Born into a Christian family in North Africa around 332 AD, Monica was married at an early age to Patricius, a pagan nobleman from Thagaste. She had three children by him, including the future Saint Augustine. Widowed in 371, she devoted herself to this son, who seemed to her to be going badly wrong. When Augustine fled to Italy, Monica joined him in Milan, where she studied under the bishop Saint Ambrose. It was then that she had the joy of witnessing her son's conversion and baptism. From then on, she was to be a great help to the future Father of the Church. She died in Ostia in 387.