31. Stories of Saint Scholastica

Now raise your eyes towards the side walls of the chapel. You will discover two mural paintings framed by a semicircle. They depict the only two episodes we know of from the life of Saint Scholastica. Let’s discover them!

Let us begin with the painting on the right. It depicts the last meeting between Saint Scholastica and her brother, Saint Benedict.

Notice how keen the painter is for us to see what is happening both inside and outside the room. That is why he has represented the house as though it had been cut open, so that we do not miss a single detail.

Let us enter the room. Benedict and Scholastica are seated at the table, and beside them are two monks and a nun. Pope Gregory the Great tells us that the two siblings had spent the whole day talking about God matters.

After dinner, Scholastica asks her brother not to leave, but to stay with her that night so that they can continue talking about the joys of heaven. Benedict refuses: he must return to the monastery and, as abbot, he believes he must set an example for his monks.

The story tells us that, on that day, the sky was completely clear, without a single cloud.

After her brother refuses, Scholastica clasps her hands, bows her head and begins to pray. When she raises it again, an extraordinary storm breaks out. The rain falls with such force, accompanied by thunder and lightning, that no one can leave the house.

Saint Benedict, surprised, rebukes his sister. But she replies: “I asked you to stay, and you would not listen to me. I prayed the Lord, and he listened.”

Benedict realises that the storm is forcing them to stay, and he spends the whole night with his sister, talking about the spiritual life.

When Pope Gregory the Great tells this story, he adds a beautiful sentence: Scholastica prevailed because she loved more.

Now let us turn to the painting on the left. Only three days have passed.

Saint Scholastica is ill, lying in bed, embracing a cross. The moment of her death has come. Around her, several nuns mourn the loss of their sister.

But now look at the right-hand side of the painting. There you will see Saint Benedict. He is far away, in his monastery, and cannot physically see what is happening in his sister’s room.

And yet, at that very moment, he has a vision.

Look at the dove rising towards heaven. Benedict understands that it is the soul of his sister, who has just left this world and entered eternal life.

The two paintings therefore tell a single story. In the first one, Scholastica longs to spend one last night talking with her brother about the joys of heaven. In the second one, just three days later, she herself enters the heaven she had longed for so deeply.