St. Monica lived from about AD 331-387. She was married to a man named Patricius, a pagan who had an official position in Tagaste (what is now Souk Ahras, Algeria). Both her husband and her mother-in-law had bad tempers and were not known for their good behavior. St. Monica's alms-giving and prayer life annoyed her husband, but he did respect her.
She had three children who survived infancy: sons Augustine and Navigus, and daughter Perpetua. She was unable to have her children baptized, even after Augustine fell ill and then recovered.
Augustine fell into a terrible lifestyle, which he wrote about in his confessions, that caused his mother a great deal of grief. After his return from Carthage, deep in Manichaeism, St. Monica banned him from her table for a time. She later had a vision which convinced her to reconcile with him.
She followed him to Rome, and then, finding that he had left, she followed him further to Milan, where they came to be under the teaching of St. Ambrose, who led St. Augustine to conversion.
Both St. Augustine and St Monica went to Africa where Monica died, at Ostia.
St. Monica is the patron of wives, abuse victims, and her feast day is August 27th.
Thanks for joining me for another Saturday with the Saints!
Yours always,
Tara
