St. Scholastica
10 February
In our domestic church...
- We read Holy Twins: Benedict & Scholastica & talk about the how siblings can help one another become saints
- We have Penne alle Norcina for dinner
- We pray the Troparion of the feast
We make orgami doves to hang on our feast day tree, along side the turtle doves we hung for the feast of the Presentation of Christ in the Temple, reminding us of Benedict's vision after Scholastica's death - the rising of her soul as a dove.


Scholastica is a saint of the Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Churches. Born in Italy, according to a ninth century tradition, she was the twin sister of Benedict of Nursia.
Born: March 2, 480 AD, Umbria, Italy
Died: February 10, 543 AD, Monte Cassino, Italy
Feast: 10 February
Canonized: Pre-Congregation
10 February
Attributes: nun with crozier and crucifix; nun with dove flying from her mouth
Patronage: school;s tests; books; reading; convulsive children; nuns; invoked against storms and rain; Le Mans, France
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. .

COLLECT PRAYER
As we celebrate anew the Memorial of the Virgin Saint Scholastica, we pray, O Lord, that, following her example, we may serve you with pure love and happily receive what comes from loving you. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
Troparion
O God, to show us where innocence leads,
You made the soul of your virgin St. Scholastica soar to heaven
Like a dove in flight.
Grant through her merits and her prayers
That we may so live in innocence as to attain to joys everlasting.
This we ask through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
Who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
Forever and ever. Amen.

by the hand of Peter Pearson