The feast day of Saint Scholastica is the 10th of February. In Fire and Earth, the second book in the Sir Anthony Standen Adventures, Anthony has to solve a series of murders occurring on Saints’ feast days. I don’t think I used Saint Scholastica, but it would have been appropriate as her feast day also marks the Saint Scholastica Day Massacre.
Saint Scholastica was one of the most influential women of early medieval Christianity, though much of what we know about her life comes from a single source: Book II of Pope Gregory the Great’s Dialogues, written in the late sixth century. According to Gregory, Scholastica was the twin sister of Saint Benedict of Nursia, the founder of Western monasticism, and shared his vocation from an early age.
Born around 480 in Nursia (modern Norcia, Italy), Scholastica was dedicated to God in her youth, a not uncommon practice among pious Roman families in a time of social and political upheaval following the collapse of the Western Roman Empire. While Benedict eventually withdrew to a life of monastic discipline and contemplation, Scholastica pursued a parallel spiritual path, founding or leading a community of women religious, likely organised along principles similar to those Benedict later codified in his Rule.
Gregory presents Scholastica as a figure of profound spiritual authority, marked by humility, prayer, and love rather than ascetic severity. The most famous episode of her life occurs shortly before her death. Once a year, Scholastica and Benedict met at a house near his monastery at Monte Cassino to spend the day in spiritual conversation. On one such occasion, as night fell, Scholastica asked Benedict to stay and continue their discussion of divine matters. When he refused, citing his rule against spending the night outside the monastery, Scholastica quietly prayed. A sudden and violent storm arose, preventing Benedict from leaving. Gregory remarks that God favoured Scholastica’s loving prayer over Benedict’s strict obedience, concluding: “She could do more, because she loved more.”
Three days after this meeting, Benedict saw his sister’s soul ascend to heaven in the form of a dove. Scholastica died shortly thereafter and was buried in Benedict’s tomb, symbolising their shared spiritual mission.
Saint Scholastica became the patron saint of Benedictine nuns, education, and protection against storms. Her feast day, the 10th of February, was widely celebrated across medieval Europe, often with solemn liturgy and local festivities. Ironically, one such celebration would later become associated with one of the most violent episodes in Oxford’s history.
The Saint Scholastica Day Riot—often called the Saint Scholastica Day Massacre—erupted in Oxford on the 10th of February, 1355, during the feast day celebrations of the saint. It was one of the deadliest confrontations in the long-running conflict between the University of Oxford and the townspeople, known collectively as “town and gown” tensions.
The immediate cause was trivial. Two university scholars drinking at the Swindlestock Tavern (near Carfax) complained about the quality of the wine and allegedly threw the contents of their cups into the tavern keeper’s face. An argument escalated into violence, and within hours the dispute spread through the town. Bells rang—some as calls to arms—and both sides mobilised supporters.
What followed was three days of disorder. Townspeople armed themselves with bows, clubs, and farm tools, while scholars—many of whom were legally clerics—fought back with whatever weapons they could obtain. Rural labourers from surrounding villages reportedly joined the townsmen, tipping the balance of numbers decisively against the university. Colleges and halls were attacked, scholars were beaten in the streets, and several were killed while attempting to flee or hide.
By the time royal authority was restored, around sixty scholars were dead, compared to perhaps thirty townspeople. King Edward III intervened decisively in favour of the university. The town of Oxford was fined, its civic privileges curtailed, and its officials imprisoned. Most famously, the mayor and bailiffs were required every year on the 10th of February to attend a Mass for Saint Scholastica at the University Church of St Mary the Virgin and pay a symbolic fine for each slain scholar—a ritual that continued until the nineteenth century.
The riot cemented the legal and social dominance of the university over the town for centuries. While sparked by a tavern quarrel, the violence reflected deeper resentments: economic competition, clerical privilege, and resentment of students’ legal immunity. Thus, the feast day of a saint associated with peace, learning, and spiritual love became forever linked in Oxford with bloodshed and division.