Saint Scholastica

Feast Day: February 10

Of this Saint, little is known, and almost everything there is to say about Saint Scholastica comes from the Dialogues of Saint Gregory the Great.

St. Scholastica, sister of St. Benedict, was born in Nursia (Nurcia), Italy, at around 480 AD. It is said that she was as devoted to Jesus as her brother and at such an early age she consecrated herself to a religious life. When Benedict established his monastery at Monte Cassino, Scholastica founded a Convent of Nuns in nearby Plombariola, about five miles from the Benedictines. The convent is said to have been under the direction of her brother, thus she is regarded as the first Benedictine nun.

Scholastica visited her brother once a year, but as Benedict would not allow her to enter his monastery, he would go with some of his monks to meet her at a house at some distance. There conversations were occasions spent in praising God, in conferring together on spiritual matters, and encouraging one another to a life of perfection.

St. Gregory relates a charming story of the last of these visits:

Scholastica spent the day with him in the usual practice of singing Psalms, and pious discourse followed by a frugal meal.

After it was over, Scholastica, perhaps foreknowing that it would be their last opportunity to see each other alive, asked him to delay his return till the next day and spend the evening in conversation.

St. Benedict, unwilling to break his own rule, told her he could not pass a night out of his monastery. Scholastica finding him resolved on going home, thereupon, laid her head upon the table, and prayed that God would intervene for her. Her prayer has barely ended, when the clouds broke into a storm of rain, thunder, and lightning. With such a torrential downpour, Benedict and his companions were unable to leave.

"May Almighty God forgive you, sister for what you have done," said Benedict
"I asked a favor of you," Scholastica simply replied, "and you refused it. I asked it of God, and He has granted it!"

St. Benedict was therefore obliged to comply with her request.

The next morning they parted. Three days after their last meeting, St. Scholastica died in her solitude.

At that time, Benedict was alone in contemplation on Mount Cassino. Lifting up his eyes to heaven, Benedict saw a vision of Scholastica's soul departing her body and ascending to heaven in the form of a dove. She died about the year 543, and St. Benedict followed her soon after.

 

Patronages:

Saint Scholastica is the patron saint of nuns, convulsive children, schools, tests, books, reading, and those suffering from storms and rain.

Prayer to Saint Scholastica:

"O God, to show us where innocence leads, you made the soul of your virgin Saint Scholastica soar to heaven like a dove in flight. Grant through her merits and her prayers that we may live in innocence and peace. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen."

 
Reflection:

* Saint Scholastica's life reminds us of the importance of spiritual relationships and the power of prayer. Her final meeting with Saint Benedict teaches us the value of cherishing time with loved ones and the profound impact of prayer. Scholastica's faith was so strong that it could change the weather, a metaphor for how faith can transform our circumstances. Her life encourages us to deepen our spiritual connections and trust in the power of prayer.

* To God nothing is too great or too trivial. He is always ready to hear the petitions and grant the desires of his people.

* When we are dependent on God, we are convinced that everything we are and have comes from Him. When we acknowledge our helplessness that’s when we turn to God with all our needs, hopes and dreams. St. Scholastica’s dependence on God is so great that only her confidence in God’s love and providence equals that.

Saint Benedict

Founder of Western Monasticism
Feast Day: July 11

Life Entrusted to God

Benedict was born in Nursia about the year 480. He was very young when he was sent to Rome to receive the first part of his education. While there, he was shocked at the decadence he observed from the Roman youth and in order to be freed from the snares of it, Benedict left the city. Up among the hills he found a place known as Sublacum. It was here that he met Romanus, a monk from a neighboring monastery who gave him the monastic habit, and led him to a deep narrow cave, almost inaccessible to men. In this cavern, now called the Holy Grotto, Bennet or Benedict lived as a hermit. Unknown to all but his friend Romanus, who each day saved for him a part of his own ration of bread and on a basket, let it down a rope with a bell tied around it to give him notice. Benedict was about fourteen or fifteen years old at that time. He passed the next three years in this manner, ardent to know the ways of the Lord. Until one Easter Sunday, a certain pious priest in that country heard a voice which said: "You are preparing for yourself a banquet, while my servant at Sublacum is distressed with hunger." The priest immediately set out in search of the hermit.

