St. Monica was born in 332 in what is now Algeria. She was raised Catholic and prized the virtues of obedience and temperance. When she was still young, she married Patricius, a Roman civil servant. They had three children, Augustine, Nagivius and Perpetua, but Patricius would not allow Monica to have them baptized.
For many years Monica dealt patiently and prayerfully with her husband’s bad temper and infidelity, and he was finally converted to Catholicism through her example, a year before his death. But Monica’s oldest son, Augustine, continued to live a life of sin, fathering a child out of wedlock and practicing occult religions.
In 377, Monica had a dream in which a messenger told her, “Your son is with you.” She welcomed Augustine back into her home and continued to pray for his conversion. When he was 29, Augustine left for Rome without saying goodbye to his mother, causing her great pain. However, Rome is where Augustine would eventually be baptized into the Catholic faith, and go on to become a great saint.
St. Monica died in 387 at the age of 56. She is remembered one day before the feast day of her son, St. Augustine.
