Prayer:Prayer to St. Monica for Wayward Children
Stored: Prayer to St. Monica for Wayward Children
| Prayer to St. Monica for Wayward Children | |
|---|---|
| Author | Unknown |
| Purpose | |
| Recipient | |
| Liturgical Context | |
| Prayer Type | |
| Origin | |
| Length | |
| Season | |
| Language | English |
| Approval | None |
| Tags | |
| Added on | 2026-08-13 |
Introduction
St. Monica is one of the most beloved maternal figures in the history of the Catholic Church, celebrated above all for her extraordinary perseverance in prayer for the conversion of her son Augustine, who would become one of the greatest theologians and Doctors of the Church. For years Monica wept and prayed without ceasing, enduring the anguish that only a mother whose child has abandoned the faith can truly understand. Her story, recorded in vivid detail in St. Augustine's own Confessions, has brought immeasurable consolation to anxious parents throughout the centuries.
The prayer to St. Monica for wayward children arose naturally from the deep resonance of her story with the universal parental experience of watching a beloved child stray from God. Mothers and fathers who feel helpless before the spiritual wandering of their sons and daughters have long turned to Monica as a powerful intercessor, confident that she understands their grief from personal experience and that her prayers before God carry the weight of one who persevered and prevailed.
This traditional devotional prayer encapsulates the essential virtues for which Monica is celebrated — patience, perseverance, unwavering confidence in divine mercy, and the refusal to surrender hope — and asks that these same graces be poured out upon all who pray it.
The Prayer
- Dear St. Monica, troubled mother of a wayward son,
- you never ceased praying and weeping for Augustine
- until his heart was turned to God.
- Intercede for all mothers who are anxious for their children
- who have strayed from the faith.
- Obtain for them your patience and perseverance,
- your confidence in God's mercy,
- and the grace never to abandon hope.
- May they, like you, see the day when their children
- return to God and live in His love.
- Amen.
History and Background
St. Monica was born around 331 AD in Thagaste, in Roman North Africa (present-day Algeria). She was a devout Christian woman married to Patricius, a pagan of volatile temperament. Though her marriage was difficult, Monica's gentle perseverance ultimately led to the conversion of her husband before his death. Her greater and far more prolonged spiritual battle, however, was for the soul of her brilliant but restless son, Augustine.
Augustine spent years embracing Manichaean heresy, pursuing worldly pleasures, and living with a concubine by whom he had a son. Monica followed him from Africa to Rome and then to Milan, praying without ceasing and shedding what Augustine would later call her "tears of the night." A renowned bishop, tradition holds it was St. Ambrose of Milan, is said to have consoled her with the famous words: It is not possible that the son of so many tears should perish.
Her prayers were answered in 386 AD when Augustine, deeply moved by the preaching of St. Ambrose and the grace of God working within him, was converted and baptized at the Easter Vigil of 387. Monica died shortly thereafter at Ostia, Italy, at approximately fifty-six years of age, having witnessed the fulfillment of all her hopes. Her dying words to Augustine and his brother, as recorded in the Confessions, were: Lay this body anywhere, let not the care for it trouble you. This only I request of you, that wherever you may be, you make remembrance of me at the altar of the Lord.
She was canonized by the universal consent of the faithful long before formal canonization processes existed, and her feast day is celebrated on August 27, immediately preceding that of her son Augustine on August 28.
How to Pray / Devotional Use
This prayer is most fittingly prayed by parents, grandparents, godparents, and loved ones who are suffering the heartache of watching someone dear to them drift from the Catholic faith or from a life of grace. It may be incorporated into a daily prayer routine as a consistent act of intercession, offered with the very perseverance that St. Monica herself modeled.
Many Catholic families incorporate this prayer into a novena of nine consecutive days, especially in times of particular urgency or crisis. It is traditionally prayed on or around the Feast of St. Monica on August 27, and many parishes organize communal novenas beginning on August 18 and concluding on her feast day.
The prayer pairs well with the recitation of the Holy Rosary, particularly the Sorrowful Mysteries, which reflect the suffering that accompanies love and the hope born from faithful endurance. Devotees of St. Monica are encouraged to recall that her intercession is most powerful when joined to total confidence in God's mercy and a genuine surrender of the beloved child into His hands.
A small brown or white scapular medal bearing the image of St. Monica is worn by members of the Confraternity of St. Monica, a pious association dedicated to praying for the conversion of fallen-away Catholics. Joining such a confraternity provides a community of like-minded parents who support one another through prayer and encouragement.