Statue of Saint Monica

Eugene Morahan

Statue of Saint Monica

Completed in 1934

12ft concrete statue, placed on a 6 ft stepped concrete plinth

Saint Monica born and raised in a Christian family was married off to a bad-tempered and an adulterous man. She gave birth to a son named Saint Augustine of Hippo and whose writings allows the audience to know about Saint Monica’s life. She was a religious, loving woman and continuously prayed for the wellbeing of her son and husband. Saint Monica’s Christian values, suffering, and patients were highly respected and looked upon. She had dedicated her life to her family and was considered a great woman. In order, to remember Saint Monica and appreciate her sacrifices, Eugene Morahan created her statue in 1934. The artist was influenced by the life of Saint Monica and her selflessness. He decided to build her statue which now stands in Palisades Park. It signifies the purity and innocence of Saint Monica and preaches the viewers the lesson of patience. The statue was build in the hope that it would be a tower of strength and patience to all the mothers everywhere. The fact that this statue was made tells us that Saint Monica reflected an exemplary woman and people especially women would get inspired by her. The statue prevails over her relationship with her son, and therefore, it represents the unique relation of a mother and son. The story of Saint Monica is essential in our class because it resembles the mother-son bond between Jesus and Mary. The art that exists in real life helps us connect with and understand the art we are studying in our course in a better way.

Located in the bustling city of Santa Monica, CA, at 18ft high, the concrete statue of Saint Monica provides us with an expressionless woman who shows her emotion by crossing her hands over her chest and closing her eyes. Her elegantly straight hair spans half the statue, wraps around her back and falls forward. Her dress pleats over each layer of clothing, providing us with an aesthetic wardrobe that shares the same pattern as her hair. While the statue is that of a woman, one could say the hooded folds, and the overall shape of the statue appear phallic. The statue provides us with less realistic facial features and clothing, simplistically displaying her beauty due to the Art Deco stylization rather than naturalistic.

Carlos Flores, Janet Hernandez Lopez, Gabriela Aguilar, Leroy Simpkins, Baima Yougecang, Fatima Valadez, Yesenia Cruz Morales, Iqra Hajidamji, Katherine Butterfield, Arav Kapur

Saint Monica is admired by the Catholic Church due to her determined effort, as a mother, for the good of her children. Monica is known for doing everything she was able in order to lead her children toward the path of God. According to Franciscan Media, Monica had at least three children with her husband [Patricius], the oldest son being Augustine, who is the most famous of the three. Patricius had passed away when Augustine was only seventeen years of age. After the passing of his father, Augustine had accepted “all flesh is evil” and began living an immoral life. Saint Monica was troubled by discovering her son has is corrupted of his faith; Monica kicked Augustine out of the household declining food and shelter. Then one night she had a vision about Augustine returning to his lost faith. After the vision, she would keep close to her eldest son and prayed and fasted for his religious return. Augustine would soon approach the age twenty-nine when he would want to teach in Rome. Monica was set to go with Augustine until he secretly left without her. However, he did not realize his mother’s determination to stay abide him, she followed him to Rome. Together In Milan, Augustine met a bishop by the name of Saint Ambrose, who would become Augustine and Monica’s spiritual counselor. Throughout Augustine’s teachings, Monica showed great devotion to her son, and she continued her prayers to fulfill her vision. Easter 387, Saint Ambrose baptized Augustine. Soon after, Augustine departed for Africa covertly. Monica, now older, knew her life was at a near end. She became ill and for nine days dealt with the agony of her sickness before Saint Monica would reach her death. St. Monica is not admired as a saint because she is the mother of St. Augustine, but she is respected for of her continual determination in the exercise of patience and faith towards her son despite his sins.

