St. Scholastica, sister of St. Benedict, consecrated her
life to
God from her earliest youth. After her brother went to Monte Cassino, where he established his famous monastery, she took up her abode in the neighborhood at Plombariola, where she founded and governed a monastery of nuns, about five miles from that of St. Benedict, who, it appears, also directed his sister and her nuns. She visited her brother once a year, and as she was not allowed to enter his monastery, he went in company with some of his brethren to meet her at a house some distance away. These visits were spent in conferring together on spiritual matters. On one occasion they had passed the
time as usual in
prayer and pious conversation and in the evening they sat down to take their reflection.
St. Scholastica begged her brother to remain until the next day.
St. Benedict refused to spend the night outside his monastery. She had recourse to
prayer and a furious thunderstorm burst so that neither
St. Benedict nor any of his companions could return home. They spent the night in spiritual conferences. The next morning they parted to meet no more on earth. Three days later
St. Scholastica died, and her holy brother beheld her
soul in a vision as it ascended into heaven. He sent his brethren to bring her body to his monastery and laid it in the
tomb he had prepared for himself. She died about the year 543, and
St. Benedict followed her soon after. Her
feast day is February 10th.
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