Saint Monica... Virtuous Mother

     The Philippines is a matriarchal society. Period!

     Despite all that MACHO posturing the Filipino male turns into putty once his mother comes into the picture. Secretly, his idea of the perfect wife has some reference to his mother's personality. The ideal woman can either cook like his mother, keep the house clean like his mother, organize his life like his mother and even have a mouthful like his mother...

     So it's no surprise that we honor one whose exemplary life as a devout Christian has influenced our religious life like no other save the Blessed Virgin. SAINT MONICA, though little is known of her,  is better understood through the Confessions of her son Saint Augustine. 

     She was born in 331 in Tagaste, North Africa to parents who were both devout Christians. However, they arranged her marriage to Patricius who was much older than her. Her marriage was not blissful in the sense that Patricius was a pagan official in North Africa and whose mother was a grumpy old woman. Aside from these Saint Monica has had to contend with the constant struggle of following her Christian faith which her husband never understood. Notwithstanding her difficulty in proving the merits of her devotion to God, she constantly prayed for the conversion of her husband and mother in law into Christianity.

     Her prayers were granted in 370 and shortly after his conversion, he passed away. However, she continued to care for three children Augustine, Navigius and Perpetua. Of the three, it was Augustine who gave her the most problems. He was a cad who was immersed in the Manichean heresy and the temptation of the flesh. It seems the Saint Monica's life was deeply mired in tragedy and pain but she remained in God's grace to the extent that she followed her son to Rome even seeking the help of some priests to pray for the sinful Augustine. It was in Milan where Augustine met the future St. Ambrose who was also instrumental in his conversion.

     Augustine received Baptism in 387 later on to become Bishop of Hippo. Eventually Augustine became a saint like his mother and would be declared Doctor of the Church, a distinction he would share with 33 other saints. St Augustine recounts one of his last days with his mother. Saint Augustine recounts: "in the course of our conversation that day, the world and its pleasures lost all their attraction for us. My mother said: 'Son, as far as I am concerned, nothing in this life now gives me any pleasure. I do not know why I am still here, since I have no further hopes in this world. I did have one reason for wanting to live a little longer: to see you become a Catholic Christian before I died. God has lavished his gifts on me in that respect, for I know that you have even renounced earthly happiness to be his servant. So what am I doing here?'"

     The Lord must have heard her as shortly after. While she was in Ostia on her way back to Africa, Saint Monica fell ill and died nine days later. She was declared Patroness of Mothers. 

     Indirectly, we benefit from Saint Monica's supreme sacrifice. When the Spaniards came to colonize the Philippines in 1571, the first Catholics who undertook our conversion was from the order which Saint Augustine founded. We honor Saint Monica's staunch belief in God's grace and thank her for never straying from the path of his light...