A Penitent Blogger

Mindful of my imperfections, seeking to know Truth more deeply and to live Love more fully.

Quid sum miser tunc dicturus? Quem patronum rogaturus? Cum vix iustus sit securus?
Recordare, Iesu pie, Quod sum causa tuae viae: Ne me perdas illa die...

Friday, February 10, 2006

She used to visit her brother once a year

"He would come down to meet her at a place on the monastery property, not far outside the gate.

"One day she came as usual and her saintly brother went with some of his disciples; they spent the whole day praising God and talking of sacred things. As night fell, they had supper together.

"Their spiritual conversation went on and the hour grew late. The holy nun said to her brother, 'Please do not leave me tonight; let us go on until morning talking about the delights of the spiritual life.'

'Sister,' he replied, 'What are you saying? I simply cannot stay outside my cell.'

"When she heard her brother refuse her request, the holy woman joined her hands on the table, laid her head on them and began to pray.

"As she raised her head from the table, there were such brilliant flashes of lightning, such great peals of thunder and such a heavy downpour of rain that neither Benedict nor his brethren could stir across the threshold of the place where they had been seated. Sadly, he began to complain.

"'May God forgive you, sister. What have you done?'

"'Well,' she answered, 'I asked you and you would not listen; so I asked my God and he did listen. So now go off, if you can, leave me and return to your monastery.'

"So it came about that they stayed awake the whole night, engrossed in their conversation about the spiritual life.

"Three days later, Benedict was in his cell. Looking up to the sky, he saw his the soul of his sister Scholastica leave her body in the form of a dove, and fly up to the secret places of heaven. Rejoicing in her great glory, he thanked almighty God with hymns and words of praise. He then sent his brethren to bring her body to the monastery and lay it in the tomb he had prepared for himself."

St. Scholastica, sister of the great St. Benedict, died in 543 and her memory is celebrated on this day.

Benedict would die in 547. The above account would be set down a few decades later by Pope St. Gregory the Great.

(adapted from an earlier post)