{"id":16376,"date":"2026-08-27T03:15:02","date_gmt":"2026-08-27T01:15:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vaticano.com\/santa-monica-la-madre-della-speranza-la-forza-delle-lacrime-che-ha-cambiato-la-storia-della-chiesa\/"},"modified":"2026-08-28T12:40:05","modified_gmt":"2026-08-28T10:40:05","slug":"saint-monica-the-mother-of-hope-the-strength-of-the-tears-that-changed-the-history-of-the-church","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vaticano.com\/en\/saint-monica-the-mother-of-hope-the-strength-of-the-tears-that-changed-the-history-of-the-church\/","title":{"rendered":"Saint Monica, the mother of hope: the strength of the tears that changed the history of the Church"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\nToday the Church celebrates Saint Monica, a luminous figure of the 4th century and an unsurpassable model of a Christian wife and mother. Of Berber origins, Monica lived her earthly existence amidst daily trials and deep family bitterness, first and foremost the difficult temperament of her husband Patricius and the wild behavior of her firstborn, Augustine. A woman of extraordinary strength of character, she never gave in to despair, transforming every sorrow into incessant prayer. She tirelessly followed her rebellious son along the routes of the Mediterranean, from Carthage to Milan, and finally to Rome, watering his stops with fruitful tears that God did not fail to gather. In Milan, thanks also to the spiritual guidance of Saint Ambrose, she finally saw her long journey of faith crowned with the conversion and baptism of Augustine, destined to become one of the greatest doctors of the Church. Before peacefully passing away in Ostia, Monica left her son a spiritual legacy made of unconditional love and total trust in Providence. Today the patron saint of all Christian mothers, her liturgical memory reminds us of the power of persevering prayer and the ability of authentic love to redeem every human story.\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Church celebrates Saint Monica, mother of Saint Augustine. Remembered for her strength of spirit and incessant prayer, she obtained the conversion of her husband and son before passing away in Ostia. She is the patron saint of Christian mothers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":43,"featured_media":16364,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4833],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16376","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-saint-of-the-day"],"blocksy_meta":[],"yoast_head":"\nSaint Monica, the mother of hope: the strength of the tears that changed the history of the Church - Vaticano.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.vaticano.com\/en\/saint-monica-the-mother-of-hope-the-strength-of-the-tears-that-changed-the-history-of-the-church\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Saint Monica, the mother of hope: the strength of the tears that changed the history of the Church - Vaticano.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Church celebrates Saint Monica, mother of Saint Augustine. Remembered for her strength of spirit and incessant prayer, she obtained the conversion of her husband and son before passing away in Ostia. She is the patron saint of Christian mothers.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.vaticano.com\/en\/saint-monica-the-mother-of-hope-the-strength-of-the-tears-that-changed-the-history-of-the-church\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Vaticano.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-08-27T01:15:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-08-28T10:40:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.vaticano.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Monica_of_Hippo_by_Gozzoli.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1433\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Padre Bernardo\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Padre Bernardo\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vaticano.com\\\/en\\\/saint-monica-the-mother-of-hope-the-strength-of-the-tears-that-changed-the-history-of-the-church\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vaticano.com\\\/en\\\/saint-monica-the-mother-of-hope-the-strength-of-the-tears-that-changed-the-history-of-the-church\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Padre Bernardo\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vaticano.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/5e19ba52fdb505adeb6b55fe216cce3b\"},\"headline\":\"Saint Monica, the mother of hope: the strength of the tears that changed the history of the Church\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-08-27T01:15:02+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-08-28T10:40:05+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vaticano.com\\\/en\\\/saint-monica-the-mother-of-hope-the-strength-of-the-tears-that-changed-the-history-of-the-church\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":216,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vaticano.com\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vaticano.com\\\/en\\\/saint-monica-the-mother-of-hope-the-strength-of-the-tears-that-changed-the-history-of-the-church\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vaticano.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/Monica_of_Hippo_by_Gozzoli.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Saint of the day\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vaticano.com\\\/en\\\/saint-monica-the-mother-of-hope-the-strength-of-the-tears-that-changed-the-history-of-the-church\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vaticano.com\\\/en\\\/saint-monica-the-mother-of-hope-the-strength-of-the-tears-that-changed-the-history-of-the-church\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vaticano.com\\\/en\\\/saint-monica-the-mother-of-hope-the-strength-of-the-tears-that-changed-the-history-of-the-church\\\/\",\"name\":\"Saint Monica, the mother of hope: the strength of the tears that changed the history of the Church - Vaticano.com\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vaticano.