St. Scholastica is the sister of St. Benedict, the founder of Western monasticism and a patron of Europe. She is considered the founder of Benedictine communities for women.

Information about St. Scolastica (as well as St. Benedict) is sketchy and somewhat based upon tradition. The source for contemporary information about St. Scholastica is the Dialogues of St. Gregory, the Great (Pope Gregory I, the Great, 590-604). She is sometimes depicted as Benedict’s twin sister and appears to have been dedicated to God at an early age. It is held that she established a convent for women about five miles from Benedict’s monastery at Monte Cassino. A church, the Monatero di Santa Scholastica, is located at the foot of Monte Cassino. An alternative view is that she lived in her father’s house with a few other dedicated women and they moved to be nearer Benedict after their father’s death.

Scholastica died on 10 February 543 and she was buried in a tomb originally prepared for Benedict at Monte Cassino which may be visited today behind the abbey’s high altar.

There is no Vatican City stamp depicting St. Scholastica, although she is depicted on a mosaic which served as a San Marino issue on St. Benedict.

Article Link:
• James C Hamilton, St. Benedict: From Subiaco and Monte Cassino to Patron of Europe, Vatican Notes, Vol. 60, No. 351, pp. 10-18 (2012)