ST. SCHOLASTICA, Virgin & Religious Patron Saint of: - nuns - school - tests - reading - convulsive children - Invoked against storms and rain
Quote:
The holy nun said to her brother: “Please do not leave me tonight; let us go on until morning talking about the delights of the spiritual life.” “Sister,” he replied, “what are you saying? I simply cannot stay outside my cell.” When she heard her brother refuse her request, the holy woman joined her hands on the table, laid her head on them and began to pray. As she raised her head from the table, there were such brilliant flashes of lightning, such great peals of thunder and such a heavy downpour of rain that neither Benedict nor his brethren could stir across the threshold of the place where they had been seated. ~Dialogues, Saint Gregory the Great
Saint Scholastica was born into a wealthy family around the year 480 AD, in Nursia, central Italy, during the political chaos after the fall of the Western Roman emperor. She and her brother, Benedict—likely her twin—are now honored as great saints as the mother and father of Western monasticism.
As a child, Scholastica dedicated herself to God’s service, living modestly despite the family’s wealth. When Benedict left home to become a hermit and eventually to found a monastery with a new monastic rule, she marveled at his hidden life of prayer and work. His vocation called out to her, and she received permission from the local bishop to enter a home of virgins who adopted Benedict’s new monastic rule. Benedict assisted them and made Scholastica the abbess of the home.
Benedict’s new rule of monasticism focused on forming permanent, self-contained, and self-supporting monasteries that followed a strict regimen of prayer and work. After aspirants’ callings were tested for a period of time, they made vows, permanently committing themselves to God and the community. Their lives were structured and ordered under the direction of an abbot or abbess to whom the monks and nuns vowed obedience. Soon after Benedict’s humble monastery on Monte Cassino began to bloom, Scholastica received permission to adopt his rule with a group of virgins, making them the first convent of Benedictine nuns. In the following centuries, their way of life spread far and wide across the Western world.
Though Scholastica’s convent was only a few miles from Benedict’s monastery, the two met just once a year, in keeping with their strict rule of life. Each year, they met at a nearby house and spent the day conversing on holy topics. When the twins were around the age of sixty-three, they met for what would be their final conversation on earth. They spent the day praising God and engaged in spiritual talk. After a light dinner, Benedict announced that he and his companions needed to return to the monastery. Scholastica begged Benedict to stay so that they could continue conversing about God. Benedict responded, “Sister, what are you saying? I simply cannot stay outside my cell.” Scholastica bowed her head in prayer, and God sent forth a lightning storm so powerful that Benedict and his brothers could not leave. The siblings parted the next day, and three days later, Benedict had a vision of his sister’s soul being taken to Heaven in the form of a dove. He had his brothers bring her body to the monastery where she was buried in the grave intended for Benedict. Four years later, Benedict died and was buried with his sister. United by grace and a shared mission in this life, Benedict and Scholastica share a grave from which they will rise together on the last day.
Scholastica and Benedict teach us the value of holy friendships that build each other up and give glory to God. We are made for communion with God, and for communion with one another.
Prayer: Saint Scholastica, you and your brother shared not only the same family, but you were also deeply united in a spiritual friendship centered on God. Please pray for me, that I may discover friends who assist me on my journey through this world and that I may be such a friend to others. Saint Scholastica and Saint Benedict, pray for me. Jesus, I trust in You.