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Saint Monica〔"...Augustine's mother's name, Monica, is Berber ... the names Monnica and Nonnica are found on tombstones in the Libyan language - as such Monnica is the only Berber name commonly used in English", Michael Brett and Elizabeth Fentress, ''The Berbers'', Wiley-Blackwell, 1997, p.71, 293〕 (AD 331〔The Liturgy of the Hours, Volume IV. Proper of Saints, August 27.〕 – 387), also known as Monica of Hippo, (Be. ''Timaniket'') was an early Christian saint and the mother of St. Augustine of Hippo. She is remembered and honored in most Christian denominations, albeit on different feast days, for her outstanding Christian virtues, particularly the suffering caused by her husband's adultery, and her prayerful life dedicated to the reformation of her son, who wrote extensively of her pious acts and life with her in his ''Confessions''. Popular Christian legends recall Saint Monica weeping every night for her son Augustine. ==Life== Because of her name and place of birth, Monica is assumed to have been born in Tagaste (present-day Souk Ahras, Algeria).〔Michael Brett and Elizabeth Fentress, ''The Berbers'', Wiley-Blackwell, 1997, p.71.〕 She is believed to have been a Berber on the basis of her name.〔Power, Kim (1999) "Family, Relatives", pp. 353–54 in ''Augustine through the ages: an encyclopedia''. Allan D. Fitzgerald (ed.). Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans, ISBN 978-0-8028-3843-8.〕 She was married early in life to Patricius, a Roman pagan, who held an official position in Tagaste. Patricius had a violent temper and appears to have been of dissolute habits; apparently his mother was the same way. Monica's alms, deeds and prayer habits annoyed Patricius, but it is said that he always held her in respect.〔(Foley O.F.M., Leonard. ''Saint of the Day, Lives, Lessons, and Feast'', (revised by Pat McCloskey O.F.M.) Franciscan Media )〕 Monica had three children who survived infancy: sons Augustine and Navigius and daughter Perpetua. Unable to secure baptism for them, she grieved heavily when Augustine fell ill. In her distress she asked Patricius to allow Augustine to be baptized; he agreed, then withdrew this consent when the boy recovered. But Monica's joy and relief at Augustine's recovery turned to anxiety as he misspent his renewed life being wayward and, as he himself tells us, lazy. He was finally sent to school at Madaurus. He was 17 and studying rhetoric in Carthage when Patricius died.〔 Augustine had become a Manichaean at Carthage; when upon his return home he shared his views regarding Manichaeism, Monica drove him away from her table. However, she is said to have experienced a vision that convinced her to reconcile with him.〔 At this time she visited a certain (unnamed) holy bishop who consoled her with the now famous words, "the child of those tears shall never perish." Monica followed her wayward son to Rome, where he had gone secretly; when she arrived he had already gone to Milan, but she followed him. Here she found St. Ambrose and through him she ultimately had the joy of seeing Augustine convert to Christianity after 17 years of resistance. In his book ''Confessions'', Augustine wrote of a peculiar practice of his mother in which she "brought to certain oratories, erected in the memory of the saints, offerings of porridge, bread, water and wine."〔Confessions 6.2.2〕 When she moved to Milan, the bishop Ambrose forbade her to use the offering of wine, since "it might be an occasion of gluttony for those who were already given to drink". So, Augustine wrote of her: Mother and son spent 6 months of true peace at ''Rus Cassiciacum'' (present-day Cassago Brianza) after which Augustine was baptized in the church of St. John the Baptist at Milan. Africa claimed them, however, and they set out on their journey, stopping at Civitavecchia and at Ostia. Here death overtook Monica and Augustine's grief inspired the finest pages of his ''Confessions''. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Saint Monica」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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