‘Forever grateful’: 7 notable mothers of Christian history

Saint Monnica 

Saint Monnica, whose name is sometimes spelled “Monica,” was the mother of the famous early church leader and prolific author Saint Augustine of Hippo.

Through such works as City of God and Confessions, Saint Augustine was heavily influential in the intellectual history not only of the Catholic Church, but western civilization in general.

Monnica was married off to a pagan. Her famous son initially started off with pagan and then heretical Christian practices as he grew up. However, her prayer and witness eventually helped to win both over to orthodox Christianity.

In his book Confessions, St. Augustine devoted a good portion of the text to his mother’s efforts to bring him to Christianity and her dogged pursuit of him to convert.

Near the end of her life, Monnica told Augustine that “nothing in this world now affords me delight. I do not know what there is now left for me to do or why I am still here, all my hopes in this world being now fulfilled.”