August 27: Saint Monica / Santa Monica

For much of her life, St. Monica faced difficult circumstances outside her control. After her parents married her off to an unbeliever named Patricius, she had no choice but to live with him and his abrasive mother, who was also an unbeliever. Despite his poor temper and worldly habits, Patricius held Monica in high regard, and with prayer and perseverance, she won him and his mother over to Christianity. However, just a year following his conversion, Patricius died, leaving her with three children to care for.

As a single mother, St. Monica persevered in the face of many difficulties, motivated by a desire for her children to follow Christ. Most notable among her children was St. Augustine, a seminal thinker whose impact on Christian theology and Western philosophy is unparalleled. By some accounts, his Confessions is considered the first autobiography of the West and is perhaps the “most widely read book of Christian antiquity.”

For more, from St. Monica Parish in Santa Monica, CA: https://stmonica.net/about/our-community/aboutfeastday

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Santa Mónica, convencida cristiana, estaba casada con un marido temperamental e infiel. A ese dolor su corazón sumaba el de su hijo, San Agustín, que se había sumado a la secta de los maniqueos y le provocaba mucha ansiedad y vergüenza por su conducta moral. Sin embargo, Santa Mónica, con su amorosa oración, perseverante y creyente, obtuvo su conversión para Dios. ¡Y qué hombre y qué clase de cristiano llegó a ser!
 Las lágrimas de su madre lo llevaron a vivir en Cristo. De esta manera podemos decir que ella fue dos veces madre. Su vida fue como la de cantidad de mujeres que atraviesan duras pruebas en el matrimonio y están cargadas de inquietud y amargura por sus hijos. Pero ella sabía que la fe en Cristo lo hace todo posible.