Tuesday, August 27, 2024

*** This is a rough transcript of today’s show ***

It is the 27th of August 2024. Welcome to the Christian History Almanac, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org; I’m Dan van Voorhis.

Today, we remember a character you may well be familiar with; she was mentioned on a recent show of my top 10 “Church Mothers.” This lets me address a recurring question that goes something like this: “Why don’t you feature more female characters on your show”? I answer, “I do try,” but the fact of the matter is that women have historically been underrepresented in places of power and authority. Whether this is an issue of nature, design, or undue hierarchy, it is the case historically.

But anyone who has, you know… lived (?) knows that for every man, there is a mother, wife, or sister without whom the man wouldn’t be able to succeed similarly. So, the accidents of history are such that we have more stories and reports of men acting in the historical record, but we do well to scratch beneath the surface to find female friends, colleagues, and relatives to highlight.

All of this is a prelude to remembering perhaps the most famous mother in church history—not “church mother” as analogous to “church father” but a literal mom of someone.

My top 10 show featured Helena “St. Helena.” She got the whole “let’s find relics in the holy lands and then fight over who gets what” started, so…

Susanna Wesley, mother to John and Charles, is famous but also somewhat infamous, depending on your views on childrearing.

Katarina Luther gets over in a way that other Reformation spouses don’t. Idelette Calvin and Anna Zwingli don’t have their wedding anniversary celebrations, and towns across Germany are still shut down (next year is their 500th wedding anniversary, and it will be huge).

But when it comes to the “women-behind-the-men” in church history, there is an archetype and a first, the long-suffering mother of St. Augustine of Hippo- St. Monica. 

I’d invite you to listen to a weekend edition about a year ago on St. Augustine with a friend of mine, the Rev dr. Daryl Ellis, whose PhD work at Vanderbilt was on Augustine. He walks us through the famous theologian.

But Augustine’s “Confessions” marks the first “Christian Autobiography” and remains an unmatched work in the genre.

It was Augustine’s preeminent biographer, Peter Brown, who wrote, “What Augustine remembered in the Confessions was his inner life, and this inner life is dominated by one figure- Monica.”

Augustine’s father was a pagan, while Monica was a devout Christian (if not mixed with some superstition, i.e., she had meals at the tombs of the dead). In his early days, he lost his father's affection by sharing his mother's piety.

However, as readers of The Confessions know, Augustine will soon begin living his profligate lifestyle in search of fame and pleasure and will “abandon” his mother- he relates these two “second birth pangs.”  

She also suffered with her pagan husband and his affairs. According to Augustine, her prayers for her husband were efficacious, and he would convert before his death.

Augustine credits (in part; it’s complicated) the prayers of this mother of a wayward son with his conversion. By his mid-40s (when he was writing The Confessions), he sees in his mother the refrained and dignified peacekeeper he desires to be (according to Brown).

Thus, she is the patron saint of all praying mothers, praying for wayward children and their conversion, piety, and general well-being. 

And yes, it was a pair of springs coming from a rock near the Pacific Ocean in California that reminded one explorer of the tears of the saint's mother—and today, we call it “Santa Monica.” She lived from approximately 333 to 387, and her feast day has been celebrated across church bodies on this, the 27th of August.

The last word for today is from Philippians 1:

12 Now I want you to know, brothers and sisters,[b that what has happened to me has actually served to advance the gospel. 13 As a result, it has become clear throughout the whole palace guard[c] and to everyone else that I am in chains for Christ. 14 And because of my chains, most of the brothers and sisters have become confident in the Lord and dare all the more to proclaim the gospel without fear.

15 It is true that some preach Christ out of envy and rivalry, but others out of goodwill. 16 The latter do so out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. 17 The former preach Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing that they can stir up trouble for me while I am in chains. 18 But what does it matter? The important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached. And because of this I rejoice.

This has been the Christian History Almanac for the 27th of August 2024, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org.

The show is produced by a man whose mother is the patron saint of liking these shows on Facebook- he is Christopher Gillespie.

The show is written and read by a man who enrolled at Santa Monica City College, got classes, and then just didn’t show up… I took the year off.  Dan van Voorhis. 

You can catch us here every day- and remember that the rumors of grace, forgiveness, and the redemption of all things are true…. Everything is going to be ok.