3. Chapel of Saint Scholastica

We are now in the Chapel of Saint Scholastica, the sister of Saint Benedict and the inspiration behind the female branch of the Benedictine tradition.

This chapel is, in fact, a great celebration of the women who, throughout the centuries, have devoted their lives to God. Take a moment to notice the atmosphere around you. It is one of the brightest chapels in the Monastery, with light and ochre tones contrasting with the dark habits of the nuns. Flowers, leaves and botanical motifs spread across the decoration, filling the space with life, freshness and joy.

Now look at the altarpiece.

At the bottom, you will find four scenes from the life of Saint Benedict. It is no coincidence that he appears at the base of the altarpiece: his life and his Rule are the roots from which female Benedictine life also grew.

Raise your eyes a little and you will come to the large central painting. Here we see Saint Scholastica, holding an abbess’s crozier, rising towards heaven as angels accompany her and crown her with flowers.

Beside her are two women who continued along this same path. On her right, for example, you will find Saint Gertrude. Notice the heart she holds in her hand: if you look closely inside it, you will discover the Christ Child.

But the story does not end with the altarpiece.

Now raise your eyes and take in the whole chapel. In the pendentives and around the octagonal dome, you will discover eleven Benedictine saints, women from different centuries and different places who lived according to the same spirituality.

It is as though these women surround Saint Scholastica, revealing how far the small seed planted centuries ago has spread. One woman, one vocation, one life devoted to God—and, after her, generation after generation of women following the same path.

Perhaps this is the great message of this chapel: the fruitfulness of a life cannot always be measured while we are living it. Saint Scholastica could never have imagined all the women who, centuries later, would find inspiration in the same ideal of life: to seek God and to make their whole existence a response to his love.

In other sections of the audio guide, you can discover more treasures in this chapel, including the episodes from the life of Saint Scholastica painted in the lunettes, the magnificent baptismal font and the ancient Gothic paintings that have survived in this space.