Welcome to the FIRST FULL WEEK of Lent Madness 2023! Today in the Saintly Smackdown it's Scholastica vs. Richard Hooker. Sixth century Italian nun vs. 16th century English theologian. This is precisely the kind of unusual pairing of saintly souls we've come to expect with Lent Madness. Is it fair? No! Is it Madness? Yes!
On Saturday, Bertha of Kent soundly defeated Olga of Kiev 76% to 24% to advance to the Saintly Sixteen. Will today's matchup finally bring us a hotly contested battle? Or will we endure yet another rout? Only time, and your (single) vote, will tell.
Scholastica
Little is known about Scholastica, the sister of Saint Benedict (yes, the guy with the Rule) and founder of Benedictine nuns. Like Benedict, she was born to wealthy parents in Nursia, Umbria in the late fifth century. (Some later traditions have her as Benedict’s twin sister, but it is unclear if that is meant to be a literal or spiritual designation.)
An early glimpse of Scholastica’s piety comes to us from Gregory the Great’s Dialogues. He reports that Benedict and Scholastica would meet annually at a small house between their monasteries. On one occasion, as Benedict was preparing to return, Scholastica begged him to stay longer.
They had been discussing deep spiritual matters, and she wanted to continue the invigorating conversation deeper into the night. Benedict refused. One of the guidelines in his Rule was that he could not be absent from the monastery overnight.
Upon his refusal, Scholastica began to weep and pray. God responded to her prayers by causing a torrent of rain and thunder so great that Benedict and his companions could not leave the house. When he asked her what she had done, Scholastica retorted, “I asked you and you would not listen; so I asked my God and he did listen. So now go off, if you can, leave me and return to your monastery.” Reluctantly, Benedict and his fellow monks stayed overnight, God’s will having been made clear. Gregory writes that God answered Scholastica’s prayers because her love for God was greater than that of Benedict’s (high praise indeed!).
Three days later, in February of 543, while Benedict was in his cell, he saw his sister’s soul ascend to heaven as a dove. He had her body brought to the monastery and buried in the grave he had prepared for himself.
Scholastica is the patron saint of Benedictine nuns, education, and convulsive children. For obvious reasons, she is sometimes invoked against storms and rain. Her feast day is celebrated on February 10.
Collect for Scholastica
Assist us, O God, to love one other as sisters and brothers, and to balance discipline with love and rules with compassion, according to the example shown by your servant Scholastica; for the sake of your Son Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom with you and the Holy Spirit be all honor and glory, now and for ever. Amen.
Richard Hooker
Richard Hooker was a priest and philosopher whose writings laid the groundwork for Anglican theology. Born to a family of moderate means in 1553, he was sent to Oxford through the generosity of local merchants. At Oxford, he studied for holy orders. While he read the Calvinism tracts popular in Protestant countries at the time, Hooker also dabbled in Thomas Aquinas and the church fathers. By the time he graduated, he managed to obtain a more diverse education than many other Anglican clergy.
Hooker initially received a fellowship for preaching at Oxford but lost it soon after because his preaching was not considered strictly Calvinist enough for the staunch Protestants. He was reinstated soon after the controversy but departed instead to take the position of Master of the Temple in London in 1585. He shared this prestigious post with a more Puritan-inclined preacher, Walter Travers. Often the two would spar in their respective sermons, which increased the overall attendance. In his first sermon, Hooker caused Travers untold fury by preaching a sermon that suggested that double predestination was nonsense and that Roman Catholics might be saved after all through the grace of a merciful God. Hooker refused to live in the church rectory with Travers and instead lived nearby with John Churchman—and ended up marrying Churchman’s daughter, Jean.
In 1591, fed up with this life of churchly drama, Hooker moved to Boscombe in Wiltshire, where he began to compose what would become his magnum opus: The Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity. This multi-volume work was Hooker’s entry into a debate about how the church and government ought to properly organize themselves. In the initial entries, Hooker offered the first glimpse of what has become the classic Anglican approach of via media.
