After a long, painfully slow weekend without Lent Madness (local support groups are cropping up everywhere), we welcome you back to another week of saintly action. Today marks the long-anticipated epic oedipal battle between mother and son -- which may just be the definition of Lent Madness!
As one of our Celebrity Bloggers has pointed out, this pairing "suggests a dark, nay, diabolical streak in the hearts of the bracketeers, priests of the Church though they may be." (Thanks, Heidi. And for that remark, we have given you, a mother of two sons, both sides of this match-up). Nevertheless, the witnesses of Monnica and Augustine of Hippo will stand on their own merits. You, the people, shall decide whether mother or son will advance to the Round of the Saintly Sixteen.
With half the match-ups decided for the Round of the Saintly Sixteen, make sure to check out the updated calendar of future battles as well as the updated bracket.
Monnica (c. 331 - 387), born to Christian Berber parents in North Africa, would be unknown to us were it not for her depiction as the persistently devoted mother in her son’s autobiographical “Confessions of St. Augustine.”
Issue from her marriage to a difficult pagan bureaucrat named Patriclius included Augustine, Navigius, and Perpetua. Monnica recognized early on that Augustine was tremendously gifted intellectually and her love for him was manifested in her deep ambition to see him succeed in the world. However, upon deepening her life of prayer and Christian maturity that ambition transformed into a passion to see him convert to Christianity. He scorned her efforts and influence. Ultimately, her quest led her to follow him first to Rome and then to Milan, where he was, after 17 years of prayer and “encouragement,” baptized by Bishop Ambrose on Easter Eve 387.
With travel difficult in the late fourth century, following her son to Rome was no small undertaking. Yet Monnica was a profoundly determined woman whose faith enabled her to boldly act on her deepest hope and conviction.
Augustine and Monnica spent a peaceful six months together before beginning the journey back to Africa. In Ostia, the port city of Rome, she took ill. Before she died, she said, "You will bury your mother here. All I ask of you is that, wherever you may be, you should remember me at the altar of the Lord. Do not fret because I am buried far from our home in Africa. Nothing is far from God, and I have no fear that he will not know where to find me, when he comes to raise me to life at the end of the world." Her work was done.
Collect for St. Monnica: O Lord, through spiritual discipline you strengthened your servant Monnica to persevere in offering her love and prayers and tears for the conversion of her husband and of Augustine their son: Deepen our devotion, we pray, and use us in accordance with your will to bring others, even our own kindred, to acknowledge Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord; who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
-- Heidi Shott
Augustine (354- 430), one of the most influential theologians in all of Christendom, might have easily ended up just another erudite wastrel. Born in Thageste, North Africa in 354, his mother Monnica recognized early his brilliance and leadership qualities and encouraged his studies. She was less successful in curbing his dissolute lifestyle, but more on that later.
At 17 he studied rhetoric in Carthage by the largess of a fellow Roman citizen. He taught first in Thageste and then for nine years in Carthage before moving to Rome to find a more accomplished class of students -- which he didn’t. It was then he became the professor of rhetoric at the Court of Milan. It was also in Milan that his mother returned to the scene. Her ambition for Augustine morphed into a deep desire for him to abandon Manichaeism and convert to the Christian faith. Augustine made the acquaintance of Bishop Ambrose and, under his influence, came to see that Christianity was intellectually respectable and was baptized on Easter Eve 387.
Upon returning to Africa he gave away all of his possessions to the poor, with the exception of the family home which he converted into a monastery. He was ordained priest in 391 and Bishop of Hippo in 395, a position he held for 35 years until his death. He was described by his friend and fellow bishop, Possidius, as a man who “ate sparingly, worked tirelessly, despised gossip, shunned the temptations of the flesh, and exercised prudence in the financial stewardship of his see.” Augustine was a gifted orator and a powerful defender of the faith.