Founder of a New Order

Word of his holiness had spread abroad and inspired several to forsake the world. In one instance, some nearby monks, after the death of their abbot, ask for his leadership. He was unwilling to take upon him that charge and declined in the spirit of sincere humility, assuring the monks that their ways and his would not agree. They insisted, but his warning proved true and he returned to his solitude.

The next set of followers was more sincere and at last he found himself in a position to initiate the great work for which God had been preparing for him - that is to establish a single religious order in the West. This was the idea that had slowly been taking root during his years of solitude. “To bring together those who wished to share the monastic life, both men of the world who yearned to escape material concerns and the monks who had been living in solitude or in widely scattered communities, to make of them one flock, binding them by fraternal bonds, under one observance, in the permanent worship of God.”

Benedict set up twelve monasteries where monks lived in separate communities of twelve and became the founder of the order of Benedictine monks.

Progressing along God’s Pathways

Benedict extended his kindness to the people of the countryside, curing the sick and giving alms and food to the poor.
It was told, that when Campania suffered from a famine, he gave away all the provisions stored in the abbey, leaving with them only five loaves. The monks where dismayed, but he assured them, "You have not enough today, but tomorrow you will have too much." Indeed, the next morning a large donation of flour was left at the monastery gate.

About the year 528, he retired to Monte Cassino, a place destroyed by the Goths. The inhabitants there, left without a priest, was falling back into paganism and people would offer sacrifices on Apollo’s temple. After a preliminary 40 day fast, Benedict set to work by preaching to the people and winning them back to the faith. With the help of these converts, Benedict broke the statue of Apollo, overthrew the altar, and cut down the sacred grove. He built two chapels on the mountain; one dedicated to St. Martin, the other to St. John the Baptist. It was here that he founded the monastery that became the roots of the Church's monastic system. It was here too that he composed his 'Regula Monachorum’.


His sister, Saint Scholastica, settled nearby to live a religious life.

Patronage:

Saint Benedict is the patron saint of many things, including:

Monks and nuns: He is the patron of those who live a monastic or contemplative life.

Europe: Saint Benedict is considered one of the patron saints of Europe due to the significant influence of Benedictine monasteries on the continent's history and culture.

Schoolchildren: His influence on education and scholarship has led to his patronage of students and scholars.

Prayer to St Benedict:

O gracious and holy Father,

give us wisdom to perceive you,

diligence to seek you,

patience to wait for you,

eyes to behold you,

a heart to meditate upon you,

and a life to proclaim you,

through the power of the Spirit of Jesus Christ our Lord.

St Benedict we also ask for your constant protection for myself and my family.

Amen.

Reflection:

*St. Benedict's desert experience stripped him of his human ways and transformed them into divine ways.

The desert experience or “total abandonment” that St. Benedict did to be alone with God tore down the obstacles that stood in the way to perfect charity towards God and towards others. By entrusting himself to the Father, Benedict became open to the indwelling of the Spirit. And formed by the Holy Spirit's values, Benedict came to see reality with God's eyes and his attitude toward the world is transformed.

Our inordinate passions, bad habits, egotistical love, self-destructing desires, pleasures etc occupy our hearts and yet still leave us wanting. We need to give up all these - our little pleasures, selfishness and dependencies… and be emptied in order to be filled.

The desert tests us if our joy comes from God or from the trivial delights of the world.

We need not go to the physical desert to experience this. Our openness to God and acceptance of His will in our lives, our daily carrying of the Cross (sufferings, trials, daily irritations, tribulations, struggles, our experience of loneliness, depression…), our attempts to love Him with all our heart, with all our soul and with all our mind, and our efforts to become a better person and to love others as we should is our “desert” experience.

The spiritual desert experience is a search for love that has always been there. As we empty ourselves we are letting that love - the overwhelming love of God - to transform us.

*****

“Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be added unto you.”

* Put God first in your life and He will sure to lead you where you should go.

