St Scholastica: Sister of St Benedict, Life, Prayer, Feast

St Scholastica is the sister, and by tradition the twin, of St Benedict, the father of Western monks: a virgin consecrated to God from childhood who, at their last meeting, obtained by her tears a storm that kept her brother at her side for a night of holy conversation, and whose soul he saw rise to heaven three days later in the form of a dove. All we know of her comes from two chapters of St Gregory the Great's Dialogues, which the Breviary reads on her feast. The Roman calendar of 1962 keeps her on 10 February, a feast of the third class in white vestments; here is her story, the prayers of her Mass in Latin and English, and what she is patron of.

Who was St Scholastica?

Scholastica was the sister of St Benedict, born like him in the province of Nursia, in Umbria, toward the end of the fifth century; an old tradition makes them twins. St Gregory says only that she "had been dedicated to almighty God from her very infancy".

Where she lived her consecrated life at first is not known, whether at home or in a community. After her brother settled at Monte Cassino, she lived at Plombariola, in the same neighbourhood, about five miles south of his monastery. St Gregory tells us that Benedict directed nuns as well as monks, and Butler judges that she must have been their abbess under his guidance; that is why the Benedictine nuns look on her as their mother. Butler dates her death to 543.

Her name is the Latin scholastica, "of the school"; nothing is recorded of why it was given her, but it suits the sister of the man whose Rule calls the monastery "a school of the Lord's service".

St Benedict and St Scholastica: the story of the storm

Once a year Scholastica came to see her brother. Since she could not enter his monastery, he came down with some of his monks to a house belonging to the monastery a little way outside the gate. St Gregory tells the story of their last visit, and the Roman Breviary reads it at Matins on her feast. In our own translation from the Latin:

One day she came as usual, and her venerable brother came down to her with some of his disciples. They spent the whole day in the praises of God and in holy conversation, and when the darkness of night was already falling they took their meal together. While they were still at table, and the hour was growing late in their holy talk, the holy woman his sister begged him: "I beg you, do not leave me this night, so that we may speak until morning of the joys of the heavenly life." He answered: "What are you saying, sister? I cannot by any means stay outside my cell." The sky was so clear that not a cloud was to be seen. The holy woman, hearing her brother's refusal, clasped her hands on the table and laid her head on them to pray to almighty God. And as she lifted her head from the table, there broke out such lightning and thunder and such a downpour of rain that neither the venerable Benedict nor the brethren with him could set a foot over the threshold of the place where they sat.

For the holy woman, as she bowed her head in her hands, had poured out a flood of tears upon the table, and by them had drawn rain from a clear sky. The storm did not follow her prayer even a little later: so closely did prayer and downpour agree that she was already lifting her head from the table with the thunder, and the raising of her head and the falling of the rain were one and the same moment. Then the man of God, seeing that amid the lightning and thunder and the great flood of rain he could not return to the monastery, began to complain sadly: "May almighty God forgive you, sister! What have you done?" She answered: "See, I asked you, and you would not hear me; I asked my God, and He heard me. Now go out, if you can; leave me, and go back to your monastery." But he, unable to go out of doors, stayed against his will where he had not wished to stay of his own accord. And so it came about that they spent the whole night awake, and fed each other with holy talk of the spiritual life.

The death of St Scholastica and the dove

The next day the venerable woman returned to her cell, and the man of God to his monastery. And behold, three days later, standing in his cell and lifting his eyes to the sky, he saw his sister's soul, gone forth from the body, enter the secret places of heaven in the form of a dove. Rejoicing in her great glory, he gave thanks to almighty God in hymns and praises, and told the brethren of her death. He sent them at once to bring her body to the monastery and lay it in the tomb he had prepared for himself. And so it came about that the bodies of those whose minds had ever been one in God were not parted even by the grave.

The dove is her emblem in art, where she is shown in a nun's habit with a dove beside her. Benedict himself was later laid in the same tomb. Her relics, with his, are said to have been carried to France in the seventh century and deposited at Le Mans.

What is St Scholastica the patron saint of?

