Most of what we know about Monica is known through St. Augustine.

Just as her son describes it, Monica was a Christian exemplary mother who suffered because of his husband Patrick, who had a licentious and violent behavior, and her mother in law who lived with them and used to drink; with Christian patience and dedication Monica succeeded in making that her husband got baptized.

Another of her worries was her son Augustine, who unlike his siblings, Navigius and Perpetua, worried her because in spite of preparing for baptism, he led a life contrary of that of a catechumen for a long time (one who is being instructed for baptism); it was so difficult that his mother was about to give in, she thought that maybe it was not the right time for his conversion. When Augustine ran away, first to Rome and then to Milan, Monica followed him and was present at his conversion that took place thanks to his encounter with St. Ambrose, Bishop of Milan. When she came back to Thagaste, after her son’s baptism, Monica died in Ostia, before boarding towards Africa, in 397.

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