Pope Francis goes to pray at St. Monica’s tomb

Pope Francis left the Vatican this August 27 to make a surprise visit to the church of Sant'Agostino a Campo Marzio, in Rome's historic center, where the remains of today's saint rest.

The Holy See Press Office reported late this afternoon about the trip, the pontiff's fourth visit to the Basilica of St. Augustine, which houses the tomb of St. Monica (331-387), mother of the famous bishop of Hippo, in Roman North Africa.

Pope Francis has a special devotion to St. Monica.

In this building, just a stone's throw from Piazza Navona and Piazza del Pantheon, the Pope spent time in prayer in the chapel housing the relics of this 4th-century mother and saint. After stopping to admire Caravaggio's famous painting of the “Madonna of the Pilgrims,” he returned to the Vatican, according to the press office.

During his visits to Rome when he was archbishop of Buenos Aires, Cardinal Bergoglio regularly visited this church to ask St. Augustine's mother for her intercession on behalf of families in difficulty. At that time, he would stay at the Domus Internationalis Paulus VI shelter on the adjacent street.

The Argentine pontiff inherited this “special bond” with St. Monica from his own mother, explains the website of the basilica run by Augustinian monks. Regina Maria Sivori, mother of Jorge Mario Bergoglio, was a member of a group of Christian women who looked to the North African saint as a model for their lives.

Monica is best known for her prayers both for her husband and her son, leading eventually to the conversion of both of them, as well as for her grandson. Her rebellious son went on to become the Doctor of the Church, St. Augustine.

A few months after his election, on August 28, 2013, the 266th pope celebrated Mass in this church to mark the feast of St. Augustine and the opening of the Augustinian Order's General Chapter. During his pontificate, he has made two brief visits to the church -- on August 27, 2018, and August 27, 2020, the liturgical feast of St. Monica.

The remains of St. Augustine are not in this church; instead they rest in San Pietro in Ciel d'Oro ("St. Peter in Golden Sky"), a basilica (and a former cathedral) of the Augustinians, which is located in Pavia, in northern Italy.