Scholastica (; – 10 February 543) was an Italian Christian consecrated virgin 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.

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.

Benedictine history shows that Scholastica established a hermitage about five miles from Monte Cassino and that this was the first convent of Benedictine nuns. 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. 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. 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 his sister, Caesaria, headed.

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, and Saint Scholastica's Day bears special importance in the Benedictine monastic calendar. 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 and the Episcopal Church 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.

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.

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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

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See also

  • List of Catholic saints
  • St Scholastica Day riot
  • Saint Scholastica, patron saint archive

References