About 331 AD in North Africa, a baby girl was born who would become the mother of one of the most influential Christians of all times. Monica was often a great peacemaker between people who were at odds. In healing discords or disputes, she never repeated the evil, bitterness or hatred which one side might express against the other. She also sought to help and minister to those who were teachers or pastors of the church.
Though the wife of a non-Christian, Monica prayed that her family might eventually all come to Christ. She attempted to bring her children up in the ways of the Lord, and it pained her to see them stray from the truth she had taught them. Her most promising son, Augustine, was given an excellent education, and Monica hoped this might be a means of his more fully reaching God. Augustine ignored his mother's warnings against youthful lusts and pursued a life of self-gratification and immorality while continuing his classical education. He lived with a woman not his wife and fathered a child. Monica didn't have the words to convince her son of the truth of Christianity, but she determined never to stop praying that he would turn to God.
See Diane Severance, Ph.D. "Augustine Couldn't Outrun Mother's Prayers"
