*_February 10th ~ St Scholastica, Virgin; Memorial_* Saint Scholastica was born into a wealthy family around the year 480 AD, in Nursia, central Italy, during the political chaos after the fall of the Western Roman emperor. She and her brother, Benedict—likely her twin—are now honored as great saints as the mother and father of Western monasticism. As a child, Scholastica dedicated herself to God’s service, living modestly despite the family’s wealth. When Benedict left home to become a hermit and eventually to found a monastery with a new monastic rule, she marveled at his hidden life of prayer and work. His vocation called out to her, and she received permission from the local bishop to enter a home of virgins who adopted Benedict’s new monastic rule. Benedict assisted them and made Scholastica the abbess of the home. Benedict’s new rule of monasticism focused on forming permanent, self-contained, and self-supporting monasteries that followed a strict regimen of prayer and work.