However, it is Augustine’s writing that provides his greatest legacy to the church and the world. At least 350 sermons are known to survive and more than 100 titles. His greatest hits include his autobiographical “Confessions,” “The City of God,” and many, many works of apologetics, doctrine, and exegesis. His influence is immensely deep and wide through the entire history of the Christian Church extending to Thomas Aquinas, Bernard of Clairvaux, the protestant reformers, and Eastern Orthodox theologians.
He died in 430 and was soon canonized by popular acclaim. His feast day is August 28.
Collect for St. Augustine of Hippo: Lord God, the light of the minds that know you, the life of the souls that love you, and the strength of the hearts that serve you: Help us, following the example of your servant Augustine of Hippo, so to know you that we may truly love you, and so to love you that we may fully serve you, whom to serve is perfect freedom; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
-- Heidi Shott
Vote!
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126 comments on “Monnica vs. Augustine of Hippo”
A week ago a vote for Monnica seemed like a no-brainer. It could only be a vote against original sin and misogyny.
But then Rush Limbaugh called Sandra Fluke a slut. And the president of her university quoted Augustine in defending her! I spent half the weekend tracking down the source of DeGiooia's Augustine quote.
And at the same time, I've been editing Bill Moyers' conversation with Jonathan Haidt into segments for my critical thinking class. Haidt says there that by evolutionary adaptation we were born to be hypocrites... Well, I guess I can see a little sense in the original sin idea after all.
So the vote's no longer a no-brainer, and if there's a real spiritual goal to Lent Madness, I guess I "got it" this morning.
I think Rush Limbaugh is a slut.
I don't see either of these 2 making it to the Round of the Saintly Sixteen - but, I will still vote since it is my civic duty 🙂
or should I say my saintly duty??
Any woman who bore children to a "difficult pagan bureaucrat" (or Christian, for that matter) deserves her crown of glory, no matter how the children turned out. I would think that would be a fate next to actual martyrdom. God bless her.
I have to go with Augustine. If his mother had let him marry the woman he loved, he may not have had tied original sin to sexual intercourse. He might have had a more balanced view otherwise.
Excuse me? If his mother had LET him? If he was so great and so brilliant and in love, why didn't he tell her to back off?! Please!
Tough match-up. Both have admirable qualities; neither were "saints", as we can glean from eg the Confessions. Augustine treated his mother (and others) abysmally early in his life but he grew into something better, and the final relationship with his mother had a beautiful peace and understanding to it. I took a course on the guy, which I went into with all the usual biases ("original sin", spit, spit, etc). Came out of it after actually reading his writings with a sense of an authentic and remarkable human being, quite different from what I expected. For tremendous "personal growth", and for sharing his journey in a way meant to communicate the grace and love of God with others, Augustine gets my vote.
(Also, I agree with others - I think a vote for her son would please Monica. She was, after all, always very ambitious on her son's behalf...and if she's holding a grudge for her kid's past sins against her, confessed and repented, well, that wouldn't be very saintly, would it?)
Augustine, poor man. Monice? A bit too GCB for my taste.
A helicopter mom is winning? Are you kidding?
Monnica? GCB??? YES!!
Spent a wonderful day with my husband (a difficult bureaucrat) and two difficult children in St Augustine. St Augustine brought out the best in all of us. C'mon people!
http://www.oldcity.com/
I already voted for Monica, but the city comparison is interesting-- St. Augustine vs. Santa Monica. I've been to both. I think I've got to take the Santa Monica pier over the kitsch in St. Augustine.
None of the above for me today.
Without Monica there would have been no Augustine, both physically and spiritually. I must cast my vote for the one who made it all possible.
Not sure about "all". After all, Augustine wasn't the product of a Virginal Conception. If we're handing out physical credit, I would not vote for Augustine's father for anything unless they give prizes for being an [unChristian thoughts]. I do agree - points to Monica for helping with Augustine's spiritual formation, where his Pop was NO help at all. Monica and God, there - though not necessarily in that order.
Please could we keep this out of lent madness???
