Thoughts to live by: Feast of St. Catherine of Siena

Tuesday, 29 April, Easter Weekday

1. Caterina di Jacopo di Benincasa was born in Siena, Tuscany on 25 March 1347 and died in Rome on 29 April 1380, at the age of 33. She was a Dominican Tertiary and mystic, one of the most revered and influential women-saints in the Church, much respected for her spiritual writings and political boldness to "speak truth to power."

2. She was one of 25 children, but most of her siblings did not survive childhood. She herself was a twin, but her sister did not survive infancy. Her father was a cloth dyer. At five or 6 yrs old, she had her first mystical vision of Christ, seated in glory with the Apostles, Peter, Paul, and John. At age 7, she vowed to give her whole life to God. At age 16, her parents tried to persuade her to marry the widower of her sister, but she refused.

3. In 1363, she joined the Third Order of St. Dominic, taking simple vows and living quietly, isolated within her family home. Fellow Tertiaries taught her how to read. She developed a habit of giving things away, even her family's food and clothing, to people in need.

She received a mystical visit by Jesus who invited her to drink the blood gushing from his pierced side. From that time on, her stomach "no longer had need of food and no longer could digest." She rapidly gained a wide reputation for her piety and her severe asceticism.

4. When she was 21, she experienced a "spiritual espousal to Christ" during which Christ gave her a ring which was invisible. In her ecstatic mystical vision, Christ told her to serve the poor and sick. So, she gave up her solitude within the family home. Her ministry for the poor and the sick led her to being known as "santa donna, " a holy woman. She gained many disciples.

5. Her ministry eventually moved beyond her local community. She began to travel and promote church reform and call people to confess their sins and to love God totally. She became involved in politics and worked to keep city states loyal to the Pope. It is also said that she was given the stigmata, but like her ring, it was invisible to others.

6. She went as an unofficial mediator to Avignon with her confessor and biographer Blessed Raymond of Capua, later the Master General of the Dominicans. It was the time of the Great Papal Schism and the Avignon Papacy. She was instrumental in persuading Pope Gregory XI to leave Avignon and return to Rome. She brokered peace deals between the Italian city states. While at Avignon, she promoted her plans for a Crusade. After a short stay in Siena, during which she completed "The Dialogue" (begun the previous year), she went to Rome, where she sent out letters and exhortations to to princes and cardinals to gain support for Pope Urban VI. She also tried to win back Queen Joan I of Naples to support Urban VI rather than the antipope, Clement VII.

7. In 1377, she established a monastery of strict observance for women outside the city of Siena. Catherine's writings, all of which were dictated, include letters, prayers, and the 4 treatises of "Il libro della divina dottrina," better known as "The Dialogue" (c. 1475), a dialogue between God and a soul. This record of her ecstatic experiences illustrates her doctrine of the "inner cell" of the knowledge of God and of self into which she withdrew. Much of her life she suffered slanders and false accusations and endured them with extradinary patience and humility.

8. By 1380, the 33 year old mystic had become ill. She received the Holy Eucharist almost daily. But she was unable to drink or eat and eventually lost the use of her legs. She died in Rome on April 29, following a stroke just a week prior. Her last words were, "Father, into your hands I commend my soul and my spirit." Pope Urban VI celebrated her funeral and burial in the Basilica of Santa Maria sopra Minerva in Rome. Devotion around Catherine of Siena developed rapidly as miracles took place at her grave. Her incorrupt head and thumb are entombed in the Basilica of San Domenico at Siena.

9. In 1461, Pope Pius II canonized her. She is a patron Saint of Italy and of Europe. On 4 October 1970, Pope Paul VI declared her a Doctor of the Church, the second woman to be declared so, only days after Teresa of Avila.

10. Prayer — O God, you set St. Catherine of Siena on fire with divine love in her contemplation of the Lord's Passion and her service to your Church. Grant, we pray, through her intercession, that we, your people, participating in the mystery of Christ, may ever exult in the revelation of his glory, through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Prayers, blessed Easter wishes, God bless, alleluliah, alleluiah!