Mother of St. Augustine, whose years of tearful prayer were answered by his conversion. Patron of mothers.
Life
Saint Monica was born around 331 into a Christian family in Thagaste, North Africa. She married Patricius, a hot-tempered pagan, and endured many difficulties, but held her family together with patience and prayer, and her husband was baptized before his death.
Her great sorrow was her son Augustine. When he fell into a dissolute life and heresy, she prayed with tears for many years and followed him all the way to Italy. Augustine wrote in his Confessions that a bishop once comforted her by saying that a son of so many tears could not be lost.
She died at Ostia in 387, after seeing her son baptized. The Church remembers her on August 27.
Spirituality
Monica's spirituality is prayer that never gives up. For many years she prayed with tears for the conversion of her husband and her son, and she did not let go of hope until God answered. Her perseverance gave the Church a great saint.
Reflection
Many of us grieve over children or relatives who have drifted from the faith. Like Monica, will you hold on to hope and today, once again, entrust them to the Lord by name?