Every August 27, the Church celebrates Saint Monica, patron saint of wives, model of woman and mother.
“How many tears did that holy woman shed for her son’s conversion! And how many mothers today also shed tears so that their own children may return to Christ! “Do not lose hope in the grace of God!” said Pope Francis during the homily of the opening mass of the general chapter of the Order of Saint Augustine, on August 28, 2013. The Holy Father thus alluded to the way particular how Santa Monica (331-387) earned Heaven.
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A smart wife
Monica was born in Tagaste, North Africa (present-day Tunisia), in the year 331. When she was young, through an arrangement made by her parents, she married Patrick, a violent and womanizing man. They once asked her why her husband never hit her because she had such a bad temper. It is commonplace in tradition to say that, when asked what she did if her husband was in a bad temper, she used to respond that her strategy was not to let herself get carried away by her bad mood: that if he shouted, she responded with her silence; Because it takes two to fight and if the most convenient thing was not to respond, she would remain silent, without falling into the game of provocation.
Perhaps today, such an attitude could pass for some form of submission or passivity, but it was something very different: Monica used a certain cunning and great prudence. She knew very well that violence – verbal or physical – only leads to more violence. Therefore, it is more logical to think that she chose the best path: that of intelligence, perseverance, commitment to others, patience and hope.
Saint Monica, as is evident, played a very active role within her family. She never stopped praying and offering sacrifices for the conversion of her husband, a man full of bitterness, which she finally achieved. Augustine’s father, Patrick, was baptized shortly before he died and left this world as a Christian.
a patient mother
Unfortunately, the saint’s pain would not end there. Agustín, her eldest son, was a young man with selfish and impetuous attitudes, who led a dissolute life and had no interest in the faith. Monica suffered from seeing her son away from God, although she hoped that he would convert like her husband did. She continued to pray and offer spiritual sacrifices for her son.
Her relationship with him went through very difficult periods, in which there were tensions and misunderstandings that tested Mónica’s patience and faith. More than once she thought that her efforts were useless, especially when she saw her son behaving immorally, a prisoner of pleasure and hungry for fame and riches.
Who loves, waits
It is said that Mónica separated from him on several occasions, even denying him to stay in her house. Desperate, she once met – in the words of Augustine himself – with a “priest, a certain bishop, educated in your Church and exercised in your Scriptures” to ask him to speak with Augustine and convince him of his errors. It was then that she received that famous response from that pastor: “Be calm, it is impossible for the son of so many tears to be lost” (Confessions III, 12, 21). In this way, God gave her comfort, the strength she lacked, and the wisdom necessary to better understand that “our times” are not always God’s times.
After many years of uncertainty about her son’s salvation, her prayers finally bore the expected fruit. Augustine, after a long spiritual and intellectual journey that had plunged him into emptiness, received baptism on Easter in the year 387.
Monica had the joy of being by her son’s side during that period, as she had followed him from Tagaste (North Africa) to Milan (Italy), the city where Augustine embraced Christianity, with the support and spiritual guidance of Saint Ambrose. (340-397).
Model and comfort for parents
Not long after, when both – Monica and Augustine – were on their way back to Tagaste, the saint fell ill and died in the port of Ostia Antica (present-day Italy). She was 56 years old.
At the Angelus on August 27, 2006, Pope Benedict XVI stated: “Saint Monica and Saint Augustine invite us to turn with confidence to Mary, throne of Wisdom. To her we entrust Christian parents, so that, like Monica, they may accompany the path of her children with her example and prayer.
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If you want to know more about Santa Monica we recommend this article from the Catholic Encyclopedia: https://ec.aciprensa.com/wiki/Santa_Monic.
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