Saint Ignatius of Antioch

Feast Day: October 17 formerly February 1

Early Career

St. Ignatius of Antioch also known as Theophorus ("God-Bearer”), had been fully instructed in the doctrines of Christianity by the disciple St. John the Apostle. Ignatius was chosen to be Bishop of Antioch and for more than 40 years, he continued in his charge at Antioch, proving himself in every way an exemplary pastor.


Vigilant and Faithful Servant

In 107 AD, Emperor Trajan, puffed up with his late victory over the Scythians and Dacians and feeling he owed his victories to the pagan gods, authorized the death penalty for those Christians who refused to acknowledge these divinities publicly.

Bishop Ignatius was ordered taken to Rome to be devoured by wild beasts in the Colosseum. On the way, a journey which took months and brought him through Asia Minor and Greece, he wrote letters of inspiration and instruction to Christians - exhorting them to keep in harmony with their bishops and other clergy as well as to continue their zeal against heresy. The bishop was dedicated to defending the true teaching handed down by the Apostles in order for the early Christian communities not to be led astray by false teachings. Ignatius encourages them to assemble often in prayer, to be meek and humble and to suffer injuries without protest. Bishop Ignatius was also the first who used the term “catholic” to describe the whole Church.

For a great part of the journey, Ignatius had 2 companions - a deacon, Philo, and a friend, Agathopus - supposedly the authors of an account of his martyrdom.

Total Self-Giving to God

Wherever the ship put in, the faithful gathered to receive benediction and rejoiced in his presence. During this time, Christianity had a number of influential converts that could have intervened or mitigated the punishment but Ignatius prevented the Christians from taking steps to obtain his release.

Below is a letter to the Romans by St Ignatius of Antioch

“I am God's wheat and shall be ground by the teeth of wild animals. I am writing to all the churches to let it be known that I will gladly die for God if only you do not stand in my way. I plead with you: show me no untimely kindness. Let me be food for the wild beasts, for they are my way to God. I am God’s wheat and shall be ground by their teeth so that I may become Christ’s pure bread. Pray to Christ for me that the animals will be the means of making me a sacrificial victim for God. No earthly pleasures, no kingdoms of this world can benefit me in any way. I prefer death in Christ Jesus to power over the farthest limits of the earth. He who died in place of us is the one object of my quest. He who rose for our sake is my one desire”.

Upon arriving in Rome, Ignatius was hurried off to the Colosseum and died a martyr’s death.

Patronage and Feast Day

Patronage: St. Ignatius is the patron saint of the Church in eastern Mediterranean and Northern Africa, and of the sick. His intercession is often sought for unity among Christians.

Feast Day: His feast day is celebrated on October 17 in the Roman Catholic Church and December 20 in the Orthodox Church.

Prayer to St Ignatius of Antioch:

"O God, who bestowed on the Bishop Saint Ignatius of Antioch a share in the Passion of your Only Begotten Son, grant, we pray, through his intercession, that, united to Christ in suffering, we may also be coheirs in His glory, who lives and reigns with You in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, forever and ever. Amen."

Reflection:

*Reflecting on the life of St. Ignatius of Antioch invites us to consider the depth of our faith and the strength of our convictions. His unshakable faith in the face of persecution and death is a testament to the transformative power of the Gospel. Ignatius' teachings, especially his emphasis on church unity and the Eucharist, remind us of the importance of community and sacramental life in our journey with Christ. In a world often divided, his life is a beacon of hope and a call to deeper unity in faith and love.

*At the time when he was supposed to be thinking of himself and of his impending death, he was selfless - totally given to God and to men. Just like Jesus, Ignatius is a good shepherd, tending his flock and becoming even more productive in his last days, sending out letters of encouragement and instructions to the early Christian communities.

* His martyrdom was the culmination of a life that is lived conformed to Jesus Christ.

Saint Polycarp

Feastday: February 23


Early Career

St. Polycarp was born at Smyrna, (what is now the city of Izmir, west coast of Turkey) towards the latter end of Nero's reign, 69AD. At an early age, he was taught by the apostle John, and was made deacon then catechist. Later, he was consecrated Bishop of Smyrna by St. John and other apostolic persons.

