Saint of the week: Scholastica
- Aimee Boudreaux MacIver
- Feb 12
- 3 min read
About 1,500 years ago, a twin brother and sister named Benedict and Scholastica lived in Italy. You may have heard their names on church parishes, monasteries, or schools (including the one where I've taught for 20 years!). Benedict founded a monastery for men and Scholastica founded one for women. Their religious orders have existed ever since, with members all over the world still today. However, while Benedict is so well-known that his name is a byword in Catholic culture and ephemera, Scholastica remains far more obscure.
Yet both became saints.
The verifiable facts of Scholastica's life are few: she was Benedict's twin, she founded a monastery for women, and she lived a life of heroic virtue. The single documented story we have of Scholastica centers on her final visit with Benedict, and it's a shining example of male-female difference and complementarity.
As they led their own communities, Benedict and Scholastica lived far apart and rarely saw each other, but every year they would meet for dedicated brother-sister visit. In 543, the twins had what would be their final visit.
Scholastica knew she was ailing, and that this likely could be the last time they ever saw each other. When Benedict prepared to depart, she asked her brother to stay a bit longer. Benedict said he couldn’t; his monastic rule mandated that he return and he was not willing to bend it. Scholastica gently and firmly persisted, but her brother refused. So she prayed that God would somehow extend their visit. Almost instantly, a heavy storm developed, so intense that Benedict was unable to leave.
Benedict asked her, "What have you done?
She told him, "I asked a favor of you, and you refused to listen to me. You would not yield, so I asked my God, and He—more generous than you—granted my request."
The twins were able to visit for a few more days, and then Benedict returned to his abbey. Scholastica died immediately after he eventually left.
Just as every man and woman are, Benedict and Scholastica were two individuals with their own unique personalities. Not every man is like Benedict, nor every woman like Scholastica. But their story shows how women and men have real differences that offer so much to refine, challenge, and build up each other. Both Benedict and Scholastica were virtuous saints, but they lived this virtue through their own embodied maleness or femaleness. Even as twins leading parallel communities with the same rule, the expression of that rule was different in Scholastica’s monastery than it was in Benedict’s. Their respective differences magnified the good of the other.
A century after her death, Pope St Gregory the Great pointed out that, particularly in contrast to her twin brother, Scholastica "could do more because she loved more." Even without more details or specifics of her life, which certainly would be edifying and helpful, she has given us the most important inheritance: If we want to do more, we must love more. And if we love more, than we are already doing more.
Scholastica's feast is February 10.
Doing more with St Scholastica
This children's picture book presents one of the best retellings of Scholastica's life with heirloom-quality illustrations by Tomie dePaola.
If you're going to Rome, take a day trip to the lush Monte Cassino, a site associated with Benedict and Scholastica. You can tour the monastery and other historic sites filled with medieval treasures.
In the United States, the Benedictine Sisters of Mount Saint Scholastica in Atchison, Kansas, offer rmonastery tours, a gift shop, retreats, spirituality workshops, and other events for guests.
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