Today the church rejoices in the sanctity of a wonderful mother: St. Monica (332-387), born near Carthage. Wonderful for her piety —she would frequently beg in tears— and wonderful because of the “great” son she gave to Christianity: St. Augustine.

Monica is the example of a wife and mother full of strength, surrounded by suffering, with a tenacious yet tender mercy. She achieved the conversion of a difficult husband and the even more arduous conversion of her son Augustine. She would beg God, even with tears, to which her son replied laughing. God had mercy on those tears, but at the same time, God also rewarded the saint's human and tenacious efforts. Indeed, she did not hesitate to move to Rome searching for that son who, lacking the heart of a son, was running from his mother.

St. Ambrose, the Bishop of Milan and a good instrument of God, finally managed to gain young Augustine for the faith. Not long after that, Monica departed from this world seeing her son baptized, the future Bishop of Hippo and one of the greatest founders of the Western Church.