Author photo of Colleen E. Mitchell

Colleen E. Mitchell

Colleen E. Mitchell is the associate director of outreach for the Augustinian Institute at Villanova University, where she also serves as assistant teaching professor in political science. She is the editor of The Augustine Blog. 

Her research focuses on the political thought of Augustine and Niccolò Machiavelli. She recently taught a course alongside Fr. Allan Fitzgerald, OSA, and Jessie Pagan, on Augustinian spirituality and women, and helped to lead over 30 women pilgrims to Augustinian sites in Italy in May 2026. She plans to conduct future research on the history and spirituality of women in the Order of St. Augustine.

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St. Augustine and St. Monica are depicted in stained glass at the Cathedral Basilica of St. Augustine, in St. Augustine, Florida. (Wikimedia Commons/Nheyob, CC BY-SA 4.0)

We can look to these 4 women of Augustinian spirituality

While a deficit of women's writings and a mostly cloistered lifestyle leaves the female experience of Augustinian spirituality something of an enigma, four saints model a spirit of devotion, courage and mysticism.

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