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Guild members hear biography of St. Monica
A research paper on the life of St. Monica was prepared and presented on Monday, Sept. 10 by Mrs. Nunez C. Pilet of Bay St. Louis to members of the St. Monica Guild, Women of Trinity Church in Pass Christian.
The meeting was held in the home of Mrs. Rosamond Wallace of North Second Street in Pass Christian.
Mrs. Pilet was introduced by Mrs. Walter A. Martin, program chairman for the group who said Mrs. Pilet who now serves as recording secretary has been a member of the guild for 35 years.
She has held several offices in the guild and compiled a handbook of Trinity Church which was published in 1973.
?I am indebted to the Very Reverend A. Francis Theriault, rector of the Divine Word Seminary in Bay St. Louis, for the use of his books as well as for his valued suggestions,? Mrs. Pilet explained and added she hoped to neither leave out what should be said nor to linder on what seemed superflous.
In addition to the books borrowed from Father Theriault Mrs. Pilet said she bought a book entitled ?The Confessions of St. Augustine? from a book sale conducted by the Bay St. Louis Public Library because it had some interesting references to Monica.
Other references included quotations from historian John J. O'Meara whose records show that Monica was bom in ' 387 A.D. and died at the age of 56. She was 23 years of age at the time her son, Augustine, was bom and she and her pagan husband, Patricius, had at least two other children prior to the birth of Augustine.
Mrs. Pilet said she had often been asked for a description of St. Monica, particularly the color of her skin and eyes. ?I have found no information that is definite,? Mrs. Pilet said, ?but we can assume or speculate and draw our own personal conclusions.?
?To help with the speculation,? Mrs. j Pilet suggested, ?start with a study of i
the maps of Africa and Europe.
North Africa, the home of St. Monica, borders the Mediterranean Sea. On the opposite shore are European countries.
Again making reference to O?Meara Mrs. Pilet read: ?For the past 3,000 years or more a people have lived in North Africa that in the main has blue eyes, fair or brown hair and fair skin.?
However, Mrs. Pilet pointed out that in all cultures there are variations and much intermingling with other peoples.
?Regardless of race or color,? Mrs. Pilet said, ?Monica had and accomplished a definite mission in life. Because of her personal piety ?her Christian faith ?and her strong influence on her son, Monica is one of the most revered women in the history of the Christian Church,? Mrs. Pilet concluded.
Ending her talk with an emotional passage taken from St. Augustine?s Confessions, Mrs. Pilet read an account of St. Monica?s death on foreign soil where she was attended by her sons, as well as a grandson who was bom to St. Augustine and his mistress of 14 years. Augustine wrote: ?On the ninth day of her sickness and the 56th year of her age that religious and holy soul was freed from the body. I closed her eyes.?
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