| Feast Day: | August 27 |
| Born: |
322 at Tagaste (Souk Ahrus), Algeria |
| Died: | 387 at Ostia, Italy |
| Major Shrine: | Sant'Agostino, Rome |
| Patron of: | patience, married women, homemakers and housewives, mothers, wives, widows, alcoholics, difficult marriages, disappointing children, victims of adultery or unfaithfulness, and victims of (verbal) abuse |
St. Monica was born in Tagaste, northern Africa and she was the mother of St. Augustine. She was brought up as a good Christian. Her strong training was a great help to her when she married Patricius the pagan (a person who does not believe in God).
Patricius admired his wife, but he made her suffer because of his bad temper. Still Monica never answered back and never complained about him to anyone. Instead she prayed for him fervently.
God heard her prayer and Patricius finally agreed to become a Christian in 371. He was baptized on his deathbed in 372. His mother, too, became a Christian.
St. Monica's joy over the holy way in which her husband had died soon changed to great sorrow. She found out that her 19 year old son Augustine was living a bad, selfish life. This clever young man had turned to a false religion and had formed wicked habits.
Monica prayed and cried and did much penance for her son. She begged priests to talk to him. Augustine was brilliant but very stubborn. He did not want to give up his sinful life. But Monica would not give up either.
When he went to Rome without her, she followed him. At Rome, she found he had become a teacher in Milan. So Monica went to Milan. And in all those years, she never stopped praying for him.
What love and faith! After years of prayers and tears, her reward came when Augustine was converted. He not only became a good Christian, as she had prayed. Augustine also became a priest, a bishop, a great writer and a very famous saint.
St. Monica died in Ostia, outside Rome, in 387 with her son Augustine at her bedside.