I agree with dr. primrose. And I doubt Monica would even be considered for sainthood, but for her son.
voting for the son because having raised two wonderful christian sons I am not sure that makes you a saint
Monnica is beating Augustine? Sorry, Tim, I think Lent Madness just lost its credibility. But "Crash" beat "Brokeback Mountain" and we still watch the Oscars, so what the heck!
It won't really lose ALL of its credibility unless Paul loses to Theodore. Which is quite possible on this form...
I had to vote for Monica - yes, Augustine did great things, but we have loads of Saints who did big and "heroic" things and I think the Church could stand to focus a little more on other types of gifts/ministries that are less visible, like helping others to serve God, but make all the difference to the people they served. (Thankfully no one forgot Mary, but most of the others are ignored).
Monica's willingness to devote so much of her life to converting Augustine because she could see his potential, rather than giving up also seems very Christ-like. It reminds me of the parable about the one sheep that strayed from the others.
This is hard, but my vote goes to Augustine. I don't agree with the whole "original sin" thing, but I like his story of a bad boy converted to Christianity. Did his hounding mother help this to happen? Almost certainly. But would he have become a Christian without her badgering, I believe so. I guess I'm afraid that a vote for Monica is a vote for that kind of behavior from all mothers and I wouldn't wish that on any sons!
Strongly agree.
OK - this may be out of left field - but I did a paper on Augustine's view of creation. What wonderful thought compared to some of the rigid fundalmentalism proposed today. I found that exploring his idea was a gracefilled moment - or actually a couple of gracefilled hours :-).
I may be missing something here. Augustine was one of our great theologians. Monica was his mom. To paraphrase someone else's comment, honor the mom, but vote for the theologian.
We are voting for saints not theologians.
Never forget that best-selling book in every train and bus station book stand - and, yes, I've seen it in the airline terminal bookstores, too. I've always wondered what people think when they discover that Augustine's "Confessions" are not as x-rated a book as they were hoping to enjoy. Sort of a sneaky way to sell books. 🙂
This was actually a very difficult vote for me. Having studied Augustine in college (too many years ago to remember), somehow the Jesuits forgot to teach me much about Monnica. I actually appreciated Augustine's thought and theology and his ability to understand past mistakes. Now along comes Monnica for the first time and I can see where much comes from Augustine's ability to look at both sides of the same coin and understand life's incongruities. Monnica was a Christian yet her own parents basically sold her to her husband, a patrician pagan and yet was able to maintain her Christian beliefs at a time when it would have been easy just to give in. How many of us have "just given in" on what we might have held as our beliefs. My vote ultimately went to a woman that I must admire!
Chepi,
Having read to this end of the comment strings, what an informative comment! I'll now always question whether or not "I have given in"!
posted 9:45 pm (CST)
Swayed by the collect....I voted Monnica!
I had to vote for Monnica the sacrificing mom. Augustine was lucky to have her support!
Augustine gets my vote. But just by a hair. It's hard to be the son of a saintly mother--just ask my two boys!
So many contrary comments, so little time. # Africans come in many colors. # Disobedience to God was the original Original sin. # Rush's point, beyond flaming insults, was the issue of personal responsibility. # Monnica must have been a pious & committed Christian. She never gave up praying & encouraging her son's conversion. She was a missionary, not a heliocopter. I vote for Monnica.
The writings of Augustine give rise to a vote for him. They reach into the church
to give us a view of the early church and bring us a better understanding of our roots.
The writings of Augustine give him a vote for him. They reach our church
to give us a view of the early church and bring us a better understanding of our roots.
Good! I forgot to cast my vote yesterday, so I ran to the computer this morning to cast my first of three legal votes today, for Augustine (too bad he won't win), for today's Lent Madness contestant, and for the five contested people on my party's Ohio primary ballot. Happy Voting, Ohioans!
Where's the new post - I can't start my day until I vote!
TEAM HIPPO 4 THE WIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I'm a member of the St. Monnica's Guild at my church and the mother of a pre-teen. My husband's butt is married to the TV and the recliner. Monnica has my vote--I feel her pain. 😉