a woman named Monica

Today is St. Monica’s Feast Day.

My sister’s name is Monica. I remember when she was in the peace corps in Latvia she was all excited that people celebrated their "name days," which really seemed to be Saint’s feast days, instead of Birthdays. Monica was a pretty unusual name growing up for her, but here was a country where everyone seemed to know her name day was August 27th!

I’ll admit I never knew much about St. Monica until I started paying attention to Saints last year. I decided that I loved Saints, that they were wonderful holy REAL people who have a lot to teach us. And so I learned about a different one each day.

I was surprised to learn that St. Monica had a famous son … Augstine. You know, THE Augustine. He was I guess a bit of a bad boy, and she prayed for him to have a change of heart. … for 17 years! Talk about a persistent faith in the power of prayer! She also followed him everywhere - to Tagaste, Carthage, Rome and Milan. A little too close for comfort for his taste I bet. In Milan however her prayers were finally answered and he saw the light. But not only was he converted, he did all those things that would later make him a Saint himself! 17 years of prayer apparently carried quite a whollop!

Funny the things you’d think you’d have picked up on in 12 years of Catholic School! Especially with a sister named Monica.

You too can learn more about her.
Here
and here
and even here!