Happy feasts of Sts. (plural abbreviation for saint) Monica and Augustine! Today (August 27) is St. Monica's feast and tomorrow (August 28) is Augustine's. St. Monica was the longsuffering, mother of St. Augustine. Even though you wouldn't know it from Augustine's current rep he was quite the ne're-do-well as a young man. His mother prayed for years for Augustine's salvation, and just before she died she saw him convert to Christianity! I love this story because it's a great encouragement for all of us who have family members that have not yet come to love Christ.
These two saints are also awesome because St. Monica was most likely Berber (northern African people group... look them up, they're cool) and her husband was probably of Roman extraction. They lived in a Roman colony in the north of Africa. That would make St. Augustine the first mixed-race saint (that I can think of). Augustine is also a great ecumenical (trans-denominational) saint. He's one of the few early church Fathers that Protestants and Catholics both agree was awesome.
I tried to read Augustine's confessions two weeks ago. They had a copy at our library. Unfortunately, the translation was made in 1920 something, so it was very formal. It was like reading Shakespeare. I can enjoy Shakespeare because I know I'm reading exactly what he wrote, but in translation flourishes and thee's and thou's are just too much! It's a translation! You can make a translation readable if you want to. - Rant over-
The part of the Confessions I did force myself to read was awesome. Augustine describes his conversion moment with detail and emotion. I've never heard of a grown man admitting to so many tears. It's definitely worth a read.
