February 10

When I think of Oxford, England, I can’t help but picture a bunch of guys wearing tweed jackets that have leather patches on the elbows, invariably smoking pipes and busily engaged in doing a whole bunch of thinking, which can be extremely tiring (Or should that be tiresome?). After a day spent engaged in lots of pondering, they probably liked to pop off down to the pub for a quick one after work. On the 10th in 1355, which just happens to be St. Scholastica's Day, a riot broke out following a dispute at Oxford’s Swindlestock Tavern, over the quality of the beer being served. The scholars from the University of Oxford and their students became embroiled in a dispute that left 63 scholars and perhaps 30 locals wishing that they had kept their heads in their books instead of on pikes. The scholars from the University of Oxford and their students became embroiled in a dispute that left 63 scholars and perhaps 30 locals wishing that they had kept their heads in their books instead of on pikes.

Saint Scholastica, who died in 543, was the twin sister of St. Benedict of Nursia, the founder of the Benedict Order. Scholastica is the patroness against storms and rain. Benedict, on the other hand is far busier, being as he is the patron against poison; witchcraft; agricultural workers; cavers; civil engineers; coppersmiths; dying people; erysipelas; Europe; farmers; fever; gall stones; Heerdt, Germany; inflammatory diseases; Italian architects; kidney disease; monks; nettle rash; Norcia, Italy; people in religious orders; schoolchildren; servants who have broken their master's belongings; speleologists; spelunkers and temptations