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Follower of Master of Guillebert de Mets, Saint Augustine and Saint Monica From a Book of Hours Flemish (Tournai), 1435-1445 New York, Pierpont Morgan Library MS M 357, fol. 194r |
Sometimes saints come in pairs, with one usually having an influence on the other. They may be friends, or perhaps a mentor and mentee, or perhaps they may be family members. Indeed, on October 18, 2015, we saw the canonization of a husband and wife, Louis and Zelie Martin, the parents of another saint, Therese of Lisieux. In Monica’s case, she is part of a pair and her partner is her son, Saint Augustine. And it is debatable which of them was the more influential. For, it was Monica’s steady love, example and, above all, her prayers that helped lead Augustine toward his eventual purpose in life.
According to Augustine, Monica died at age 56 in November
387.1 This would make the year of her birth 331, just a handful of years after
the recognition of Christianity as a valid religion for members of the Roman
Empire. Constantine the Great, who had
recognized Christianity, was still Emperor when she was born. The Roman world, therefore, was still
predominantly pagan. Monica, though, seems
to have been born into a Christian family, where she lived in an atmosphere of
faith and attention to personal conduct.2
As a teenager, however, she was given in marriage to a local official, Patricius, who still worshipped the old Roman and local gods. In spite of bearing three children it does not seem to have been a happy marriage. Apparently Patricius was not an easy man to live with and the problem was compounded by the fact that his mother also was not an easy person. Monica managed to survive unscathed in this uncomfortable situation through her peaceful temperament and through the practice of her faith. Eventually, her persistent practice led her husband to conversion toward the end of his life.3
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Antonio Vivarini, Marriage of Saint Monica Italian, 1441 Venice, Accademia |
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| Workshop of Francesco Botticini, Marriage of Saint Monica Predella Painting from the Saint Monica Altarpiece Italian, c. 1465-1470 Florence, Galleria degli Uffizi |
She also persisted in prayers for the conversion of her children, especially for her brilliant son, Augustine. Infant baptism was still infrequently used at this time, so Augustine had not been baptized as a child. Her husband had opposed the suggestion as the boy grew older, save for one period in which he was quite ill. But as he managed to recover before the baptism could take place, her husband renewed his opposition to it.
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| Workshop of Francesco Botticini, Saint Monica Praying for Her Son's Conversion Predella Painting from the Saint Monica Altarpiece Italian, c. 1465-1470 Florence, Galleria degli Uffizi |
Monica then had the sorrow of seeing Augustine adopt a dissolute lifestyle, even as he advanced more and more in his studies. Restless and dissatisfied with the old gods, but not interested in the Christian vision of God, he drifted until he became involved with the Manicheans. This was a form of Gnosticism that was an outgrowth of Eastern, especially of Persian, thinking. It was very influential in the early years following the recognition of Christianity and was quite a threat to it. For the Manicheans the cosmos is divided into two equal and warring principles: light and dark. The light is good and the dark is evil. Light is identified with the spirit or the soul, while the darkness is identified with the physical or the body. Since Christianity also uses the metaphors of light and darkness, it was sometimes not so easy to tell them apart at first. It is only through the working out of the principles of each that the differences become apparent, for, where Christianity declares that the world of created things, including man, is good in itself and pleases God, Manicheanism held that the world of created things, being physical, is evil.
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| Benozzo Gozzoli, Saint Augustine Leaving His Mother Italian, 1464-1465_ San Gemignano, Sant'Agostino Apsidal chapel, Scene 3 |
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| Pietro di Giovanni d'Ambrogio, Departure of Saint Augustine Italian, 1435-1440 Berlin, Gemäldegalerie der Staatliche Museen zu Berlin |
Augustine remained a Manichean for a considerable time, nine to ten years. These were the years in which he was climbing the ladder of success in Carthage, Rome and Milan and during which Monica never ceased praying for his conversion. Eventually, in Milan, her prayers were answered. Augustine had a profound conversion experience and was baptized at Easter of 387 at the age of 33.
