Saint Monica

Monica is most likely to have been born in Thagaste (present-day Souk Ahras, Algeria). She is believed to have been a Berber on the basis of her name. She was married early in life to Patricius, a decurion pagan, in Thagaste. Patricius reportedly had a violent temper and appears to have been of dissolute habits; apparently his mother exhibited similar behaviours. Monica's almsgiving, deeds and prayer habits annoyed Patricius, but it is said that he always held her in respect. When she moved to Milan, the bishop Ambrose forbade her to use the offering of wine, since "it might be an occasion of gluttony for those who were already given to drink". So, Augustine wrote of her: Monica and her son spent six peaceful months at Rus Cassiciacum (present-day Cassago Brianza) after which Augustine was baptized by Ambrose in the church of St John the Baptist at Milan. Monica and Augustine left for Africa and they set out on their journey, stopping at Civitavecchia and at Ostia. Here Monica died, and Augustine's grief inspired his Confessions. ==Veneration==

, Rome Monica was buried at Ostia and at first seems to have been almost forgotten, though her body was removed during the 6th century to a hidden crypt in the church of Santa Aurea in Ostia. Monica was buried near the tomb of Aurea of Ostia. ==In popular culture==

Patricia McGerr fictionalized her life in the 1964 novel My Brothers, Remember Monica: A Novel of the Mother of Augustine. In the 2010 film Restless Heart: The Confessions of Saint Augustine, Saint Monica is portrayed by Italian actress Monica Guerritore. In the oratorio ''La conversione di Sant'Agostino'' (1750) composed by Johann Adolph Hasse (libretto by Duchess Maria Antonia of Bavaria), Monica's role in the conversion of her son Augustine is dramatized. In his poem "Confessional", Frank Bidart compares the relationship between Monica and her son Augustine to the relationship between the poem's speaker and his mother. In "The Angel of Warning", the fifth episode of season 3 of the TV series Evil, David claims Monica was black, although traditionally portrayed as white in religious art. She is actually believed to have been Berber. In the tenth episode of season 3, he calls on St. Monica while jogging past a demonic apparition of sexual temptation in the guise of his colleague Kristen. He continues to pray for deliverance from temptation and is visited by St. Monica. ==Gallery==

File:Paolo uccello, santa monaca, 01.jpg|Paolo Uccello, St Monica and two children praying (1430-1435) File:Antonio vivarini, sposalizio di santa monica.jpg|Marriage of Saint Monica by Antonio Vivarini, 1441 File:Piero della Francesca - Polyptych of St Augustine - St Monica - WGA17460.jpg|Piero della Francesca, Polyptych of St Augustine: St Monica (1460) File:Andrea del Verrocchio - Saint Monica - WGA24998.jpg|Francesco Botticini, Saint Monica enthroned with Augustinian nuns (1471) File:Follower of Albrecht and Dirk Bouts, Saint Monica (16th c.).png|alt=St. Monica, in an Augustinian habit, clasps her hands in prayer|Follower of Albrecht and Dirk Bouts, Saint Monica (16th c.) File:Michael Willman Opus Magnum 2019 P68 Saint Monica (1660-1670).jpg|Michael Willmann, Saint Monica (1660-70) National Museum in Wroclaw File:Tabor CZ Nativity of Virgin Mary church front St Monica.jpg|Statue of St. Monica on the façade of a former Augustinian church in Tábor, Czech Republic, File:8586 Milano - S. Marco - Pietro Maggi - Apparizione angelo a S. Monica -1714- - Foto Giovanni Dall'Orto - 14-Apr-2007.jpg|The Angel Appears to Saint Monica by Pietro Maggi, 1714 File:St.Ulrich am Pillersee - Deckenfresko 1b.jpg|Fresco by Simon Benedikt Faistenberger, 1749 File:Alexandre cabanel, santa monica in un paesaggio, 1845.jpg|Alexander Cabanel, Saint Monica in a Landscape (1800s) File:Saint Monica of Hippo Reliquary in the Philippines2.jpg|Relic in Saint Augustine Parish Church (Baliwag) ==References==