What’s in the Fresco?

While Augustine worships his teachers, materialism, and status and in his school years, his mother, Monica, worships God in church. He is concerned with the lower things but Monica rightly sets her sights on the higher. In this fresco, Monica is portrayed in two different ways. On the left side of the painting, Monica is praying for her son, Augustine. The left side of the painting is set in a church, a typical place of worship, and she is surrounded by other people also praying to God. The six saints in the window in the background highlight the community of religion with which Monica is living. This community is in contrast with the right side of the painting.

On the right side of the painting, Monica is weeping over her son. She cries that Augustine has not found God and that he is leaving for a foreign land. In this particular Fresco, Monica struggles to stop her son as he disappears on a boat. While Monica's hands are clasped in prayer on the left side of the painting, on the right side her hands are crossed as if in desperation for a way to intervene in her son’s departure: “those tears with which day by day she bedewed the ground wherever she prayed to you for me” (5.8.15). The two children standing next to her seem forlorn and lost, feelings Monica shared about her son's departure.

What’s in Confessions?

Monica was a devoted Christian mother. Her faith and values played out in her everyday life, which she dedicated to Catholicism. Augustine understood the extent of her devotion and it had a major influence on him: “In my mother’s soul, however, you had already begun to build your temple and prepare for your holy indwelling” (5.9.16). While Augustine worked for the wrong things, Monica prayed for her son and the right things, loving the higher. This is depicted on the right side of the fresco. However, sometimes she still became preoccupied with Augustine's physical presence and clung to him, like on the left side of the fresco. During those times, she was loving the lower. This highlights a major theme throughout Augustine’s life and Confessions: the theme of loving the lower over the higher. While Monica loved the higher over the lower when she prayed, Augustine was consistently entrenched in sin and lust, loving the lower over the higher. Whenever Monica tried to interfere with Augustine's life, he did not listen to her. Her physical efforts were ineffective when compared to her prayer and work through God. When Monica prayed she loved God most of all, and when this happened her prayers were answered. Monica tried to steer Augustine through her actions and constant prayer. The contrast between the left and the right side of the painting highlights the contrast between the lower over the higher and contrasts Monica's two unique ways of dealing with Augustine. Monica’s prayers represent her faith and her relationship with God as higher, whereas her attempts to intervene in Augustine’s life are lower.

What’s in it for us?

College students can relate to Monica because she is a strong maternal figure. As we transition into a new period in our life, we learn about who we are and what we want to become. It is necessary to have a mentor or idol, either religious or otherwise, who can help steer us on the right path through example. Just as Monica tries to help steer Augustine by prayer and leading by example, we all need someone who can help us make moral decisions and correct us when we make mistakes. Often, as we can see through the relationship between Monica and Augustine, our most effective teachers are those who lead by example, not by telling us what to do. Monica was a huge part of Augustine’s life and we all need to find someone like that in our own lives: “You stretched out your hand from on high and pulled my soul out of these murky depths because my mother, who was faithful to you, was weeping for me more bitterly than even mothers wept for the bodily death of their children” (2.11.19). By caring about Augustine and modeling a life of prayer, Monica shows us how good role models behave.