St Scholastica

First Benedictine nun. All that is known about Scholastica comes from the Dialogues of Gregory the Great. She was the twin sister of St Benedict and they were devoted to each other. Her convent was Plombariola, about five miles from his monastery at Monte Cassino. They used to meet just once a year. On his last visit in 543, she asked him to stay longer to discuss the joys of heaven. When he refused, because remaining would have meant breaking the Rule of his order, she prayed for rain and a violent thunderstorm prevented him from leaving.

She died three days later. St Benedict saw her in a vision ascending to heaven and buried her in the tomb he had prepared for himself. He arranged for his own body to be placed there when he died, seven years later.

Pope Gregory the Great said: "The bodies of these two, whose minds were always united in Jesus, were not separated in death."