Basilica of Sant'Agostino

Image: Wikimedia Commons

A few steps from Piazza Navona, the Basilica of Sant'Agostino, completed in 1483 as one of Rome's first Renaissance churches, is the motherhouse of the Augustinian Order and the resting place of Saint Monica, whose relics were brought here from Ostia, where she died as she and her son Augustine prepared to sail home to Africa. Mothers still pray at her tomb for children far from the faith, as she prayed for years with tears for Augustine's conversion. Around her gather Caravaggio's Madonna of the Pilgrims, Raphael's prophet Isaiah, Sansovino's Madonna del Parto surrounded by ex-votos for safe births, and a high altar designed by Bernini. On August 27 the Church keeps the feast of this patient mother, one day before her son's.