if she feared dying far from home
