St Monica was born in the year 332 in Tagaste in North Africa to Christian parents. She married Patricius, who was a pagan and three of their children survived infancy. St Augustine was the eldest. Patricius was baptised a year before his death. His conversion to Catholicism was very much influenced through St Monica’s piety, prayers, charity and example.
She was widowed at 40 and St Augustine was 17/18 years of age. Around this time, he was beginning to live an immoral life and follow the Manichean philosophy that promised salvation through the attainment of special knowledge of spiritual truths. This caused great distress to St Monica and she prayed for many years for her son’s conversion. She found encouragement from her local Bishop who said “The son of so many tears cannot be lost”.
Those words proved to be prophetic as he came under the influence of St Ambrose, Bishop of Milan and was baptised by him in Easter 387 along with several of his friends. St Monica’s fasting and prayers eventually bore their fruit.
She was to say to St Augustine shortly after his conversion “Son, nothing in this world now affords me delight. I do not know what there is now left for me to do or why I am still here, all my hopes in this world being now fulfilled”.
St Monica died after a short but severe illness in Ostia, in the same year as St Augustine’s conversion, in 387. While ill and dying she heard her sons arguing about taking her back to Africa to die. This is what she said to them “Lay this body anywhere and take no trouble over it. One thing do I ask of you, that you remember me at the altar of the Lord wherever you may be”.
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