Basilica of Sant'Agostino (Tomb of St. Monica)
The resting place of St. Monica, mother of St. Augustine.
St. Monica → Plan a trip hereThe Story
The Basilica of Sant'Agostino in Campo Marzio, a short walk from Piazza Navona in Rome, is the resting place of St. Monica (331-387), the mother whose years of prayer and tears accompanied her son Augustine to conversion and, ultimately, to sainthood. Monica was born in Thagaste in North Africa. Married to a pagan husband whom she won to the faith, she followed her brilliant, restless son across the Mediterranean, praying without ceasing for his soul. Her perseverance was rewarded when Augustine was baptized by St. Ambrose in Milan in 387. Mother and son shared a luminous conversation on the life of heaven at Ostia, recounted in Augustine's Confessions, shortly before Monica died there while awaiting the voyage home. She was buried at Ostia, and in the 15th century her relics were translated to Rome and enshrined in the church of the Augustinian friars. The present Renaissance basilica, completed in 1483, honors her in the Chapel of St. Monica to the left of the high altar, where her sarcophagus rests. The basilica is also a treasury of art, housing Caravaggio's Madonna of the Pilgrims, Raphael's Isaiah, and Sansovino's revered Madonna del Parto. Above all it remains a place of quiet intercession, where mothers and fathers pray for their children through the saint who never gave up on hers.
Church Recognition
Sant'Agostino was raised to the rank of minor basilica by Pope St. John Paul II in 1999; St. Monica has been venerated for centuries, and her relics have been enshrined in the Augustinians' Roman church since their translation from Ostia in the 15th century.
Catholic Teaching
St. Monica's tomb speaks to the Church's teaching on persevering intercessory prayer (CCC 2634-2636) and on the communion of saints (CCC 946-962): her tears for Augustine show how the prayers of the faithful cooperate with grace in the conversion of souls.
Plan Your Visit
Practical
Additional Information
The Basilica of Sant'Agostino in Rome holds her relics.
Go Deeper
Read Book IX of St. Augustine's Confessions for his own account of his mother's life and death, and see the Catechism on intercessory prayer (CCC 2634-2636); the Augustinian friars who serve the basilica continue the spiritual family Monica helped inspire.
Location
Visit the official website ↗ See it on the interactive map →Pilgrim Photos
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In the Area
Other sacred sites within 40 miles.
- Church of Santa Maria Maddalena (Tomb of St. Camillus of Lellis) <1 mi
- Tomb of St. Catherine of Siena (Santa Maria sopra Minerva) <1 mi
- Chiesa Nuova (Santa Maria in Vallicella) (Tomb of St. Philip Neri) <1 mi
- San Lorenzo in Damaso <1 mi
- Church of St. Ignatius (Tomb of St. Robert Bellarmine) <1 mi
- Church of the Gesu (Tomb of St. Ignatius of Loyola) <1 mi
- Basilica of St. Bartholomew on the Island <1 mi
- Basilica of Sts. Cosmas and Damian <1 mi