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<img height='275' src='http://vaticanstamps.org/VPS/images/296/780.jpg'>
 Baptism of Saint Augustine 
16th Centenary of the Conversion of Saint Augustine 
Scott 780 (1987)</center>
 
August 27 is the feast of Saint Monica, mother of Saint Augustine of Hippo (whose feast day is tomorrow, August 28). Although Vatican City has not issued a stamp specifically portraying Saint Monica, a set of four stamps was issued in 1987 to commemorate the conversion and baptism of Saint Augustine, which is closely tied to Saint Monica's story. The stamp shown above depicts the baptism of Saint Augustine, and woman dressed in black on the right-hand side of the stamp, although not specifically identified, is most certainly Saint Monica. The stamp is modeled after a painting by Nicolo di Pietro from around 1415 (note the partial inscription "S. Mo" under the figure of the woman):
 
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<img height='375' src='https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c7/8_Nicolo_di_Pietro%2C1413-15._The_Saint_Augustine_Baptized_by_Saint_Ambrose._Pinacoteca%2C_Vatican..jpg'> 
"Saint Augustine Baptized by Saint Ambrose" by Nicolo di Pietro 
Vatican Museums (Pinacoteca Vaticana) 
From Wikimedia Commons, in the Public Domain</center>
 
Most all that is known about Saint Monica comes from the writings of Saint Augustine, particularly from his "Confessions". She was raised as a Christian but was given in marriage to a pagan while living in Tagaste in North Africa. Through prayer and living a life of charity and piety, she eventually convinced her husband Patricius to be baptized.
 
Saint Monica had at least three children who survived infancy, the oldest being Augustine. He was a student of rhetoric living in Carthage and was leading 'an immoral life'. A woman of great prayer, she stayed close to him and prayed for his conversion. In 383 AD, at age 29, he left for Rome, and Monica was determined to follow him. She was eventually reunited with him in Milan, where he was studying under Saint Ambrose (who came to also serve as her spiritual director). Augustine was baptized at Easter in 387.
 
Following his conversion, in 388 Augustine decided to return to Africa, and was joined on the trip by his mother and son. En route, Saint Monica fell ill and died at the Italian port of Ostia. Her remains now lie in the Basilica of Saint Augustine in Rome.
 
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<img height='375' src='https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f2/Chiesa_di_Sant%27Agostino-Samta-Monica-9.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=index&utm_content=original'> 
Tomb of Saint Monica, Basilica of Saint Augustine, Rome 
Photo by Luistxo 
From Wikimedia Commons, used under the terms of the Creative 
Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license</center>
 
Personal and VPS Connections to Saint Monica and Saint Augustine
 
Most all of us can connect to one or more of the multitude of saints through their veneration in the naming of Catholic churches and institutions across the country and around the world. I would like to share a set of interesting connections.
 
My father's parents emigrated to the United States from Forli, Italy, in the early 20th century and settled in South Boston, Massachusetts. Devout Catholics, they lived in the parish of the Church of Saint Augustine. Built in 1819, it is the oldest Catholic church in Massachusetts. Due to the massive influx of immigrants to South Boston in the early 1900's from many foreign countries (most notably Italy, Ireland, Poland and Lithuania), a new church and parish was created within a short walk of my grandparent's home--appropriately named Saint Monica's Church. As a kid, we would visit my grandmother on Sunday afternoons, and she would frequently talk about that day's Mass, in her broken English, at Santa Monica Church (although she technically was still a parishioner at Saint Augustine's, and was buried from that church in 1974). Coincidentally, my father's birthday is August 28--the feast day of Saint Augustine.
 
As a further connection to Saint Monica's Church, one of the founding members of the Vatican Philatelic Society, Father Herbert Phinney (VPS Member #3) served as pastor at Saint Monica's (it was his last assignment prior to his retirement in the early 1970's). Old issues of Vatican Notes talk about meetings of the Eastern Massachusetts Chapter of VPS at Saint Monica's Church Hall. In another interesting coincidence, prior to World War II (before my time), Father Phinney served as a parish priest at Saint Mary's Church in Waltham, Massachusetts--a church I frequently attended as a child.
 
In addition, I am a graduate of Merrimack College in North Andover, Massachusetts (class of 1977), which was founded following World War II by the Augustinian Fathers. They continue to administer it today, inspired by the Catholic faith and the Augustinian tradition of seeking truth through inquiry and dialogue. Merrimack is one of two Augustinian colleges in the United States, the other being Villanova University in Philadelphia.
 
And what is the connection to Villanova? Of course, in 2025, we had the election of Robert Francis Prevost as Pope Leo XIV, the first pope of the Augustinian Order. He is a graduate of Villanova (coincidentally, class of 1977) and he also received an honorary Doctor of Humanities degree from the school in 2014.
 
So many connections...
 
REFERENCES: 
<li>Franciscan Media, Saint of the Day, <a href = 'https://www.franciscanmedia.org/saint-of-the-day/saint-monica'>Saint Monica</a> 
<li>Ufficio Filatelico, April 7, 1987, <a href = 'https://vaticanstamps.org/UFN/images/1987-2-03-1.jpg'>Sixteenth Century of the Conversion and Baptism of St. Augustine</a> 
<li>Merrimack College website, <a href='https://www.merrimack.edu/about/mission/'>Merrimack College Mission Statement</a> 
<li>Vatican Philatelic Society website, www.vaticanstamps.org, Stamp Database Search

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Saint MonicaMother of Saint Augustine

Saint Monica
Mother of Saint Augustine