One of the greatest conversion stories in Christian history is that of St. Augustine, fifth-century African Bishop of Hippo in present-day Algeria. We find this story detailed in the most famous spiritual autobiography ever written—his Confessions. However, at the center of this story is St. Monica, the wandering sinner's prayerful mother. Augustine is the son of her many tears, which as Ambrose the holy bishop of Milan assured her, can never perish! Thankfully, she lived to see her son become a Catholic Christian before she died and thus went to her grave with tearful joy and holy contentment. However, it is a mistake to reduce Monica's image to merely that of a prayer warrior—a woman of many prayerful tears. According to this popular portrait, Monica is presented as the patron of mothers with difficult children, usually with the hope that women would be encouraged by her story to pray fervently for their wayward children and never give up on them. Of course, being simply a