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vaticano.com\\\/en\\\/saint-monica-the-mother-of-hope-the-strength-of-the-tears-that-changed-the-history-of-the-church\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vaticano.com\\\/en\\\/saint-monica-the-mother-of-hope-the-strength-of-the-tears-that-changed-the-history-of-the-church\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vaticano.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/Monica_of_Hippo_by_Gozzoli.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-08-27T01:15:02+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-08-28T10:40:05+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vaticano.com\\\/en\\\/saint-monica-the-mother-of-hope-the-strength-of-the-tears-that-changed-the-history-of-the-church\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vaticano.com\\\/en\\\/saint-monica-the-mother-of-hope-the-strength-of-the-tears-that-changed-the-history-of-the-church\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vaticano.com\\\/en\\\/saint-monica-the-mother-of-hope-the-strength-of-the-tears-that-changed-the-history-of-the-church\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vaticano.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/Monica_of_Hippo_by_Gozzoli.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vaticano.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/Monica_of_Hippo_by_Gozzoli.jpg\",\"width\":600,\"height\":1433},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vaticano.com\\\/en\\\/saint-monica-the-mother-of-hope-the-strength-of-the-tears-that-changed-the-history-of-the-church\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vaticano.com\\\/en\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Saint Monica, the mother of hope: the strength of the tears that changed the history of the Church\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vaticano.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vaticano.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"Vaticano.com\",\"description\":\"Turismo Religioso, Santuari, Notizie dal mondo cattolico\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vaticano.com\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vaticano.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vaticano.com\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Vaticano.com\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vaticano.com\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vaticano.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vaticano.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/vaticano-1.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vaticano.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/vaticano-1.png\",\"width\":600,\"height\":150,\"caption\":\"Vaticano.com\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vaticano.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vaticano.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/5e19ba52fdb505adeb6b55fe216cce3b\",\"name\":\"Padre Bernardo\",\"description\":\"Frate Minore Francescano, teologo e custode della tradizione liturgica. Dedica la sua vita alla preghiera contemplativa e allo studio delle vite dei Santi. Attraverso le sue riflessioni, guida i fedeli alla riscoperta delle radici pi\u00f9 profonde della devozione cattolica e delle grandi suppliche della tradizione ecclesiale, unendo l'umilt\u00e0 francescana al rigore dottrinale.\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.vaticano.com\\\/en\\\/author\\\/padrebernardo\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Saint Monica, the mother of hope: the strength of the tears that changed the history of the Church - Vaticano.com","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.vaticano.com\/en\/saint-monica-the-mother-of-hope-the-strength-of-the-tears-that-changed-the-history-of-the-church\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Saint Monica, the mother of hope: the strength of the tears that changed the history of the Church - Vaticano.com","og_description":"The Church celebrates Saint Monica, mother of Saint Augustine. Remembered for her strength of spirit and incessant prayer, she obtained the conversion of her husband and son before passing away in Ostia. She is the patron saint of Christian mothers.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.vaticano.com\/en\/saint-monica-the-mother-of-hope-the-strength-of-the-tears-that-changed-the-history-of-the-church\/","og_site_name":"Vaticano.com","article_published_time":"2026-08-27T01:15:02+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-08-28T10:40:05+00:00","og_image":[{"width":600,"height":1433,"url":"https:\/\/www.vaticano.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Monica_of_Hippo_by_Gozzoli.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Padre Bernardo","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Padre Bernardo","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.vaticano.com\/en\/saint-monica-the-mother-of-hope-the-strength-of-the-tears-that-changed-the-history-of-the-church\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.vaticano.com\/en\/saint-monica-the-mother-of-hope-the-strength-of-the-tears-that-changed-the-history-of-the-church\/"},"author":{"name":"Padre Bernardo","@id":"https:\/\/www.vaticano.com\/#\/schema\/person\/5e19ba52fdb505adeb6b55fe216cce3b"},"headline":"Saint Monica, the mother of hope: the strength of the tears that changed the history of the Church","datePublished":"2026-08-27T01:15:02+00:00","dateModified":"2026-08-28T10:40:05+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.vaticano.com\/en\/saint-monica-the-mother-of-hope-the-strength-of-the-tears-that-changed-the-history-of-the-church\/"},"wordCount":216,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.vaticano.