Patricia Grosse: From Flesh to Bones: The Entanglement of Love and Desire in the Life and Afterlife of St. Monnica

The first mention of St. Monnica in her son’s autobiographical text Confessions occurs in conf. I.vi.7 in the context of his lack of memory of his infancy and the divine swelling of her breasts with milk. The importance of Monnica’s milk as a metaphor for Augustine’s imbibing of the Christian faith can be seen throughout the text—and, indeed, in many places in his work. Augustine’s last direct reference to his mother in in the Confessions comes at the very end of Book IX and is immediately followed by his famously confusing account of memory. At the close of his “traditional” autobiography, Augustine confirms that his confessions seek to elicit prayers for his mother from his readers (conf.IX.xiii.37). Given the primacy of Monnica in the Confessions, it is no wonder that she has been the focus of several feminist studies.Recent interest in the mother of Augustine offers an opportunity to take seriously the experience and importance of women in both the formation of Christian thought as well as the development of Christian praxis. In this essay, I will utilize embodied emotion and extended mind theories in order to explore the materiality of emotion and love in Augustine’s thought in the context of his discussions of his mother in the Confessions. By exploring the intensity of emotive feelings of son for mother and vice versa, I will entangle Augustine’s theology of love and desire in his relationship with and understanding of his mother.