Courage under Persecution

Not long after the death of St. John, in 107 AD the persecutions against Christians were renewed, under the reign of Trajan. Among those sentenced to death was Ignatius, Bishop of Antioch. As he was transported to Rome to be executed, he was permitted to visit Smyrna. Polycarp exhorted Ignatius to hold fast. Ignatius reciprocated his wishes, exhortations as well as prayers and commended the Church along with the people of Antioch to his watch.

About this time, there came a controversy between the Eastern and Western Churches about the observation of Easter. To patch up the resulting divisions, St. Polycarp visited Rome in the year 154. During his stay, he spent much of his time convincing gainsayers and testifying the truth of the Christian doctrines handed by the Apostles. The piety and zeal of the early Christians was frequently disturbed with heretical doctrines and schism which corrupted the Christian faith. The pagans called the Christians “atheists” but Polycarp made clear to them that the real atheists are those who don’t believe in the one true God.

A Share in the Passion

As the persecution of Christians has been going on, search parties have been looking for the Bishop. Although he was warned of this danger and could have escaped, he decided to stay, saying the will of the Lord be done. Hearing his persecutor’s downstairs, he went down to greet them with a cheerful and gentle countenance. Everyone was astonished at his courage and peaceful disposition and wondered why anyone should wish to apprehend this poor old man. Perfectly calm, he ordered a table to be set for them to eat and drink, requesting that he be given one hour for solemn prayer. He was so filled with the grace of God that he prayed nearly two hours, commending to God everyone who had crossed his path – rich & poor, small or great – and the state of the whole Catholic Church throughout the world. Everyone who heard him was greatly amazed and grieved that so divine and venerable an old man should be put to death.

He was taken to Herod and his father Nicetus (Niketas), both civil officers. They tried to persuade him to renounce his faith in Christ to no avail then began to make threats and threw him from the carriage with such violence, as to scrape his shin. But undaunted, he hastened on to the place of trial. Before the proconsul and surrounded with guards, Polycarp proclaimed, “Eighty-six years I have served him, and he never did me any wrong,” said Polycarp. “How can I blaspheme my King who saved me?”

All these time, Polycarp radiated with joy and courage that the proconsul had to send his herald into the middle of the arena to announce, “Polycarp has declared that he is a Christian.” At the herald’s announcement, the angry crowd roared, insisting that he be burned.

The fire took the shape of a vaulted room, circling around Polycarp as if to protect him while the scent of incense filled the air. Seeing that his body was not consumed by the fire, Polycarp was stabbed by a dagger. A huge amount of blood oozes out to extinguish the fire and his spirit in a form of a dove came out.

 

Patronage and Feast Day:

St. Polycarp is recognized as the patron saint of Smyrna (modern-day Izmir), the city where he served as bishop. His feast day is celebrated on February 23rd in the Roman Catholic Church and on February 23rd or 26th in some Eastern Orthodox traditions.

Prayer to St. Polycarp:

Dear St. Polycarp, faithful bishop and fearless martyr, we turn to you in our times of trial and persecution. Like you, we face challenges to our faith and beliefs, and we seek your intercession and guidance. Help us to remain steadfast and unwavering in our commitment to Christ, just as you did in your lifetime. Pray for us, that we may have the strength and courage to stand up for the truth and endure any hardships that come our way. Through your intercession, may we grow in faith, hope, and love. Amen.

Reflection:

*St. Polycarp's life and martyrdom remind us of the importance of standing firm in our faith, even in the face of adversity. His example teaches us that true discipleship requires unwavering commitment to Christ and His teachings. In our own lives, we may encounter challenges, persecution, or doubt, but we can draw inspiration from St. Polycarp's courage and faithfulness. Let us reflect on how we can remain true to our beliefs and trust in God's providence, no matter the circumstances. St. Polycarp's legacy continues to inspire us to live authentic and faithful Christian lives.

*Whenever God gives us something to do, He is there with us always to see us through. Since God’s wisdom is beyond us, there are a lot of things we do not understand. We just need to trust that what He is doing is what is best for us regardless of the circumstances in our lives.


*St Polycarp followed the Lord Jesus into his Passion, knowing that he would rise with him in his Resurrection.

What is your idea of a saint?