Saint Scholastica

Scholastica was the sister of Saint Benedict, and tradition says his twin. Like her brother she gave her life to God from her youth. When he settled at Monte Cassino she lived nearby with a community of women at Plombariola, below the mountain. She is honoured as the mother of Benedictine nuns.

All we know of her comes from a single, lovely story in the Dialogues of Saint Gregory the Great. Once a year brother and sister met at a house between their two monasteries to spend the day praising God and talking of holy things. At their last meeting, as night fell, Scholastica begged Benedict to stay and go on talking about the joys of heaven until morning. He refused: he could not spend a night outside his monastery. She bowed her head on her hands and prayed. At once, from a clear sky, came such a storm of thunder, lightning and rain that neither Benedict nor his monks could step outside.

“May God forgive you, sister,” he said. “What have you done?” She answered: “I asked you, and you would not listen to me. So I asked my God, and he did listen. Now go, if you can.” So they spent the night in holy conversation. Gregory’s comment has become famous: “She could do more, because she loved more.”

Three days later, in his cell, Benedict saw his sister’s soul rise to heaven in the form of a dove. He had her body brought to Monte Cassino and laid in the tomb he had prepared for himself, where he was buried beside her a few years later.