Saint Monica

Monica is known almost entirely from the Confessions of her son Augustine. Born about 331 in North Africa, probably at Thagaste, she was married to Patricius, a hot-tempered pagan official who was baptized shortly before his death. For years she wept and prayed over Augustine, who had joined the Manichees; a bishop, Augustine records, told her that the son of so many tears could not be lost. She followed him to Rome and Milan and saw him baptized by Ambrose at Easter 387. On the way home, at Ostia, mother and son talked together at a window about eternal life; a few days later she fell ill, asked to be remembered at the altar wherever they were, and died, aged 56.