Between St. Scholastica and St. Walburg

               February is a month of celebrations for the women of St. Walburg Monastery. On February 10 we celebrate the Feast of St. Scholastica, the patron of all Benedictine women and on February 25 we celebrate the Feast of St. Walburg, the patron of our monastery. These feastdays, fifteen days apart, give us the opportunity to reflect upon the long and ancient heritage of Benedictine women praying and seeking God together.

               What we know about Scholastica we know from St. Gregory the Great’s Dialogues, Book 2, The Life and Miracles of St. Benedict. Scholastica is not mentioned in the Dialogues until she is introduced in Chapter 33.  Gregory tells us she was devoted to God from her youth and that she would visit her brother once a year in a place that belonged to his abbey, not far from the gate of the monastery. The story entitled “Of a Miracle Wrought by His Sister, Scholastica” can be found at http://www.osb.org/gen/scholastica.html. Gregory’s point in this story is the contrast between Benedict’s emphasis on the Rule and Scholastica’s emphasis on love and  relationship. I recently found a quote from Anthony de Mello that also underscores the point. “Obedience keeps the rules. Love knows when to break them.”   

               Walburg about whom we know more was born in 710 and died in 779.  She also had a brother, two of them in fact, with good Saxon names of Willibald and Winnibald. She went to the Benedictine Abbey of Wimborne (England) as a child and became a member of that monastery. Boniface asked the abbess of Wimborne for nuns to establish monasteries in Germany. In 750 Walburg and other nuns embarked. Legend has it that a terrible storm rose up terrifying the crew and its passengers. Walburg knelt, prayed and the storm abated

Walburg joined Boniface, to whom she was related, and her two brothers and established a monastery at Tabuberbischofsheim where she became skilled in medicine. Winnibald, established a double monastery at Heidenheim and asked Walburg to take charge of the nuns while he took charge of the monks. When Winnibald died in 761, Walburg was appointed abbess, responsible for the welfare of both monks and nuns. She is known for her deep prayer life, charity, spirit of hospitality and courage, as well as miracles of healing. She died in 779, and in the late 800’s her relics were taken to Eichstätt, Germany. Sisters from the monastery in Eichstatt came to the United States in 1852 and we here at St. Walburg Monastery were founded by Sr. Alexia Lechner who had entered the monastery at Eichstatt, came to America in 1853 and to Covington, Kentucky in 1859.

 For more than a thousand years, a mysterious moisture has collected every year on St. Walburg’s relics in Eichstätt. This fluid is known as “Walburg’s Oil” and is collected at the Abbey and given to pilgrims there. Healings attributed to St. Walburg’s intercession continue to be reported up to the present day.

In art Scholastica is usually represented with a dove, sometimes  with a book representing the Rule, and in paintings and engravings with rain the background as above right. Walburg is usually shown with a crown (representing her noble birth), a croizer (representing her office of abbess) and a vial of healing oil.

This year we will be celebrating the feast of St. Walburg on Feb. 24. We are anticipating the feast because Feb. 25 is the opening celebration of the Year of Women Religious in the Diocese of Covington. Scholastica’s example of prayer and love and Walburg’s example of prayer, courage and healing will inspire us throughout the coming year.

Sr. Deborah Harmeling