'Let the Choir of Virgins & Nuns Be Glad'—St Scholastica

Today, 10 February on the Church’s calendar, we celebrate the memory of St Scholastica of Italy (6th c.), Abbess and Sister of St Benedict of Nursia. As Victor-Antoine d’Avila-Latourrette, OSB, writes, ‘Just as St Benedict is acknowledged to be the Father of Monks in the West, so we can also rightly call St Scholastica the beloved Mother of Nuns.’ [1] For those who are unfamiliar with her, here is a brief summary from the Oxford Dictionary of Saints:

Scholastica (d. c.543), sister of Benedict and first Benedictine nun. All that is known of her comes from the Dialogues of Gregory the Great. Her nunnery was Plombariola, about five miles from Monte Cassino; Benedict and Scholastica used to meet once a year in a house at a distance from his monastery; on his last visit to her, she asked him in vain to stay longer to discuss ‘the joys of heaven’. When he refused, she prayed for rain to such effect that a violent thunderstorm prevented him leaving and they spent the night as she had wished. She died three days later and was buried in the tomb Benedict had prepared for himself. Her relics were alleged to have been translated to Le Mans when Benedict’s went to Fleury. Feast: 10 February, in the Roman calendar with a high rank in Benedictine nunneries, of which she is the patron. [2]

Unfortunately, last year I essentially exhausted my treasury of material on St Scholastica. In a post on her life (here), I excerpted the entire account of all that is known of her life and death from the sole primary source—St Gregory the Great’s Dialogues. I also included some of the most profound reflections on that account possible, from the pen of the infallible Adalbert de Vogüé, a Western hymn for St Scholastica taken from the hard-to-find Liturgical Year of Dom Prosper Gueranger, and some lovely reflections by the RC blogger, Fr Mark Kirby in Tulsa, Oklahoma. In subsequent posts, I offered a possibly apocryphal story about St Scholastica told by Kathleen Norris along with my reflections on the importance of saintly titles (here), and finally (here), a probably apocryphal letter on Lent attributed to St Scholastica which I found on Fr Mark’s blog (here). Also courtesy of Fr Mark (here) is the ‘Preface [from the Mass] for the Feast of St Scholastica, Virgin’, which I have altered slightly to clarify the divine pronouns:

Truly it is right and just, our duty and our salvation,
always and everywhere to give You thanks,
Lord, holy Father, almighty and eternal God,
through Christ our Lord.

Saint Scholastica, obedient to the teaching of Saint Benedict, her brother,
inclined the ear of her heart to the voice of Christ
Who led her into the wilderness
and there espoused her in mercy and faithfulness.

This holy virgin chose the best part,
and in preferring nothing to the love of Christ,
reached that love of Yours which,
being perfect, drove out all fear.

When in earnest prayer she sought your help,
You answered her outpouring of tears
with a sudden downpour of rain amidst lightning and thunder,
and in this You revealed the surpassing power of love.

In the form of a dove,
her pure soul entered the glory of heaven;
seeing this, her brother was filled with joy
and raised his voice in glad thanksgiving.

Now Saint Scholastica rejoices in You who called her,
and praises You forever with the powers of heaven,
with whom we also raise our voices
in this, their endless hymn of praise:

Here is the ‘Collect’ for St Scholastica, taken from the Ohio Anglican blog (here) and similarly altered:

O God, who didst reveal in a vision the soul of blessed Scholastica Thy Virgin entering heaven in the likeness of a dove, that Thou mightest show the way of the undefiled: grant us by the aid of her merits and prayers so innocently to live, that we may worthily attain unto joys eternal. Through Jesus Christ Thy Son our Lord, Who livest and reignest with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen.

In conclusion, here is the Magnificat antiphon for St Scholastica:

Let the Christian people rejoice
in the glory of the gracious virgin, Scholastica;
But most of all, let the choir of virgins and nuns
be glad celebrating the feast of her who,
Pouring forth her tears, entreated the Lord;
And because she loved so much,
she obtained greater power from him. [3]

[1] Victor-Antoine d’Avila-Latourrette, OSB, A Monastic Year: Reflections from a Monastery (Dallas: Taylor, 1996), p. 45.

[2] Hugh David Farmer, The Oxford Dictionary of Saints, 5th ed. (Oxford: Oxford U, 2004), p. 470.

[3] d’Avila-Latourrette, p. 43. Sorry to be so 'Western Ritey' in this post, but unfortunately I don't know of any 'Byzantine Rite' hymnography for St Scholastica at all.