February 10 is the Feast Day of Saint Scholastica, the twin sister of Saint Benedict and founder of the first Benedictine convent for women. These â??holy twinsâ? were born late in the fifth century (480 C.E.) in Italy, to a wealthy family. Benedict is best known for establishing a number of monastic communities and for writing the Rule of Saint Benedict, which remains a source of inspiration for thousands of Christians, providing guidance for their daily spiritual lives.
Although lesser known than her twin brother, Scholastica provides inspiration of her own as a patron saint for nuns. Through the fifteen centuries since Scholastica lived in a spiritual community of women, the number and types of possible vocations for women in religious leadership has expanded enormously across the landscape of both Catholic and Protestant churches. In the last half century in North America and Europe, the entry of women into ordained and authorized leadership in Christian congregations has created one of the single largest changes to the face of the church in two millennia.
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