Every August 27, the feast of Saint Monica, mother of the great Bishop Saint Augustine of Hippo, is celebrated. For this reason, we share 4 facts about which she is a model mother of the home.
1. A Father of the Church made a prophecy to him
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Saint Monica suffered greatly from the wayward life of her son Augustine and begged some members of the clergy to speak to her son.
On one occasion, he met Saint Ambrose, current Father and Doctor of the Church for his teachings of faith and great value.
One day, Saint Ambrose, upon seeing Monica’s insistent pleas for her son, told her: “Be calm, it is impossible for the son of so many tears to be lost.” The saint then allowed herself to be guided by him and became a more fervent Christian.
2. He received comfort in an angelic dream
Saint Augustine himself tells in his book “Confessions” that when he was going through bad steps, his mother dreamed that she was standing on a wooden ruler and a resplendent young man asked her why she cried daily.
The saint pointed out to her that because of her son and the angel-like one, she answered that where she was, her son was also there. Suddenly she saw Agustín next to her on the same ruler.
3. She asked to be buried outside her homeland
Saint Monica was born in Tagaste, in the year 331, in North Africa, and traveled to Italy to help her son convert.
After the baptism of Saint Augustine, they went to the port of Ostia with the intention of returning to Africa, but Saint Monica, after seeing that she had already achieved her long-awaited dream of seeing her son as a Christian, fell seriously ill and died at 56 years old.
Saint Augustine recounts: “he told us: ‘Bury your mother here.’ remember me before the altar of the Lord wherever you may be.'”
4. How to keep peace at home?
Monica married Patricio, a pagan man, a womanizer and with a very strong and violent character, but who never raised his hand to his wife. Her neighbors, who also had violent husbands who even beat them, asked her what she did when Patricio got angry.
The saint told them: “The thing is, when my husband is in a bad temper, I make an effort to be in a good temper. When he shouts, I remain silent. And since it takes two to fight and I do not agree to get into a fight, well ….we don’t fight.”
In this sense, she advised mastering “the language”, the source of many of the problems at home. The saint, with her prayers and example, little by little achieved the conversion of her husband, who died saintly. Furthermore, she also managed to convert her mother-in-law.
Abel Camasca
Journalist graduated from the Communication Sciences degree at the University of Lima. He has been part of the ACI Prensa journalistic team since 2014. Between 2016 and 2022 he was in charge of the production of the television program EWTN Noticias and Más que Noticias, a World Catholic Radio program. He often writes articles about the lives of saints.