Saints

Most information about Monica comes from the writings of her son, St Augustine. He was the eldest of the three children she had with her husband Patricius. The family lived in Tagaste, North Africa, and family life could not have been easy, because by all reports, Patricius was a violent and bad tempered man. He died in 371 when Monica was just 40 and Augustine was a difficult 18 year-old. Reje... Read More

Blessed Dominic Barberi Dominic Barberi was born in Viterbo, Italy on June 22, 1792. At 22 years of age, after repeated heavenly inspirations, God called him to the religious life and ministry. He left farming work, abandoned all other plans for his future, and entered the Passionist Congregation. There he developed his extraordinary qualities of mind and heart. Ordained priest, he devoted hims... Read More

Bishop and doctor of the church, Augustine was born in Tagaste, Algeria, in 354. The son of a pagan father and a Christian mother, St Monica, he was brought up a Christian but not baptised. Augustine studied rhetoric at Carthage and became a lawyer, but he gave this up and took up teaching and further study. For nine years he was absorbed by philosophy and Manichaeism, completely rejecting Chris... Read More