Saint Scholastica, Virgin
S. Scholasticae Virginis
The sister of Saint Benedict, consecrated to God from her youth, and honoured as the first mother of Benedictine nuns.
Saint Scholastica was the sister — by ancient tradition, the twin sister — of the great patriarch of Western monasticism, Saint Benedict. Consecrated to God from her earliest years, she gave herself wholly to His service, and is venerated as the first of the Benedictine nuns, the spiritual mother of all the women who would follow the Rule of her brother.
Brother and Sister
Nearly all that we know of her comes from the Dialogues of Pope Saint Gregory the Great, who tells how she dwelt in a religious house not far from Benedict’s monastery at Monte Cassino, and how the two would meet once a year to speak together of the things of God. Saint Gregory relates that at their last meeting Scholastica, longing to prolong their holy conversation, prayed that her brother might stay; and a sudden storm arose so violent that he could not depart. “She was able to do more,” Gregory writes, “because she loved more.”
Her Holy Death
Three days after that last meeting, Scholastica died, and Benedict, the Dialogues recount, beheld her soul ascending to heaven in the likeness of a dove. He had her body carried to the tomb he had prepared for himself, that not even death might part those whom one mind in God had joined. In Saint Scholastica the Church honours the beauty of a life hidden in God, and the power of a love that, as Saint Gregory says, can obtain from the Lord even what seems impossible.
The Collect
O God, who, to show us the way of innocence, didst cause the soul of Thy blessed Virgin Scholastica to enter heaven in the likeness of a dove: grant, by her merits and prayers, that we may so live in innocence as to attain to everlasting joys. Through our Lord Jesus Christ…
Deus, qui ánimam beátæ Vírginis tuæ Scholásticæ ad ostendéndam innocéntiæ viam in colúmbæ spécie cælum penetráre fecísti: da nobis eius méritis et précibus ita innocénter vívere; ut ad ætérna mereámur gáudia perveníre.
Patronage
Saint Scholastica is honoured as the first mother of Benedictine nuns and is invoked as a patroness against storms and tempests.
In the Modern Calendar
In the modern calendar, the memorial of Saint Scholastica is likewise observed on 10 February.
Common Questions
When is the feast of Saint Scholastica?
The feast of Saint Scholastica is kept on 10 February in both the traditional and the modern calendars. In the 1962 calendar it is a feast of the Third Class.
Who was Saint Scholastica?
Saint Scholastica was the sister of Saint Benedict, consecrated to God from her youth, and is venerated as the first of the Benedictine nuns. Most of what we know of her comes from the Dialogues of Pope Saint Gregory the Great.
Why is Saint Scholastica shown with a dove?
Saint Gregory the Great recounts that when she died, her brother Benedict saw her soul rise to heaven in the form of a dove. For this reason she is often depicted with a dove in Christian art.
See where this feast falls in the Church’s year on the liturgical calendar, or find a Traditional Latin Mass near you.
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