No wonder he abdicated

Hermitage of Pietro da Morrone

This is the remote monastery where, in 1294 AD, Pietro da Morrone received the news he'd been elected pope.  He was 80 years old, with a reputation for great holiness but utterly without resources for coping with papal politics.  Pietro da Morrone was duly installed as Pope Celestine V, but four months later he returned to his hermitage, having abdicated the papacy.   In his Inferno, for having made this "great refusal," which he viewed as an act of cowardice, Dante placed Pope Celestine in the antechamber of hell.

In addition to his brief papacy and abdication, Pietro da Morrone is also known for founding a monastic order called the Celestines.  In 1484 AD, the Celestines were invited to take over the monastery at Nursia which had been built over the house of St. Benedict and his sister St. Scholastica, the founders of western monasticism.  In 1810 AD, Napoleon banished the monks, and the monastery remained empty for almost 200 years. 

In 2000 AD, a new order of monks, called the Benedictine Monks of Norsia, re-occupied the monastery at Nursia (now called Norsia).  These monks brew a beer called Birra Norsia.  The motto of the brewery is taken from the Psalms: “ut laetificet cor” (that the heart might be gladdened).  Shortly before he was elected pope, then-Cardinal Ratzinger visited the monastery on the feast of St. Benedict.  After his election, the monks presented Pope Benedict with the very first bottle of Birra Norsia.   The monks like to think that his visit to their monastery influenced Cardinal Ratzinger's choice of his papal name.  By coincidence, Pope Benedict became the first pope since Celestine V to abdicate the papacy.  

The monks also supplied Birra Norsia to the conclave which elected Pope Francis I.   Since their brewmaster's name is Brother Francis, the monks like to think they had something to do with Cardinal Bergoglio's choice of papal name also.  This is perhaps more of a stretch.

Birra Norsia has proven very popular in Italy, but unfortunately is not available in the US. 

The Benedictine Monks of Nursia publish a seasonal newsletter.  You can read the monks' winter newsletter here.

Hail, Scholastica, Abbess and Virgin

St. Scholastica

Today is the feast of St. Scholastica (ca. 480 AD - 547 AD), the twin sister of St. Benedict, the father of Western Monasticism.  St. Scholastica was abbess of a community of nuns near St. Benedict's monastery at Monte Cassino.  Each year, the saintly twins would spend a single day together.  One of the few sources for information regarding St. Scholastica is St. Gregory the Great's "Dialogues," wherein St. Gregory relates the following story concerning an annual visit of the twin saints:

"…Scholastica, was dedicated from her infancy to our Lord. Once a year she came to visit her brother. The man of God went to her not far from the gate of his monastery, at a place that belonged to the Abbey. It was there he would entertain her. Once upon a time she came to visit according to her custom, and her venerable brother with his monks went there to meet her.

They spent the whole day in the praises of God and spiritual talk, and when it was almost night, they dined together. As they were yet sitting at the table, talking of devout matters, it began to get dark. The holy Nun, his sister, entreated him to stay there all night that they might spend it in discoursing of the joys of heaven. By no persuasion, however, would he agree to that, saying that he might not by any means stay all night outside of his Abbey.

At that time, the sky was so clear that no cloud was to be seen. The Nun, hearing this denial of her brother, joined her hands together, laid them on the table, bowed her head on her hands, and prayed to almighty God.

Lifting her head from the table, there fell suddenly such a tempest of lightning and thundering, and such abundance of rain, that neither venerable Benedict, nor his monks that were with him, could put their heads out of doors. The holy Nun, having rested her head on her hands, poured forth such a flood of tears on the table, that she transformed the clear air to a watery sky.

After the end of her devotions, that storm of rain followed; her prayer and the rain so met together, that as she lifted up her head from the table, the thunder began.  So it was that in one and the very same instant that she lifted up her head, she brought down the rain.

The man of God, seeing that he could not, in the midst of such thunder and lightning and great abundance of rain return to his Abbey, began to be heavy and to complain to his sister, saying: "God forgive you, what have you done?" She answered him, "I desired you to stay, and you would not hear me; I have desired it of our good Lord, and he has granted my petition. Therefore if you can now depart, in God's name return to your monastery, and leave me here alone."

But the good father, not being able to leave, tarried there against his will where before he would not have stayed willingly. By that means, they watched all night and with spiritual and heavenly talk mutually comforted one another."

St. Scholastica and her twin brother St. Benedict were buried in a single tomb at Monte Cassino.

St. Scholastica, pray for us.