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Friends of the Rosary,
Today, the Catholic Church celebrates the Memorial of St. Monica (333-387), the mother of St. Augustine — whose feast is tomorrow.
Through prayer and tears, St. Monica gave the great Augustine to the Church quietly.
Born in Tagaste, northern Africa, Monica was given in marriage to a pagan named Patricius, a man of loose morals with a very irascible nature.
It was in this school of suffering that Monica learned patience.
Evil-minded servants prejudiced her mother-in-law against her, but Monica mastered the situation with kindness and sympathy.
Monica persevered and prayed to convert her husband, who was baptized a year before his death. The Confessions of St. Augustine provide specific biographical details.
When Augustine joined the Manichean sect and went astray in faith and morals, Monica’s tears and prayers for her son were incessant. She followed him to Milan, where Augustine went to teach, and there continued to storm heaven with her prayers for her son.
Finally, the moment came, and her tears of sorrow changed to tears of joy. She had the joy of witnessing St. Ambrose baptize Augustine in 387.
Her lifework was completed. She died in Ostia, near Rome, in her fifty-sixth year.
The description of her death is one of the most beautiful passages in her son’s famous Confessions.
Also, today is the feast of the Seven Joys of the Blessed Virgin Mary or the Franciscan Crown.
Ave Maria!
Jesus, I Trust In You!
St. Monica, Pray for Us!
Come, Holy Spirit, come!
To Jesus through Mary!
+ Mikel Amigot | RosaryNetwork.com, New York
