Saint Monica
Christian saint; mother of St. Augustine
b. 332 · d. 387
Monica of Hippo, also written as "Monnica", was an early North African Christian saint and the mother of Saint Augustine. She is remembered and honored in the Catholic and Orthodox Churches, albeit on different feast days, for her outstanding Christian virtues, particularly the suffering caused by her husband's adultery, and her prayerful life dedicated to the reformation of her son, who wrote extensively of her pious acts and life with her in his Confessions. Popular Christian legends recall Monica weeping every night for her son Augustine.
Related people
- Navigius of Hippo parent of · traditional
- Perpetua of Hippo parent of · traditional
- Augustine of Hippo parent of · traditional
- Patricius spouse of · traditional
Events
Commemorated
Places
- Thagaste birth
- Tomb and chapel of Saint Monica of Hippo burial
- Basilica of Saint Augustine in Campo Marzio burial
- Ostia death
How we know
Recorded as a historical figure.
- Confessions 2 claims — Ambrose baptises Augustine at Milan; Monica at the window at Ostia
Sayings
- Lay this body anywhere, let not the care for it trouble you at all. This only I ask, that you will remember me at the Lord’s altar, wherever you be. Checked word-for-word against the book it cites — Monica to her two sons at Ostia, days before she died, when the younger objected that she would rather not be buried abroad. She had spent years planning to lie beside her…