Hooker argued that God didn’t care much about institutions. Instead, he contended that what mattered was how pious and devout people were—and whether institutions fostered an environment of faithfulness and devotion. He also argued that the debate over salvation via works or by grace was pointless: good works were the inevitable result of a heart saved by grace and thus overcome with gratitude, and the two could not be separated. Despite completing only five of the eight planned volumes, Hooker’s work lasted long past his death in 1600 and remains a cornerstone of Anglican philosophy.
Collect for Richard Hooker
O God of truth and peace, you raised up your servant Richard Hooker in a day of bitter controversy to defend with sound reasoning and great charity the catholic and reformed religion: Grant that we may maintain that middle way, not as a compromise for the sake of peace, but as a comprehension for the sake of truth; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Scholastica: Gabriel Wüger, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Richard Hooker: Wenceslaus Hollar, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
116 comments on “Scholastica v. Richard Hooker”
Today we in SE Michigan, many of whom still don't have power from last week's ice storm, are facing another bad round of storms and high winds that threaten already-weakened trees, which will inevitably cause more lines to go down. So forgive me, Richard Hooker, if I go with Scholastica today, and invoke her protection against storms.
So glad to see Richards Hooker in the lead. While his theological writings may be dense, the clarity of his description of Anglicanism as the "three-legged stool" -- scripture, tradition, and reason -- make for the firm foundation of my faith.
Voted in honor of my favorite elementary school teacher, Sister Scholastica.
How can I not vote for the one who planted the seed of via media? Richard Hooker for me!
I voted for Hooker. This was an easy choice for me to make today.
A “heart” versus “mind” choice…both saints help us deal with the fact that rules and purity are hard (maybe impossible) for humans, and God knows it…
Reading Howard Thurman. I think that he a Hooker would have wonderful discussions.
I recently read Thurman's Jesus and the Disinherited for a course I took this past January. What a powerful and eloquent theologian he was!
I am reading Thurman for the first time right now for the Sacred Ground course, and wish I had read him much sooner; he is cogent and inspiring! I hope he is being well covered in seminaries; he was not covered in my Episcopal seminary classes in the late 80s.
Thank you for your courage and wisdom, Richard Hooker.
I learned recently that Richard Hooker was an ancestor. How could I not vote for him??
Hmmm, saints having temper tantrums to get their own way - I don’t think so. Richard Hooker gets my vote today.
I didn't perceive it as a tantrum -- Scholastica pleaded to her brother, then prayed to God. I imagine she had few if any peers in her convent who could keep up with her in a theological discussion; she must have cherished her brother's visits for that.
Scholastica and her legend may well be entirely fictional, while Hooker's reality cannot be doubted, Hooker gets my vote.
As a prose stylist, he is mentioned by the Encyclopaedia Britannica in the same sentence as Edmund Spenser, Christopher Marlowe, and William Shakespeare. Even the Bishop of Rome Clement VIII admitted Hooker’s work “had in it such seeds of eternity that it would abide until the last fire shall consume all learning.”
Hooker's Laws were the basis of John Locke's later work, which in turn inspired a number of colonial dissidents, including Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and Thomas Paine.
As a Benedictine Oblate, I'm voting for Scholastica. I know many wonderful Benedictine sisters who follow in her footsteps. (However, having become familiar with the general tilt of Lent Madness voters, when I filled in my bracket, I predicted Hooker would advance.)
Hooray for the Sisters. I was a little troubled by Gregory's suggestion that one sibling "loved God" more than the other. One shouldn't have to "prove" one's love, something I'm sure your good Sisters know.
Having known many Benedictine Sisters, I did the same but this is not a good rendition of her story. The original version was very clear in St. Benedict making the decision to leave despite his sister’s plea making it sound that it was Benedict’s way or the highway. God humbled him by fulfilling St. Scholastica request. Also, the possessive language in the write up is bizarre. “My God”, seriously?!? A medieval saint or medieval writer would be raked over the coals for using such language.
