Monica’s life story is enshrined in the spiritual autobiography ofher eldest son, The Confessions of Saint Augustine. Born in North Africa about 331, of Berber parents, Monica was married to a pagan Latinized provincial of Tagaste named Patricius. Early in their marriage Patricius could be violent and abusive, although over the course of their life together he seems to have worked to improve his temper. In Monica’s earlier years she was not witho…