Produced by David McClamrock

THE LIFE OF SAINT MONICA

BY

F.A. [FRANCES ALICE] FORBES

THIRD EDITION

LONDON

BURNS OATES & WASHBOURNE LTD.

PUBLISHERS TO THE HOLY SEE

1928

Nihil Obstat.

EDWARDUS MYERS,

Censor Deputatus.

Imprimatur.

EDM. CAN. SURMONT,

Vicarius Generalis.

WESTMONASTERII,

die 15 Junii, 1915.

Standard-bearers of the Faith

A SERIES OF LIVES OF THE SAINTS FOR YOUNG AND OLD

SAINT MONICA

CHAPTER

I. HOW ST. MONICA WAS BROUGHT UP BY CHRISTIAN PARENTS IN THE CITY OF TAGASTE

II. HOW ST. MONICA LIVED IN THE PAGAN HOUSEHOLD OF HER HUSBAND PATRICIUS

III. HOW ST. MONICA BROUGHT UP HER CHILDREN, AND HOW THE LITTLE AUGUSTINE FELL SICK AND DESIRED BAPTISM

IV. HOW ST. MONICA BY HER GENTLENESS AND CHARITY WON PATRICIUS AND HIS MOTHER TO CHRIST

V. HOW AUGUSTINE WENT TO CARTHAGE, AND HOW PATRICIUS DIED A CHRISTIAN DEATH

VI. HOW ST. MONICA LIVED IN THE DAYS OF HER WIDOWHOOD, AND HOW SHE PUT ALL HER TRUST IN GOD

VII. HOW ST. MONICA'S HEART WAS WELL NIGH BROKEN BY THE NEWS THAT HER SON HAD ABJURED THE CHRISTIAN FAITH

VIII. HOW AUGUSTINE PLANNED TO GO TO ROME, AND HOW HE CRUELLY DECEIVED HIS MOTHER

IX. HOW AUGUSTINE CAME TO MILAN, AND HOW HIS TEMPEST-TOSSED SOUL FOUND LIGHT AND PEACE AT LAST

X. HOW ST. MONICA LIVED AT CASSIACUM WITH AUGUSTINE AND HIS FRIENDS, AND HOW AUGUSTINE WAS BAPTIZED BY ST. AMBROSE

XI. HOW ST. MONICA SET OUT FOR AFRICA WITH ST. AUGUSTINE, AND HOW SHE DIED AT OSTIA ON THE TIBER

This book is above all things the story of a mother. But it is alsothe story of a noble woman—a woman who was truly great, for thereason that she never sought to be so. Because she understood thesphere in which a woman's work in the world must usually lie, and ledher life truly along the lines that God had laid down for her;because she suffered bravely, forgot herself for others, and remainedfaithful to her noble ideals, she ruled as a queen amongst those withwhom her life was cast. Her influence was great and far-reaching, butshe herself was the last to suspect it, the last to desire it, andthat was perhaps the secret of its greatness. The type is rare at thepresent day, but, thank God! there are Monicas still in the world. Ifthere were more, the world would be a better place.

CHAPTER I

HOW ST. MONICA WAS BROUGHT UP BY CHRISTIAN PARENTS IN THE CITY OFTAGASTE

On the sunny northern coast of Africa in the country which we nowcall Algeria stood, in the early days of Christianity, a city calledTagaste. Not far distant lay the field of Zarna, where the glory ofHannibal had perished for ever. But Rome had long since avenged thesufferings of her bitter struggle with Carthage. It was the ambitionof Roman Africa, as the new colony had been called by its conquerors,to be, if possible, more Roman than Rome. Every town had its baths,its theatre, it

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