The information available concerning the sister of St. Benedict comes from the Dialogues of St. Gregory the Great. These were written in Rome in 593-4, some forty years after Benedict died, and Gregory claimed to have derived his information from abbots of Monte Cassino and from other abbots who had known Benedict.
Book 2, chapters 33 and 34, of the Dialogues gives a famous and delightful account of their last meeting. Scholastica, with a foreboding that she was shortly to die, begged her brother to stay the night so that they might prolong their spiritual dialogue. He refused saying that his Rule obliged him to return to the monastery. Scholastica bowed her head in prayer, whereupon such a violent thunderstorm broke out that Benedict and his companions were prevented from leaving the house. He accused her of provoking this, to which she replied: "I asked a favour from you and you refused it. I asked it of God, and he has granted it." They spent the night discoursing on the joys of heaven, to which she was called three days later.
Scholastica is the patron saint of Benedictine nuns.
No comments:
Post a Comment