I'm with the Hookers! All may, most should, none must vote for Hooker; I did. He laid a theological cornerstone of Anglicanism. He continues to be an able apologist for anglicanism in that unlike Calvin or Luther he did not write a systematic theology, and so we can continue to INTERPRET him, allowing us to respond deliberatively to the controversies of the day. As an institution, we can change. Mark Chapman writes that "it is the figure of Hooker who is credited with the creation of the distinctive emphasis of Anglican moderation, of formulating the carefully balanced three-legged stool of Scripture, Tradition and Reason." (Sadly, Chapman left out the Oxford comma, and he even teaches at Oxford! Now that's a sin.) Hooker bequeathed us this path of charity between "Romanism and Puritanism." In an age of idolatry, in which guns for many Americans are worth more than the lives of children, we can be reminded of Hooker's insistence that Scripture is not "self-authenticating"; we must use human reason to solve our problems and find a godly way forward. Heart, brain, and incense; we bring all three.
Amen, St. Celia! But surely a via media might sometimes be appropriate in matters of Oxford comma usage. 8)
Yay Team Oxford Comma! (I have a T-shirt with that motto!)
Quite frankly, Sister Scholastica's thunderstorm sounds suspicious. I don't believe that God had anything to do with it, nor do I believe that God rated Scholastica's devotion as more profound than that of her brother. What's that bit in scripture that says God doesn't play favourites?
For me, this contest was no contest at all. My vote went to Richard Hooker, the man who made it possible for Anglicans through the centuries to sit on the stool of reason, tradition, and scripture to ponder their experience of God.
Ah, but if we are made in God's image, wouldn't you suppose that God might enjoy being talked about, and perhaps intervene to keep the conversation going?
We need that middle way today in so many ways it seems to me. So my vote goes to Hooker. 'but we need to love our brothers and sisters too. I wish I could have voted for both!
Nooooooo!!!!! What's wrong with you guys? Dudes like Richard Hooker already have enough recognition. Scholastica has had very little - please friends, don't send her away!!!!
Alas! I am onboard....
I probably voted for the underdog today in voting for Scholastica but a woman who storms in and takes charge is my kind of woman. Hooker has probably had more influence on my Anglican spirituality but she gets my vote anyway.
Though inclined to vote for the distaff side [look it up, folks],
I'm going with Hooker today for giving us the via media.
As a lifelong Anglican I have always been taught that Hooker's contribution was 'the 3 legged stool' concept which rings true to me: 1.Scripture 2. Tradition & 3. Reason Yeah Hooker!
Scholastica needs to come out of her brother’s shadow for fervent prayers answered.
Richard seems to be a rather pedantic theologian, rather verbose if it was going to take 8 volumes to get his point across!
The Benedictine 1st Lady gets my vote!
What a choice! I'm naturally inclined to the woman, but also naturally inclined to someone with influences on my own Methodist tradition...
All honor to St. Scholastica and Benedictines everywhere. Nevertheless, this Anglican/Episcopalian's vote had to go to Hooker. "Double predestination was nonsense" - good for him!
Our Altar Guild at St. Benedict's, Los Osos, CA has a picture of Scholastica in our vestry as our patroness. We like to think that the brother and sister are still serving us all in our parish.
My vote was cast before I read the descriptions of either saint! When our church camp (Pilgrim Firs, Gig Harbor, WA) was built in the 1950s, each cabin was named for theologians and leaders of the Protestant faith through the ages. I've slept so many times in the "Robert Hooker" cabin that my hand automatically clicked on his name! All kidding aside, both candidates have stellar resumes and impacted many, many believers of many traditions. But I'm especially touched Hooker's emphasis on a person's piety and devotion as the center building block for a solid belief. Looks like today's competition won't be such a huge landslide victory...carry on, brothers and sisters.
Whilst I would be delighted to see Scholastica progress, my vote goes to Richard Hooker in the hope that the current Church of England might recover something of his generosity of spirit and clarity.
I choose Hooker as his work on grace versus good works move the argument to a higher level incorporating love of God creating gratitude in our hearts that motivates our good works,
I agree you can’t separate good works from grace as without the hearts motivation (love of god); one would not undertake good works as an outflow of our affections to Jesus.
Calvin’s focus on “good works” as a primary method of forgiveness of our sins and a path to salvation; is too simplistic and makes salvation a bookkeepers process.
oops...I just realized that I referred to Richard Hooker as "Robert" throughout my entire comment! Guess I slept through the lecture on Richard Hooker at seminary! Still, he has my vote.
Richard Hooker
Hooker.