Dear Friendly Experts -
A year or more ago I heard this story in a
sermon. Now I want to make use of it and wonder if any of you can tell me
where it comes from. I esp would like to know if it is a genuine piece of
mediaeval myth-making or a later (Romantique ?) fabrication ... [Or even -
let's not be narrow-minded! - the unvarnished truth.]
I am re-telling what I remember in my own
words. (Thus are legends perpetuated .)
"Saint Scholastica, sister of Saint
Benedict of Nursia, was the abbess of the first nunnery of Benedictine nuns.
One cold winter's night she woke in her cell to hear strange music and see a
strange light coming through the bars of the shutters. She got up, opened
her shutter and looked out into the cloister-garth. In the bright (moon ?)
light she saw three beautiful but naked men dancing in the cloister, and one
of them was singing like a bird.
"St Scholastica closed her shutter, knelt
by her bedside and prayed. She prayed firstly, that if those she had seen
were mortal men, they would speedily find shelter and warm clothing; but
secondly if, as she feared they were demons sent to annoy her, that they
would just as speedily go back where they belonged. Then she went back to be
with a clear conscience and fell asleep.
"In the morning, remembering her disturbed
night, she went out into the cloister-garth, and there, in spite of it being
mid-winter, all her rose tress were in bloom. Then she realised that what
she had seen was a vision of the Holy Trinity."
OK, folks. Where does this come from ? I must
say I warm to Scolastica's aplomb in the face of a disconcerting experience
....
BTW, I have checked Med-Rel Archives before
posting this and found nothing, nor does my Dictionary of the Saints give
any clues.
Brenda
M.C.