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.vaticano.com\/en\/saint-monica-the-mother-of-hope-the-strength-of-the-tears-that-changed-the-history-of-the-church\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.vaticano.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Monica_of_Hippo_by_Gozzoli.jpg","articleSection":["Saint of the day"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.vaticano.com\/en\/saint-monica-the-mother-of-hope-the-strength-of-the-tears-that-changed-the-history-of-the-church\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.vaticano.com\/en\/saint-monica-the-mother-of-hope-the-strength-of-the-tears-that-changed-the-history-of-the-church\/","url":"https:\/\/www.vaticano.com\/en\/saint-monica-the-mother-of-hope-the-strength-of-the-tears-that-changed-the-history-of-the-church\/","name":"Saint Monica, the mother of hope: the strength of the tears that changed the history of the Church - Vaticano.com","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.vaticano.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.vaticano.com\/en\/saint-monica-the-mother-of-hope-the-strength-of-the-tears-that-changed-the-history-of-the-church\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.vaticano.com\/en\/saint-monica-the-mother-of-hope-the-strength-of-the-tears-that-changed-the-history-of-the-church\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.vaticano.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Monica_of_Hippo_by_Gozzoli.jpg","datePublished":"2026-08-27T01:15:02+00:00","dateModified":"2026-08-28T10:40:05+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.vaticano.com\/en\/saint-monica-the-mother-of-hope-the-strength-of-the-tears-that-changed-the-history-of-the-church\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.vaticano.com\/en\/saint-monica-the-mother-of-hope-the-strength-of-the-tears-that-changed-the-history-of-the-church\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.vaticano.com\/en\/saint-monica-the-mother-of-hope-the-strength-of-the-tears-that-changed-the-history-of-the-church\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.vaticano.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Monica_of_Hippo_by_Gozzoli.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.vaticano.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Monica_of_Hippo_by_Gozzoli.jpg","width":600,"height":1433},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.vaticano.com\/en\/saint-monica-the-mother-of-hope-the-strength-of-the-tears-that-changed-the-history-of-the-church\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.vaticano.com\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Saint Monica, the mother of hope: the strength of the tears that changed the history of the Church"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.vaticano.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.vaticano.com\/","name":"Vaticano.com","description":"Turismo Religioso, Santuari, Notizie dal mondo cattolico","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.vaticano.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.vaticano.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.vaticano.com\/#organization","name":"Vaticano.com","url":"https:\/\/www.vaticano.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.vaticano.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.vaticano.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/vaticano-1.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.vaticano.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/vaticano-1.png","width":600,"height":150,"caption":"Vaticano.com"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.vaticano.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.vaticano.com\/#\/schema\/person\/5e19ba52fdb505adeb6b55fe216cce3b","name":"Padre Bernardo","description":"Frate Minore Francescano, teologo e custode della tradizione liturgica. Dedica la sua vita alla preghiera contemplativa e allo studio delle vite dei Santi. Attraverso le sue riflessioni, guida i fedeli alla riscoperta delle radici pi\u00f9 profonde della devozione cattolica e delle grandi suppliche della tradizione ecclesiale, unendo l'umilt\u00e0 francescana al rigore dottrinale.","url":"https:\/\/www.vaticano.com\/en\/author\/padrebernardo\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vaticano.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16376","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vaticano.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vaticano.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vaticano.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/43"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vaticano.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16376"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.vaticano.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16376\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vaticano.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16364"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vaticano.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16376"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vaticano.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16376"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vaticano.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16376"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}