The hidden life of St. Scholastica

Scholastica is derived from the word “scholarly,” with a Latin root meaning orator, rhetorician. Upon hearing the name, Scholastica, is it any wonder the notion of intelligence comes to mind? Yet, St. Scholastica (c. 480-547) lived out her name in a unique way. Not recognized for contributions to academic findings and achievements, she is remembered for adherence to a spiritual discovery. 

Born into a wealthy Italian family in the late 400s, Scholastica was consecrated to God in her infancy. Like most families, her brother Benedict, who also may have been her twin, had a profound impact on her life. 

Benedict, an abbot of Monte Cassino in Italy, is credited with spreading monasticism in the west by developing the Benedictine Rule, which offers instruction for living a religious life and has been adhered to for centuries. 

Scholastica followed Benedict’s example and denied worldly possessions, entering a Benedictine community of nuns. Observing the Benedictine Rule, Scholastica is associated with flourishing in the female Benedictine tradition. It meant a life of poverty, chastity, obedience, and remaining cloistered from the world. As abbess of the religious community, she led nuns in living out the Benedictine motto “ora et labora,” the Latin phrase for “pray and work.” 

She is said to have lived in a convent about five miles away from Monte Cassino in a neighborhood called Piumarola. 

During the century in which Scholastica was born, Rome had crumbled in the west, and power was centralized in the east at Constantinople. Not abandoning their Italian roots, Scholastica and Benedict carried on with their lives quietly devoted to a monastic existence, which by example, was planting seeds of spirituality, order and balance in others. 

Thus, in the proceeding centuries, monasteries were slowly being erected across Europe, contributing to the landscapes of horticulture, architecture, humanities, and customs that quietly created footprints on European soil until the Renaissance in the fifteenth century. 

The veneration of Scholastica began in the seventh century. Anglo-Saxon poet, Aldhelm, wrote of Scholastica in his poem “De Virginitate,” highlighting her purity and the bond she shared with her brother. 

Pope St. Gregory the Great (c. 540-604) also wrote of her in his “Dialogues.” He pens the story of Scholastica visiting her brother at a nearby location for only one day a year. According to Benedict’s “Rule,” they would be able to share about God’s hand in their lives and spiritual matters during that one day.

During a particular family visit, Scholastica sensed the end of her life was near and begged Benedict to stay longer than his Rule allowed, but he insisted that he must leave the same day. Realizing her brother’s resolve, Scholastica asked God to intercede. Soon a storm came down, and Benedict asked his sister what she had done. Her reply was since he would not listen, perhaps God would. 

One day soon after the storm, he noticed a dove flying into clouds, taking it as a sign that his sister had parted from this earthly pilgrimage. Informing his brother monks, he went to bury Scholastica in the resting place intended for himself. 

According to Dialogues, St. Gregory wrote that Scholastica acted out of love for her brother, which is in line with the charity of God and surpasses the law of Benedict’s Rule: the love of a sister for her brother.

Here siblings, both alike in a commitment to the Benedictine way of life, are faced with mortality, an innocent request for humanity above rules, and a belief in God’s understanding for pure human connection in the form of their last goodbye. 

Despite many monastery cemeteries imbued with anonymity, for example, headstones identifying “a holy monk,” Scholastica’s tomb is etched with her name where the faithful can pray at Monte Cassino. 

Hidden during her earthly life, Scholastica is a woman of strength for her decision to leave material pleasures behind —even family, placing the love of God above all else. 

St. Scholastica is the patron saint of cloistered and Benedictine nuns. Her feast day is Feb. 10.