Monica(332 — 387)
Monica of Hippo
6 min read
Mother of Saint Augustine, Monica is venerated as a saint in the Catholic Church for her unwavering faith. She prayed her entire life for her son's conversion. She died in Ostia in 387, shortly after witnessing his baptism by Saint Ambrose in Milan.
Famous Quotes
« Lay this body anywhere; be not troubled about it. Only this I ask of you, that you remember me at the altar of the Lord, wherever you may be. (reported by Augustine, Confessions IX, 11) »
Key Facts
- Born around 331–332 in Thagaste, in Numidia (present-day Algeria)
- Wife of Patricius, a Roman official, whom she converted to Christianity before his death
- Devoted decades of prayers and tears to the conversion of her son Augustine
- Witnessed Augustine's baptism by Saint Ambrose in Milan in 387
- Died in Ostia in 387, on her way back to Africa
Works & Achievements
Augustine dedicates this entire book to his mother: her upbringing, her piety, her role in his conversion, and her death at Ostia. It is the primary and most moving source on Monica.
For more than thirty years, Monica prayed without ceasing for her son. The Catholic Church regards this steadfast intercession as her most accomplished act of faith, a model for all Christian mothers.
A few days before her death, Monica shared with Augustine a contemplation on eternal beatitude. This moment is considered one of the pinnacles of Western Christian mysticism.
Anecdotes
When Monica lamented to a bishop over the conversion of her son Augustine, lost in Manichaean errors, he replied: “Go your way; it is impossible that the son of so many tears should perish.” These words became for her a sign of hope that she carried for the rest of her life.
In 383, Augustine deceived his mother by secretly boarding a ship for Rome under cover of night, leaving her weeping on the shore of Carthage. Inconsolable but tenacious, Monica crossed the Mediterranean to join him in Milan and never stopped praying for him.
In Milan, Monica was so struck by the authority of Saint Ambrose that she gave up a very ancient African custom: bringing wine and cakes to the tombs of the martyrs. Her piety was not rigid — she knew how to grow under the influence of great leaders of the Church.
Shortly before her death at Ostia, Monica shared a mystical contemplation with Augustine at a window overlooking a garden. Together, they rose in thought toward eternal beatitude in a dialogue known as the ‘Vision of Ostia’ — one of the most moving passages in all of Christian literature.
Primary Sources
She wept for me before Thee more bitterly than mothers weep for the bodily deaths of their children.
On the ninth day of her sickness, in the fifty-sixth year of her age and the thirty-third of mine, that devout and holy soul was freed from the body.
We were inquiring between ourselves, in the presence of the Truth which Thou art, of what sort the eternal life of the saints would be, which eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man.
She would not return without me, and I had great difficulty persuading her to spend the night in an oratory close by the ship... The wind blew and filled our sails, and the shore vanished from our sight.
Key Places
Birthplace of Monica and Augustine. It was here that she lived her marriage to Patricius, raised her children, and began her prayers for her son's conversion.
The great Roman metropolis of Africa where Augustine studied and went astray, and where Monica pleaded with bishops to intercede for him. It was from here that she watched him secretly sail for Rome.
Capital of the Western Roman Empire, where Monica followed Augustine, regularly attended Ambrose's sermons, and was present at her son's long-awaited baptism.
The port of Rome where Monica died in 387, a few days after the celebrated Vision of Ostia she shared with Augustine. Her tomb was venerated there before her relics were transferred to Rome.
