scholastica

{{Infobox saint

| honorific_prefix= Saint

| name = Scholastica

| birth_date = {{circa|480}}

| death_date = 10 February {{death year and age|543|480}}

| feast_day = 10 February

| venerated_in = {{ubl|Catholic Church|Eastern Orthodox ChurchFebruary 23 / February 10. https://www.holytrinityorthodox.com/htc/orthodox-calendar/|Anglican Communion}}

| image = File:Jean Baptiste de Champaigne (1631-1681) (attributed to) - Saint Benedict and Saint Scholastica and Two Companions in a Landscape - 290251 - National Trust.jpg

| imagesize =

| caption = Saint Scholastica, Saint Benedict and companions

| birth_place = Nursia, Kingdom of Italy

| death_place = near Monte Cassino

| titles = Virgin

| beatified_date =

| beatified_place =

| beatified_by =

| canonized_date = Pre-Congregation

| canonized_place =

| attributes = in Benedictine religious habit, with crozier and crucifix; with dove flying from her mouth{{cite web |url=http://saints.sqpn.com/saints06.htm |title=Patron Saints Index: Saint Scholastica |publisher=Saints.sqpn.com |access-date=20 May 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120207160156/http://saints.sqpn.com/saints06.htm |archive-date=7 February 2012 }}

| major_shrine =

| suppressed_date =

| issues =

}}

Scholastica ({{IPAc-en|s|k|ə|ˈ|l|æ|s|t|ɪ|k|ə}}; {{circa|480}} – 10 February 543) was an Italian Christian hermit and the sister of Benedict of Nursia. She is traditionally regarded as the foundress of the Benedictine nuns.

Scholastica is honored as a saint of the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox Church and Anglican Communion. She was born in Italy, and a ninth-century tradition makes her the twin sister of Benedict. Her feast day is 10 February.

Life

According to the 6th-century Dialogues of Gregory the Great, Scholastica was born c. 480 in Nursia, Umbria, of wealthy parents (Anicius Eupropius and his wife Claudia Abondantia Reguardati). While Gregory only states that Scholastica was Benedict's sister, a later tradition says she was his twin (whether this is meant biologically or spiritually, or both, is unclear). Gregory also says she was dedicated to God from a young age. She and her brother Benedict were brought up together until the time he left to pursue studies in Rome.[https://books.google.com/books?id=jAPnDqXxVmMC&dq=Saint+Scholastica&pg=PA5 Mary Richard Boo OSB and Joan M. Braun OSB, Emerging from the Shadows: St. Scholastica, in Medieval Women Monastics], (Miriam Schmitt OSB and Linda Kulzer OSB, eds) The Liturgical Press, Collegeville, 1996 {{ISBN|9780814622926}}

A young Roman woman of Scholastica's class and time would likely have remained in her father's house until marriage or entry into consecrated life. On occasion several consecrated virgins would live together in a household and form a community.{{Cite web|url=https://www.indiana.edu/~engs/scholas.htm|title=St. Scholastica - Traditional twin of St. Benedict|website=www.indiana.edu|access-date=12 February 2020}}

Benedictine history shows that Scholastica established a hermitage about five miles from Monte Cassino and that this was the first convent of Benedictine nuns.{{Cite web|url=https://www.osb.org//gen/scholastica.html|title=Saint Scholastica, Virgin and Religious Founder. OSB.|website=www.osb.org|access-date=12 February 2020}} However, it is possible that Scholastica lived in a hermitage with one or two other consecrated virgins in a cluster of houses at the base of Mount Cassino where there is an ancient church under her patronage Monastero di Santa Scolastica. Ruth Clifford Engs notes that since Dialogues indicates that Scholastica was dedicated to God at an early age, perhaps she lived in her father's house with other religious women until his death and then moved nearer to Benedict.

Narrative from the ''Dialogues''

File:Klosterkirche Elchingen 10.jpg

The most commonly told story about her is that Scholastica would, once a year, go and visit her brother at a place near his abbey, and they would spend the day worshiping together and discussing sacred texts and issues.

One day they had supper and continued their conversation. When Benedict indicated it was time for him to leave, Scholastica, perhaps sensing that the time of her death was drawing near, asked him to stay with her for the evening so they could continue their discussions. Not wishing to break his own Rule, Benedict refused, insisting that he needed to return to his cell. At that point, Scholastica closed her hands in prayer, and after a moment, a wild storm started outside of the guest house in which they were staying. Benedict asked, "What have you done?", to which she replied, "I asked you and you would not listen; so I asked my God and he did listen. So now go off, if you can; leave me and return to your monastery." Benedict was unable to return to his monastery, and they spent the night in discussion.

Three days later, from his cell, he saw his sister's soul leaving the earth and ascending to heaven in the form of a shining white dove. Benedict had her body brought to his monastery, where he had it laid in the tomb which he had prepared for himself.

