St. Monica and St. Augustine

Saint Augustine and his mother, Saint Monica (1846) by Ary Scheffer

Elizabeth Ann Potito

M.A., Theology, summa cum laude,

Ave Maria University, Dec 2021

Last week, this column was introduced as “Saint of the Week,” but this week, we have two Saints that whose stories are intertwined.

Saint Monica, whose feast day is August 27, is the patron saint of mothers, and of patience. Yes, mothers often need patience, and Monica showed much patience and faith in praying for her family.

Monica lived from about 331 to 387. A Christian, she was married to a pagan. She had three children who lived to adulthood. Her oldest, Augustine (354-430), gave her much to worry about. Augustine was only 17 and a student in Catharge when his father died in 371. While his father had converted to Christianity the year before, Augustine remained outside the church. In fact, Augustine was living with his girlfriend, mother of his son. Not only that, but he had joined a group of believers known as the Manicheans. This religion followed the view of a prophet named Mani, whose reading of Scripture was opposed to Christianity. (Wikipedia describes it succinctly as “an elaborate dualistic cosmology describing the struggle between a good, spiritual world of light, and an evil, material world of darkness.”) Monica could have thrown up her hands and said “at least he believes in something,” or “he’s an adult, he has to live his own life.” She didn’t. Rather, she prayed. If anyone can be said to have prayed another to salvation, it would be Saint Monica. In his address Angelus, given at Castel Gandolfo on August 27, 2006, Pope Benedict XVI said “As Augustine himself was to say, his mother gave birth to him twice; the second time required a lengthy spiritual travail of prayers and tears, but it was crowned at last with the joy of seeing him not only embrace the faith and receive Baptism, but also dedicate himself without reserve to the service of Christ.”

It is fitting that on the church’s calendar, St. Augustine of Hippo’s feast day is celebrated on August 28, the day after his mother. He became a Christian at the age of 33, and a priest just three years later. By the age of 41, he had already been made Bishop of Hippo. But Augustine’s influence on the Church extends far beyond Hippo and far beyond the 4th century. His writings are still referred to today in the church. He wrote many works. Two of the best known are City of God and Confessions (sometimes titled as “The Confessions). Personally, I prefer Oxford World Classic’s translation by Henry Chadwick; however, the Ignatius Critical Editions translation by Maria Boulding, O.S.B. includes contemporary criticism.

St. Augustine was named a Doctor of the Church by Pope Boniface VIII in 1298. He is the patron saint of brewers, due to his youthful wild days, as well as of printers and theologians.