Today is Mother’s Day, and I don’t think I could miss the opportunity to post about one of the best mothers in Torrey, Augustine’s mother Monica. She ranks high above the other mothers of Torrey, of which there are few, including Jocasta (who married her son Oedipus), Hera (who seeks the glory of herself and children as far as they are part of her in Ovid’s Metamorphosis), Penelope (mother of Telemachus and wife of Odysseus who fights off suites for several years, but never really says no), Gertrude (Hamlet’s mother who quickly marries his brother and does not mourn her lat husband’s death), Clytemnestra (wife of Agamemnon who kills him, starting a feud between her and her offspring), Mrs. Cruncher (who is devout in praying for her husband and son, despite being beaten for it), Mrs. Bennett (who’s just plain crazy), Mrs. Reed (the aunt who plays a tyrannical mother figure to Jane Eyre), and Dolly (Stiva’s wife in Anna K, who remains faithful to her husband even after he cheats on her). I’m not even going to discuss the church as mother, since that is a whole different topic.
Monica was a real person, unlike many of the mothers listed above, who exorcised real virtue. She was married to a pagan, Patritius, but always remained faithful to him and their son. She eagerly prayed for her son, Augustine, especially when he fell ill at a young age. Patritius would not allow her to baptize Augustine until he fell ill, but upon Augustine’s sudden recovery he revoked his permission. Augustine writes of his mother’s prayers for him:
I then already believed: and my mother, and the whole household, except my father: yet did not he prevail over the power of my mother’s piety in me, that as he did not yet believe, so neither should I. For it was her earnest care that Thou my God, rather than he, shouldest be my father; and in this Thou didst aid her to prevail over her husband, whom she, the better, obeyed, therein also obeying Thee, who hast so commanded.
Monica prayed earnestly for her son that God would become his father and prevail over the pagan ideas of his earthly father. God would hear her prayers and would eventually bring Augustine to himself. Monica continued to push for Augustine’s conversion, petitioning against his first potential wife and sending him away to receive education in order to find God. As Augustine continued in his pagan beliefs, Monica continued to pray for him.
[He] drewest my soul out of that profound darkness, my mother, Thy faithful one, weeping to Thee for me, more than mothers weep the bodily deaths of their children. For she, by that faith and spirit which she had from Thee, discerned the death wherein I lay, and Thou heardest her, O Lord.
Her prayers for Augustine were deeper than for the death of other mothers who have just lost their children for Augustine is in the place of the second death. She laments the possible second death of Augustine far more than mothers cry for the fist.
Over time Monica was able to lead her husband to God and continued to pray for Augustine and “through her tears night and day poured out, was a sacrifice offered for [Augustine] unto [God].”
Augustine eventually escaped his mother, lying to her and running off to a far away city. She had lover being with him, and the separation was a hard blow on her. During his time away from her, he nearly came upon his deathbed. Augustine scoffed at God’s medicine and was ready to die the double death, a fate “With which wound had my mother’s heart been pierced, it could never be healed. For I cannot express the affection she bore to me, and with how much more vehement anguish she was now in labour of me in the spirit, than at her childbearing in the flesh.” Fortunately he recovered, though still unconverted.
Monica eventually found Augustine and convinced him to speak with Ambrose who played a major role in his conversion process. After Augustine’s famous conversion in the garden, he tells his mother the good news.
Thence we go in to my mother; we tell her; she rejoiceth: we relate in order how it took place; she leaps for joy, and triumpheth, and blesseth Thee, Who are able to do above that which we ask or think; for she perceived that Thou hadst given her more for me, than she was wont to beg by her pitiful and most sorrowful groanings.
Monica is finally blessed with her son’s conversion. This is the greatest joy in her life, even greater than what she expected it to be.
Monica is the greatest mother in Torrey because she cared so much for her son’s spiritual life. As she prayed for her son to have God as his father, she also knew that his mother would be the Church, the mother of us all. She never gave up, despite having an pagan husband and a wayward son. Her prayers and tears never ran out until the greatest good came to her child, that is salvation. She not only prayed, but also acted in order to bring him to Christ. She had sent him to school, protested against his first potential marriage, tried to set him up with someone else who would lead him to God, and encouraged him to seek Ambrose, ultimately leading to Augustine’s conversion. Augustine so loved his mother that he often called her God’s handmaiden.
And this is true of my own mother. While I was never a wayward son, my mom has always both prayed for me and acted in my best interest to find God. She, with my dad, sent my to Christian school all the way up to college and continues to send me to Biola today where I learn about God in much deeper ways through Bible classes, life, and Torrey. She always encourages me whenever I work at church and continually encourages me through everything, including reading my blogs. So here’s to my mom, one of the great mom’s of Torrey!
My mom and I at the communion service starting off my first year at Biola.
Torrey Book Blog 