We have 2 new additions to our classroom this year: Saint Benedict and his twin sister, Saint Scholastica. (You, too, can have Saint dolls!)
The dolls are a great illustration for a story I like to tell the students. It’s about Scholastica and Benedict’s last time together.
It’s about a fight … and most of the kids have experience in that department!
We begin by talking about fights they’ve had with their sisters and brothers. I tell them that these saints were no different when they began their argument.
It was over whether Benedict would stay longer to visit with Scholastica. They had been having a good time together, and wouldn’t see each other again for a long time.
Scholastica asked Benedict to stay longer. He said he couldn’t.
This is when the students begin to chime in: The girls plead, “Stay!” The boys say, “Go!”
They argue back and forth until Scholastica prays to God to make him stay. The sky opens up and a torrential storm breaks out. Benedict has no choice but to stay.
This story comes to us from Pope Gregory, who wrote:
Benedict found that a miracle prevented his desire. … Is it not a thing to be marveled at, that a woman, who for a long time had not seen her brother, might do more in that instance than he could? She realized, according to the saying of St. John, “God is charity” [1 John 4:8]. Therefore, as is right, she who loved more, did more.
That is, Scholastica’s love was more powerful than Benedict’s devotion to his own rule that he not spend the night away from his abbey.
Love is what it’s all about!
(It was a good thing he stayed, because Scholastica died a few days later. Benedict saw her soul ascend to heaven in the form of a dove.)
After the story, the Scholastica and Benedict dolls get placed in the library for the students to play with … and they do!
I enjoyed watching one girl whirl Scholastica around, veil streaming behind her, while calling down to her twin who was being stood up on the ground by a classmate.
“Look, Benedict!” called Scholastica. “I’m flying!” ❤