St. Monica
St. Monica is the patron saint of women and grandmothers
St. Monica’s feast day is August 27
Born in 332, Saint Monica was the model Christian wife, mother, and widow.
The story of St. Monica
Monica’s life was devoted to seeing her family become Catholic Christians. First, she saw her husband Patricius enter the Church before his death. Then she set her sights on the conversion of her son Augustine.
St. Monica and Augustine
Despite her holiness, Monica did not always know how to help her brilliant but erring son. She urged him to marry, and he almost did. Once, she begged a bishop to talk to him. The bishop realized that Augustine was not ready to hear what he had to say, but he told Monica: “It is impossible that the son of these tears should perish.”
Monica accepted that as an answer from heaven and kept praying. After many years, Augustine entered the Church at the hand of St. Ambrose in Milan in 387. He went on to become a priest and the bishop of Hippo in North Africa. Augustine was a great scholar, founded a religious order, and was ultimately canonized as St. Augustine of Hippo.
Veneration of St. Monica
Monica is honored for never giving up hope or her faith in God despite tribulations in her family life, including her husband’s adultery and her son’s moral flaws. She is invoked by those who are praying for the conversion of loved ones, especially parents and grandparents who want their children to grow in faith within the Catholic Church. Her feast day is August 27.
How to pray to St. Monica
Holy Saint Monica,
I pray for the courage to overcome fear and to find the Lord in the face of my friends, my neighbors, and especially in my own family. Help me when I grow discouraged in prayer for you lived in the knowledge that even in the darkest moments, our Lord never leaves us.
Amen.
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with a prayer intention
to St. Monica
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