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| Nicolo di Pietro, Baptism of Saint Augustine Italian, c. 1415 Vatican City, Pinacoteca Vaticana |
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| Guillaume Vrelant, Baptism of Saint Augustine From Speculum historiale by Vincent of Beauvais Flemish (Bruges), c. 1455 Paris, Bibliotheque nationale de France MS Francais 310, fol. 22r |
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Berthold Furtmeyr, Baptism of Saint Augustine From the Salzburg Missal German, c. 1460 Munich, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek MS Clm 15711, fol. 3v
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| Johann Zick, Baptism of Augustine German, 1746 Schussenried, Premonstratensian Church of St. Magnus |
Following his baptism, he and Monica, his son Adeodato, and other friends resolved to leave Milan and return to North Africa. Eventually, they arrived at Ostia, the port city for Rome. While they were staying there, waiting for a ship, Augustus relates a visionary experience that mother and son shared while sitting together at an open window.4
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Ary Scheffer, Saint Augustine and Saint Monica French, 1846 Paris, Musée du Louvre |
A few days later, Monica came down with a fever, probably the malaria for which the area was once infamous. After a week of suffering she died on November 13, 387. Before she died she charged Augustine and his friends not to incur the effort of bringing her body back to Africa, but to bury her where she died. Consequently, she was buried in Ostia. Later on, in 1430, her body was moved to the church of St. Agostino in Rome, where it remains.5
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| Workshop of Francesco Botticini, Last Communion of Saint Monica Predella Painting from the Saint Monica Altarpiece Italian, c. 1465-1470 Florence, Galleria degli Uffizi |
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Benozzo Gozzoli, Death of Saint Monica Italian, 1464-1465 San Gimignano, Sant'Agostino, Apsidal chapel |
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| Workshop of Francesco Botticini, Funeral of Saint Monica Predella Painting from the Saint Monica Altarpiece Italian, c. 1465-1470 Florence, Galleria degli Uffizi |
Unlike the iconography of St. Augustine, the iconography of St. Monica is not extensive. She figures prominently in some of the Augustinian iconography, which is not surprising.
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| Nicolo di Pietro, Saint Augustine Taken to School by Saint Monica Italian, c. 1413-1415 Vatican City, Pinacoteca Vaticana |
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| Benozzo Gozzoli, The School of Tagaste Italian, c. 1464-1465 San Gimignano, Church of Sant'Agostino, Apsidal Chapel |
And there is a tradition of paintings in which she stands alone, in her own right. She is most usually shown wearing the clothing of a widow, often in prayer.
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Piero della Francesca, Saint Monica Italian, ca. 1460 New York, Frick Collection |
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| Benozzo Gozzoli, Saint Monica Italian, c. 1464-1465 San Gimignano, Church of Sant'Agostino, Apsidal Chapel |
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| Saint Monica From a Book of Antiphons Italian, c. 1490-1509 Florence, Museo di San Marco |
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| Francesco di Cristofano, known as Franciabigio, Saint Nicholas of Tolentine and Saint Monica Italian, c. 4540-1514 Florence, Galleria degli Uffizi |
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| Luis Tristan de Escamilla, Saint Monica Spanish, 1616 Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado |
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| Pietro Maggi, Apparition of the Angel to Saint Monica Italian, 1714 Milan, San Marco |
Occasionally she is shown holding a black leather
belt, which is sometimes straight and sometimes in a bow. This represents a legend attached to her
name.
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| Anonymous, Saint Monica Ceramic panel-tiles Spanish, 17th century Seville, Museo de Bellas Artes de Sevilla |
She is reported to have had a
vision in which the Blessed Virgin appeared to her and gave her a black leather
belt, with the promise to give special protection to anyone who would wear
it. She is supposed to have passed the belt on to Augustine and others.
The black leather belt became part
of the habit (clothing) of members of the order of Augustinian Hermits, which
grew out of the rule which Augustine wrote for the monks and nuns of his
diocese.6
In addition, she is sometimes
shown as patron saint of women who belonged to a third order associated with
the Augustinian Hermits.
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| Francesco Botticini, Saint Monica Altarpiece Italian, late 1480s Florence, Church of Santo Spirito A predella of events from the life of Saint Monica completes this altarpiece. I have included the predella scenes in the appropriate discussion of her life above. |
Most frequently of all, however, Monica is shown in relation
to her son. No doubt this is the imagery
that would be most pleasing to both of them. Her feast day is not celebrated on the day of her death, as is usual, but on August 27th, the day before the feast day of Augustine.
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| Simon Benedikt Faistenberger, Madonna and Child with Saints Augustine and Monica Austrian, 1749 St.Ulrich am Pillersee, Parish Church |
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Sebastiano Conca, Madonna and Child with Saints Augustine and Monica Italian, c. 1750 Gaeta, Museo Diocesano |
© M. Duffy, 2016, updated 2022
- Augustine of Hippo, Confessions, Book 9. Translated by Marcus Dods. From Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, Vol. 2. Edited by Philip Schaff. (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1887.) Revised and edited for New Advent by Kevin Knight. <http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1201.htm>.
- Pope, Hugh, "St. Monica." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 10. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1911. 27 Aug. 2016 <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/10482a.htm>.
- Ibid.
- Augustine of Hippo, Ibid.
- Pope, Hugh, Ibid.
- Holgate, Ian, “The Cult of Saint Monica in Quattrocento Italy: Her Place in Augustinian Iconography, Devotion and Legend”, Papers of the British School at Rome, Vol. 71 (2003), pp. 181-206.
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