The Anglo-Saxon bishop and scholar Aldhelm recounts the story in both the De Laude Virginitatis, written for the nuns at Barking, and in the shorter Carmen de virginitate.

Studies

File:Kleinmariazell - Altar Scholastica 2.jpg]]

What is known of Scholastica derives from the Dialogues of Gregory the Great.Posa, Carmel. The Lost Dialogue of Gregory the Great : The Life of St. Scholastica. 1st ed. Collegeville: Liturgical Press, 2024 Early calendars and place names in the area around Monte Cassino support the historical accuracy of St. Gregory the Great's account of her life.Beau, A., Le Culte et les reliques de Saint Benoît et de Sainte Scholastique, Abadia de Montserrat/University of Virginia, (1979) {{ISBN|9788472023666}} Gregory names as his sources four of Benedict's contemporaries. A contemporary, Caesarius of Arles, wrote the Regula virginum (Rule for Virgins), a rule drawn up for virgins living in community, for a community which was headed by his sister, Caesaria.[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03135b.htm Shahan, Thomas. "St. Caesarius of Arles." The Catholic Encyclopedia] Vol. 3. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1908. 10 February 2018

Veneration

Scholastica is the patron saint of Benedictine nuns, education, and convulsive children, and is invoked against storms and rain. Her feast is celebrated on 10 February,{{cite book |last1=Mazar |first1=Peter |title=School Year, Church Year |date=2000 |publisher=LiturgyTrainingPublications |isbn=978-1-56854-240-9 |language=en}} and Saint Scholastica's Day bears special importance in the Benedictine monastic calendar.{{cite book |last1=Webber |first1=Donald |title=Silence and Peace |date=2008 |publisher=Lulu |isbn=978-0-615-20507-6 |page=63 |language=en}} The Diocese of Aachen locally keeps a secondary feast of the translation of Scholastica's relics on 6 February, while Premonstratensians commemorate her on 9 February. Scholastica is also remembered in the Church of England{{Cite web |title=The Calendar |url=https://www.churchofengland.org/prayer-and-worship/worship-texts-and-resources/common-worship/churchs-year/calendar |access-date=27 March 2021 |website=The Church of England |language=en}} and the Episcopal Church{{Cite web |title=Scholastica of Nursia, Monastic, 543 |url=https://www.episcopalchurch.org/lectionary/scholastica-of-nursia/ |access-date=21 July 2022 |website=The Episcopal Church |language=en-US}} on 10 February.

In iconography, Scholastica is represented in a Benedictine habit, often as an abbess, and holding the Rule of Saint Benedict, with a crucifix or an ascending dove.Lexikon der christlichen Ikonographie, (Kirschbaum and Bandmann, eds.),8.315-16

Scholastica was selected as the main motif for a high-value commemorative coin: the Austria €50 'The Christian Religious Orders', issued 13 March 2002. On the obverse (head) side, Scholastica is shown alongside her brother, Benedict.

Gallery

File:1748 Zeiller Die hl. Scholastika anagoria.JPG|Saint Scholastica with Nuns of the Benedictine Order and its Affiliations

File:Anne of Austria with her children (King Louis XIV and Philippe, Duke of Anjou) praying to the Holy trinity (Philippe de Champaigne).jpg|Anne of Austria with her children (King Louis XIV and Philippe, Duke of Anjou) praying to the Holy Trinity

File:Sebastiano ricci, madonna in trono e santi, 1708, 02.jpg|Madonna and Child with Saints

References

External links

[http://d.lib.rochester.edu/teams/text/whatley-saints-lives-in-middle-english-collections-life-of-st-scholastica-introduction Whatley, E. Gordon, Thompson, Anne B., and Upchurch, Robert K. "The Life of St. Scholastica:Introduction", Saints Lives in Middle English Collections, Medieval Institute Publications, Kalamazoo, Michigan, 2004]
Adrienne von Speyr, ″Book of All Saints: Scholastica″, pp. 347–349. San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2008.
[http://www.ewtn.com/saintsHoly/saints/S/stscholastica.asp Butler, Alban. "St. Scholastica", The Lives or the Fathers, Martyrs and Other Principal Saints, Vol.I, D. & J. Sadlier, & Company, 1864]
[http://www.americancatholic.org/Features/Saints/saint.aspx?id=1287 Foley O.F.M., Leonard, "Saint Scholastica", Saint of the Day, Franciscan Media]

{{Subject bar |portal1= Saints |portal2= Biography |portal3= Catholicism |portal4= Christianity |portal5= Italy}}

Category:480 births

Category:543 deaths

Category:People from Norcia

Category:Benedictine abbesses

Category:Benedictine spirituality

Category:Benedictine saints

Category:6th-century Italian nuns

Category:6th-century Christian nuns

Category:Italian Roman Catholic saints

Category:Founders of Catholic religious communities

Category:Italian twins