evident that as early as the latter part of the fourth
century communities of nuns began to live in their own religious houses.
As yet, however, the inmates of these asylums of chastity were
answerable, only to themselves for the faithfulness with which they
fulfilled their vows. There was no organized order, no recognized rule;
each virgin observed her profession according as she interpreted the
terms thereof. The Church exercised no well-defined disciplinary
authority over these convents; of course, if a professed nun
scandalously repudiated her vows, she could be excommunicated, but the
efficacy of this punishment was conditioned entirely by the degree of
horror with which the woman viewed the forfeiture of ecclesiastical
privileges. It was not before the time of Gregory that the Church became
able to enforce its judgments. When all the world became Christian, then
the individual again lost his freedom of thought in relation to
religious matters; then, through its alliance with the secular arm, the
Church gained the power to sternly constrain its recalcitrant children.
This was brought about by the political advantages gained by Gregory,
and by Saint Benedict's gifts of organization.

Saint Benedict was the father of Western organized monasticism; he not
only founded an order to which many religious houses already existing
united themselves, but he established a rule for their government, which
was adopted as the rule for monastic life by all such orders which
existed in the Church down to the time of Saint Francis and Saint
Dominic. What Benedict did for the monks, his sister Scholastica--who,
being a woman, has received far less mention--accomplished for the nuns.
Through her efforts, under the direction and advice of her brother,
greater dignity and weight were given to the female side of monasticism.

We know that Benedict was born at Nursia, in the province of Spoleto, in
the year 480; whether Scholastica was older or younger than her more
famous brother is not said. Their parents were respectable people,
possessed of sufficient means to enable them to give their children a
good education, and to take up temporarily their residence in Rome for
that purpose.

While at Rome, Benedict became enamored of the idea of devoting himself
to religion; and in order to get away from the moral dangers of the
city, he fled from his school and his parents to a small village called
Effide, about two miles from Subiaco. His n