00:00Today, August 27, the church celebrates Saint Monica, the mother of Saint Augustine.
00:09On this day, we remember a woman of exemplary patience and faith.
00:14who marked the history of the church as much as his son.
00:19Monique was born in the 4th century, in Tagaste, North Africa, into a Christian family.
00:27Very early on, she received a solid education, marked by prayer and attention to the poor.
00:34She is given in marriage to a pagan named Patricius, an angry and sometimes brutal man.
00:41Monique endures this difficult life without becoming discouraged, always maintaining a patience and gentleness that will eventually touch her husband.
00:52Before dying, Patricius himself asked for baptism, the fruit of long years of silent prayers from his wife.
01:01But Monique's greatest fight was for her son Augustin.
01:06A brilliant student, passionate about rhetoric, Augustine turned away from the faith and sank into a dissipated life.
01:16Monique suffers deeply from her son's choices.
01:19She prays, she cries, she never stops interceding for him.
01:25Her tears become the symbol of a mother who never gives up on her child.
01:30Saint Ambrose, the Bishop of Milan, would one day say to Monica: “The son of so many tears cannot be lost.”
01:40Thanks to this persevering prayer, Augustine finally converted and received baptism on Easter night, 387, from the hands of Saint Ambrose.
01:53This conversion marks history.
01:57Augustine would become one of the greatest fathers of the Church.
02:02For Monique, it is the fulfillment of a lifetime.
02:07A few months later, in Hostie, near Rome, she died in peace,
02:14confident of having accomplished her mission as a mother and a Christian.
02:19Saint Monica reminds us of the power of faithful prayer.
02:22She, even in the most desperate situations,
02:26she embodies the tenacious hope of mothers and fathers who are proud of their children,
02:32sometimes far from God.
02:35She is the model of a strong woman,
02:37who transformed suffering into offerings,
02:41and tears into seeds of grace.
02:45Today, Saint Monica is honored as the patron saint of Christian mothers,
02:51married women and all those who pray for their loved ones who are far from the faith.
03:21Saint Monica arrived as the capital of innovative Christian mothers.
03:25Saint Monica is
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