At a very young age, Saint Monica was subjected to violent behavior from her husband, ePatricius and his mother. Proving to be a difficult challenge in Saint Monica’s life as her husband did not agree with her religious beliefs but respected her. Monica spent a significant amount of her life trying to help her husband and mother in law understand the importance of practicing Catholicism and the value it possessed in her life. In a turn of events, a year before his death, Monica had successfully converted Patricius into a devout Catholic. Although Monica’s marriage was not ideal, she bore three children by the names of Augustine, Navigius, and Perpetua. Augustine, being the eldest of her three children, fell ill and at the request of his mother was baptized, the start of turmoil and tragedy in both Monica and Augustine’s life. Augustine had been a rebellious child and unlike his siblings decided to not enter into the religious life. Upsetting Monica, so much so, that she sent Augustine away to Carthage, located in modern-day Tunisia, to finish his schooling. It was in Carthage that Augustine discovered the Manichaean religion in which the world viewed as light and darkness. Monica strongly disagreed with Augustine’s newfound religion to the point where he could no longer live with her. Although Monica had sent Augustine away from her home, strong visions of mending the broken relationship between her and her son kept that light of hope lit within her. The statue of St.Monica highlights the fundamental relationship between a mother and son. In the case of Monica, the relationship had mainly been shattered by the defiance of her son and his choice to go against the word of his mother. It is relevant primarily to our class as this mother-son bond can be distinguished in that of Jesus and Mary which juxtaposes that of Monica and Augustine. Jesus had been conceived by his holy mother Mary to save sinners from an eternity of damnation. Mary was a pure and innocent virgin who suffered humiliation at the hands of those who believed that Jesus was not the legitimate child of Joseph.

Nonetheless, Mary saw her son through the end of his final days. Similar to Mary, Monica had been questioned for her religious beliefs by those around her but continued to believe in her faith. She prayed that one day her son would stop his sinful ways and find that beacon of light. Eventually, Augustine saw the wrongs of his ways and placed him onto the right path. Much like Mary, St. Monica never lost hope in her son and saw him through until the last days of her life. In a broader sense, Saint Monica is the mother of a city, in hopes of saving the ‘sinners’ of Santa Monica. To the course material, this pattern can also be perceived in Ancient Greek culture, where monuments such as the Temple of Hera, is commemorative of a divine, God-like presence. This presence governs a city from harm and serves almost as a vessel or a mediator between sinners and the afterlife. It also strongly reiterates the strong presence of female goddess culture, which was often the case in Ancient Greek culture. Within the statue of Saint Monica, we can interpret from the overwhelming, strong presence of Monica, that she would fit into the idea of a robust female goddess. Although it is not explicitly mentioned, Saint Monica is indicative of the strong female goddess culture that we have explored throughout our coursework. Our everyday objects such as the statue of Saint Monica allows us to interpret class material into our daily views and values of the art within our culture.

It is easy to see how the statue of Saint Monica can link to the coursework we have been covering in multiple ways. One of the most significant topics we have covered throughout the semester is the theme and roles of women in art. The depiction of women throughout art history proves that from the beginning of time humans have used women as central figures in order to further a belief. Whether that belief is that women are mystical, powerful, or holy, how a woman is displayed in the art can be telling of the time and the religious ideology behind the time. Understanding Saint Monica's elaborate backstory, hardships, and pain as a woman gives her strength and puts one's understanding of her as a saint as well as a woman in a whole new light. Another thing with the statue of Saint Monica that ties with the coursework and is essential to take into account is that Saint Monica was an early Christian Saint. In early Christianity, we see that art and spirituality shift towards simplistic representation to ensure that the story narrative is more important than figures displayed as naturalistic. What makes the statue of Saint Monica all the more captivating is the fact that she is stylized in a simple manner and shows no naturalism, following the early Christian idea that emphasizes religion over realistic art. It was fascinating to uncover that our entire group was familiar with the statue of Saint Monica, but had never really thought about it until being able to discuss and connect to it through knowledge from our Art History course. This group project has solidified the fact that we never stop learning and that art is all around us and can always be connected with purpose and rich history.


Citations:

1.“SAINT MONICA STATUE IN PALISADES PARK CELEBRATES ITS 80TH ANNIVERSARY.” Santa Monica Mirror, 22 December 2014, https://smmirror.com/2014/12/saint-monica-statue-in-palisades-park-celebrates-its-80th-anniversary/
2. “Saint Monica.” Franciscan media, https://www.franciscanmedia.org/saint-monica/
3. “Santa Monica History.” Santa Monica History Museum, media, https://santamonicahistory.org/santa-monica-history/
4. “St. Monica - Saints & Angels.” Catholic Online, Catholic Online, www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=1