Relics of St. Monica, St. Augustine of Hippo arrive in Pampanga

LUBAO, Pampanga, Philippines – Thousands of devotees trooped here recently to see the relics of St. Monica and her son St. Augustine of Hippo, the patron saints of this town.

Gov. Lilia Pineda and her daughter Lubao Mayor Mylyn Pineda-Cayab-yab led locals and tourists in welcoming the relics, in whose honor the local parish church in Barangay San Nicolas was built in 1613. Both relics consist of the two saints’ bone fragments.

“We are deeply grateful to the archdiocese of San Fernando, led by Archbishop Paciano Aniceto for helping us negotiate for the coming of the relics of our beloved saints in time for our fiesta,” Pineda said.

She said the relics of St. Augustine will remain at a repository built in the parish church.

The relics, placed in ornate urns, were paraded at the St. Augustine parish church in San Fernando and the St. Monica parish church in Minalin town.

Cayabyab said St. Monica “should inspire Filipino mothers to persevere in the moral upbringing of their children in these times of loose moral concepts.”

She said St. Monica was known to have suffered and prayed for the conversion of her son St. Augustine who was born on Nov. 13 in the year 354 in Algeria in northern Africa.  

After a morally and doctrinally disordered youth, St. Augustine was converted while in Milan and baptized in the year 387 by the city’s bishop, St. Ambrose.

The Lubao parish church was designed by Fr. Antonio de Herrera, who also designed the Church of San Agustin in Manila.

Pineda and her daughter said they are now both praying for the intercessions of St. Monica and St. Augustine, to that their parish church here, like the church of Sta. Monica in Minalin, would be considered a national cultural treasure.