She is honoured as the patroness of Benedictine nuns, the first of a long line of women who have lived under her brother's Rule, among them St Hildegard of Bingen. Popular devotion, remembering the storm she obtained, invokes her against storms. These are customs of Christian piety, not patronages the Church has formally decreed.

The prayers of the feast of St Scholastica (Missal of 1962)

St Scholastica's Mass is Dilexisti, from the Common of Virgins, with the Gospel of the ten virgins (St Matthew xxv. 1-13). Its Collect is proper to her, and recalls the dove of her death:

Collect, 10 February

Deus, qui animam beatae Virginis tuae Scholasticae ad ostendendam innocentiae viam in columbae specie coelum penetrare fecisti: da nobis ejus meritis et precibus ita innocenter vivere; ut ad aeterna mereamur gaudia pervenire. Per Dominum nostrum Jesum Christum Filium tuum, qui tecum vivit et regnat in unitate Spiritus Sancti Deus, per omnia saecula saeculorum. Amen.

O God, who, to show us the way of innocence, didst cause the soul of Thy blessed Virgin Scholastica to enter heaven in the form of a dove: grant us by her merits and prayers so to live in innocence that we may deserve to attain to everlasting joys. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. Amen.

Secret

Accepta tibi sit, Domine, sacratae plebis oblatio pro tuorum honore Sanctorum: quorum se meritis de tribulatione percepisse cognoscit auxilium. Per Dominum nostrum.

May the offering of Thy consecrated people be acceptable to Thee, O Lord, in honour of Thy Saints, by whose merits it acknowledges that it has received help in tribulation. Through our Lord.

Postcommunion

Satiasti, Domine, familiam tuam muneribus sacris: ejus, quaesumus, semper interventione nos refove, cujus sollemnia celebramus. Per Dominum nostrum.

Thou hast filled Thy household, O Lord, with sacred gifts: ever refresh us, we beseech Thee, by the intercession of her whose feast we celebrate. Through our Lord.

The Collect is the Church's own prayer to St Scholastica for any day.

When is the feast day of St Scholastica?

The feast of St Scholastica is 10 February, a feast of the third class in white vestments in the Roman calendar of 1962; the Breviary reads at Matins the account of St Gregory given above (in a shortened form in the Breviary of 1960). The calendar of 1969 kept her on the same day. Her brother's feast follows on 21 March, the day of his death. You will find both in our traditional Catholic calendar of 1962, and the other holy women of the year in our guide to the Catholic saints.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who was the brother of St Scholastica?

St Benedict of Nursia, the founder of Monte Cassino and author of the Rule that bears his name, whose twin she was according to tradition.

What miracles are told of St Scholastica?

The storm obtained by her prayer at her last meeting with St Benedict, and the vision of her soul rising to heaven as a dove three days later, both told by St Gregory the Great.

Where is St Scholastica buried?

St Benedict laid her in the tomb he had prepared for himself at Monte Cassino, where he was later buried beside her. Tradition holds that relics of both were later carried to France, hers to Le Mans.

What was St Scholastica's last day like?

She spent the day with her brother in praise of God and holy conversation, obtained the storm that kept him there, and passed the night with him speaking of the joys of heaven; she died three days later.

What was the St Scholastica's Day riot?

A town-and-gown brawl at Oxford that began on her feast, 10 February 1355, with a quarrel between students and a tavern keeper and lasted three days. It took its name from the date; it has nothing to do with the saint herself.

Did St Scholastica write anything?

No writing of hers has come down to us. What we have of her words are the few sentences St Gregory records.

The Iter Fidei app carries the Roman Missal and the Breviary of 1962, with St Gregory's account of St Scholastica read at Matins on her feast, and the traditional calendar, in Latin and English. Join early access here.

Sources. St Gregory the Great, Dialogues, Book II, chapters 33-34, as read in the Roman Breviary, 10 February. Alban Butler, Lives of the Saints, 10 February (St Scholastica, Virgin). Roman Missal (1962), Proper of Saints, 10 February, and Common of Virgins.