St. Monica
Monica was a North African Christian whose patient, persistent prayer for her wayward son Augustine lasted decades. By tradition she wept and prayed for his conversion for seventeen years. Augustine was baptized in 387; Monica died shortly after, at peace. She is a model of intercessory prayer and faithful motherhood.
- Feast day
- August 27 · Memorial
- Patron of
- Mothers, wives, and those who wait in prayer
- Era
- 4th century · c. 331–387
- Also known as
- Monica of Hippo · St. Monnica
The mother who would not stop praying
Almost everything we know of St. Monica comes from the son she prayed for — and who never forgot it.
By tradition she was born around 331 in Thagaste, a town in Roman North Africa, into a Christian family. She was married young to Patricius, a pagan town official of difficult temper, and raised three children, of whom Augustine was the eldest. She is remembered for her patience through a hard marriage; Patricius was baptized only near the end of his life.
Augustine grew into a brilliant, restless young man who drifted from the faith — into the Manichaean sect and a worldly life. For years Monica prayed, fasted, and wept for him, following him as far as Rome and then Milan, where he came at last under the preaching of St. Ambrose.
By Augustine's own account, a bishop worn down by her tears once told her that the son of those tears would not be lost. Augustine was baptized at the Easter Vigil of 387. Monica died soon after, at Ostia near Rome, as they waited to sail home to Africa. Augustine wrote of his mother with rare tenderness in his Confessions, and it is there that her story has been kept.
Perseverance in prayer
Monica is held up, above all, for a single thing: she did not give up. For nearly two decades she carried one intention — her son's conversion — and kept praying through silence, distance, and what looked for a long time like failure.
It is why the Church gives her to mothers, and to anyone whose prayer goes a long time unanswered. Her witness is simple and hard at once: keep praying, keep loving, and entrust the rest to God.
August 27
Her memorial falls on August 27 — the day before the feast of her son, St. Augustine, so that mother and son are remembered side by side each year.
How to recognize her
- The widow's veilShe is usually shown veiled and in the dark robe of a widow — the matron who outlived her husband.
- Tears & a handkerchiefOften holding or wiping tears — the weeping for Augustine that gives her the title "mother of tears."
- The black cinctureA leather belt, the cincture of the Augustinians, tied to her and to Our Lady of Consolation.
- Shown with AugustineFrequently paired with her son — at Ostia, or gazing together in the vision he recorded.
Lay this body anywhere, and do not trouble yourselves over it. This only I ask: that you remember me at the altar of the Lord, wherever you may be.
— St. Monica, near death at Ostia, in St. Augustine's Confessions, Book IX (public domain)Pray with her
St. Monica, mother of patience and unfailing prayer, watch over every mother who waits and worries. Win for us the grace to keep praying, to keep loving, and to entrust our children to God. Amen.
In the long waiting
Families facing a long wait for a loved one — a child who has drifted, a conversion hoped for, a worry carried for years — often ask her intercession. She is a companion for the kind of prayer that does not get quick answers: prayer you keep up, day after day, for the people you name.
St. Monica loved her son so much that she prayed for him every single day for a very long time — and she never stopped. We can pray like that too, for the people we love. Try together: name one person to pray for each night this week.
Pray as a household
Carry your family in prayer
Solua gives your family a simple, faithful rhythm of prayer — one unhurried moment at a time, for the people you carry by name.
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