A Mother’s Tears, A Saint’s Conversion

The tears of a mother and the power of Scripture gave the Church one of her greatest theologian- saints Augustine, Bishop of Hippo and Doctor of the Church. His feast is celebrated annually on August 28.

Aurelius Augustinus was a brilliant, ambitious young man walking the streets of Milan in the 4th century. Gifted in eloquence and intellect, he pursued philosophies, worldly pleasures, and success. Yet, as he later admitted, his “heart was without rest.” He longed for peace, though he did not yet know where to find it.

Behind him, praying unceasingly, was his mother Monica, a devout Christian. She never gave upon her son, even as he drifted into heresies, complicated relationships, and an insatiable hunger for fame and influence in the Roman world. Monica anchored herself in Christ, surrendering Augustine to God through tears and fervent prayer.

In his spiritual autobiography Confessions, Augustine candidly recalls being driven by pride, lust, and the desire “to be loved and admired.” Monica, realizing she could not persuade him herself, entrusted him entirely to God’s mercy. She wept at church altars, pleaded before bishops, and spent sleepless nights in prayer.

One bishop, moved by her persistence, gave her words of hope: “It cannot be that the son of so many tears should perish.” Monica’s tears, like seeds watered by faith, awaited their time to bear fruit.

That moment came when Augustine encountered the preaching of St. Ambrose in Milan. Though his heart resisted, fearing the cost of abandoning old habits and ambitions, he began to sense God’s call.

One day, tormented and sobbing in a garden, Augustine heard a child’s voice chant from a nearby house: “Take and read, take and read.” He opened the Scriptures and read: “Let us conduct ourselves properly as in the day, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in promiscuity and licentiousness, not in quarreling and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the desires of the flesh.” (Romans 13:13–14)

In that moment, light pierced his heart. He surrendered to God and chose the path of truth and holiness. Baptized by St. Ambrose in 386 AD, Augustine went on to become a priest, bishop, and one of the greatest Doctors of the Church.

Monica did not live long after his conversion, but God granted her deepest prayer. Before her death, she told her son: “There was only one reason why I wanted to remain a little longer in this life, that I might see you a Catholic Christian before I died. God has granted me this in superabundance.”

Augustine served as bishop of Hippo in North Africa, becoming a prolific writer, Christian philosopher, and defender of the faith. He died on August 28, 430 AD, in Hippo Regius (present-day Annaba, Algeria) at the age of 75.

His story continues to inspire mothers who, like Monica, shed tears for children who have strayed from faith. It shows that no prayer is wasted, and that God’s grace can transform even the most restless heart.

For Augustine, it was his mother’s tears and the words of Romans 13 that led him home to God. His most famous line in the Confessions captures his journey best: “You have made us for Yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in You.”