St. Monica Triduum Prayer

FIRST DAY

O GLORIOUS St. Monica, transfixed with sorrow when you saw your beloved child Augustine living in the dark and gloomy abyss of error and vice, and straying far from the right path which leads to true felicity in the possession of God and his holy grace, hear our prayer, O afflicted mother. By that cruel sorrow which, with so much patience, thou didst bear; and by those earnest sighs and bitter tears with which thou didst appeal to God to change the heart of thy prodigal son; by thy wondrous confidence in God, which was never shaken, O grant to us, thy children, that we may, like thee, place all our trust in God, and in our trials and troubles be ever resigned to his holy will; whilst we ask thee, O glorious mother St. Monica, to supply for us our special needs, we here earnestly ask you to pray for the erring children of Jesus, so many Augustines, straying from God and hurrying to ruin. Let that earnest prayer of thine go forth once more for us and for sinners, that we may live in the light of divine grace, and be united again hereafter to bless the bounty of a loving God for eternity. Amen.

Our Father and Hail Mary, three times.

V. Pray for us, O Holy Mother, Monica,
R. That we may be made worthy, of the promises of Christ.

O God, the Comforter of the sorrowful, and salvation of those who hope in Thee, who hast mercifully received the pious tears of the blessed Monica in the conversion of her son, Augustine, grant us, Thy servants, by the intercession of both the one and the other, to deplore our sins, and to obtain the indulgence of Thy grace: through Christ our Lord, who with Thee and the Holy Ghost, liveth and reigneth, world without end. Amen.

SECOND DAY

Direct, we beseech Thee, O Lord, all our actions by thy holy inspirations, and carry them on by thy gracious assistance, that every prayer and work of ours may begin always from Thee, and by Thee be happily ended: through Christ our Lord. Amen.

O GLORIOUS mother, St. Monica, who, despite the many means you employed to accomplish the conversion of your son Augustine seemed fruitless, though for a long time God Himself appeared deaf to your earnest prayer and unmoved by your ever-flowing tears, didst never lose confidence in obtaining the longsought grace for Augustine. Thou didst lovingly and tenderly admonish thy erring son; thou didst watch over him ever with all a mother's love, and, fearless of danger and heedless of fatigue, follow him from place to place in his weary and wayward wanderings; in a word, all that a mother's tender love could suggest, all that a mother's anxious solicitude could inspire, all that a wondrous prudence and true wisdom could dictate, you, O great St. Monica, cheerfully did to effect the return to God of your first-born and darling child. By all these generous efforts, so happily crowned in the end, hear, O mother, the petitions we make thee. Pray for us, too, and pray especially for those who are unmindful of and ungrateful to God. To thee, O dearest mother, we are specially dedicated; look upon us, then, as thy children, and win for us the grace we need. Regard mercifully the most destitute amongst us, that sin being diminished, the number of the faithful may increase, and greater glory may be given to Him who is the best of friends, the truest of benefactors, our first beginning and last end, the source of all our hope, our Saviour, our God. Amen.

Our Father and Hail Mary, three times.

V. Pray for us, O Holy Mother, Monica,
R. That we may be made worthy, of the promises of Christ.

THIRD DAY

Direct, we beseech Thee, O Lord, all our actions by thy holy inspirations, and carry them on by thy gracious assistance, that every prayer and work of ours may begin always from Thee, and by Thee be happily ended: through Christ our Lord. Amen.

O GLORIOUS mother St. Monica, who can conceive the consolation that abounded in thy heart, so long the home of brooding sorrow, when you saw your child Augustine rising in the light of grace and giving himself generously to God; when you folded your converted son in your arms, and tears of very joy streamed forth to tell the glowing jubilee of your heart. Oh, how in that moment God in his mercy recompensed your years of sorrow and anxiety, your long and weary days of racking suspense. It was impossible that a child of tears like yours should perish; and when your son Augustine heard the call of God, he obeyed it; and his life and his deeds flung a lustre all their own on you, St. Monica. O fortunate mother, twice mother of thy child, deign to listen to our prayers and present our petitions to God; look lovingly, and with all a mother's interest on us assembled here, under thy protection, to honour you. We love you; let us become, as St. Augustine of old, the objects of thy maternal love. Pray that we, too, like St. Augustine, may have strength to cling to God, and triumph over sin and temptation. By thy prayers break the fetters of sin that hold in cruel bondage the souls of thy sinful children in this world. O mother, pray that the miracle of grace in the heart of Augustine may again and again be repeated in these days of universal sin, and that the erring children of Jesus may be led back to the fold; that, united here on earth, we may securely go through the dangers of life and be united with thee, our mother, in heaven for ever. Amen.

Our Father and Hail Mary, three times.

V. Pray for us, O Holy Mother, Monica,
R. That we may be made worthy, of the promises of Christ.

______________________________

Verses to St. Monica
by Father Russell, S.J.

Among the sainted matrons whom we honour
With Mass and matin song,
One draws the gaze of filial love upon her
From all the throng.
Next to St. Anne, the Blessed Virgin's mother,
I prize St. Monica o'er ev'ry other.

Great is the glory of Augustine--high
His place on earth, in heaven.
But if St. Monica, with prayer and sigh,
Less hard had striven
To bring the child forth to his truer birth,
What were his fame in heaven, and e'en on earth?

His father's name to us is nothing strange--
"Patrick" but, ah! no saint.
Saint surely she, who all so soon could change,
That pagan taint--
Who wept and prayed, and suffered till she won,
Her heathen husband, her half-heathen son.

Have you not seen them sitting on the beach?
The younger face less fair--
They talk not, 'tis society for each
The other's there--
Hands interlaced, deep eyes upturned in thought:
Their hearts bless God, whose grace the change hath wrought.

Hid in her son, yet many a touching trace
In Austin's page we find,
Which shows her like to him not more in face
Than royal mind.
Another item for the common story--
How large a mother's part in hero's glory.

St. Monica, still many a mother shares
Thy strong maternal faith.
Still sheds such bitter tears, still breathes such prayers,
To save from death
Some soul perchance from all hearts else exiled,
As vile or wicked, yet her child, her child!

Pray for the wretched mothers who this hour
Weep for the doubly dead,
Weep for the cherished wanderer, and shower
Tears on his head
Whose faults and sins would weary out all others.
Save the meek Heart of Jesus, or a mother's.

When thou hadst longer been away from earth
Than she (God rest her!) yet
Who did far more for me than give me birth,
Whose cheek was wet
With tears less bitter (God be thanked!) than thine,
Augustin asked prayers for thee--and I for mine.

Be Monicas, oh, mothers I pray and weep,
Send ceaseless sighs to heaven.
That ye for heaven and God secure may keep
Whom God has given.
Love them, but save their souls at any cost--
"The child of holy tears cannot be lost."

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