Today is the feast day of St Catherine of Siena, Doctor of the Church! St Catherine is such a powerful and faith filled saint. Her entire life was devoted to Christ. She spent her life praying, fasting, and performing acts of charity. Her closeness to Christ made her very wise, and she would often see Him and converse with Him.
Early Childhood
St Catherine was one of 25 children. Unfortunately, many of her siblings would not live past childhood. Her father was Giacomo and her mother Lapa. Her father and brothers were middle class merchants, who made and mixed dyes for clothing.
At the age of 5, St Catherine learned the Hail Mary, and would repeat it over and over again. She would say a Hail Mary on each step while going up and down stairs. Her devotion was so strong at only 5 years old, and would become stronger and stronger.
At the age of 6, she saw her first mystical vision. While standing in front of a church, she looked up and saw Our Lord Jesus Christ, sitting upon a throne. She gazed lovingly up at Him, and Jesus gazed lovingly back at her. He made a sign of the cross over her. She stared in awe until she was distracted, and when she looked back towards the sky, the vision was gone. This was the first of many visions of Christ in her life, and it deeply impacted her.
At the age of 7, St Catherine makes a vow of virginity. This was a serious matter, and was very impressive for a 7 yr old girl. She prayed to the Blessed Virgin Mary, asking that she would give to her Jesus as her husband, and promised she would never marry another.
Teenage Years
When she was 12, her parents wanted St Catherine to spend more time caring for her appearance. She relented at first in order to please them and her sister Bonaventura, however she realized the vanity that was rooted in these actions and repented. She declared to her family that she would never marry any man, because she was supposed to marry Christ. Her parents did not understand this, and continued to pressure her. This constant pressure to look pretty so she could be married caused St Catherine to cut off her beautiful golden brown hair.
Cutting her hair didn’t improve her family’s attitude, and they stepped up their pressure. She was scolded day and night, they made her do all the menial chores in the house, and was never allowed to be alone (she loved her privacy, because she spent all her private time in prayer with Christ). This was terribly difficult, however St Catherine bore these attacks patiently. This would continue until her father, having seen a white dove fly from St Catherine, realized what was going on. He called a family meeting and declared that no one is allowed to pester her about marriage anymore.
Joining the Dominican Order
Throughout her youth, St Catherine felt this great love for the Dominican Order. In her teenage years, this love culminated in a strong desire to join them. The fervent zeal for the salvation of souls that St Dominic had, was inspiring to her. As her desire to join the order and her love for its founder St Dominic grew, her prayers increasingly became focused on this request. Day and night, she never grew tired in asking, begging, and imploring Christ to allow her to join. Eventually, Our Lord gave her vision, showing that her desire was heard and granted.
In her vision, St Catherine saw many founders of various religious orders, all of them asking St Catherine to join their particular order. However she saw St Dominic, and recognized home because of a white lily he was holding, which was on fire but was not being consumed. St Dominic came forward and gave her the habit of the Sisters of Penance of St Dominic. This event brought her such great joy, and her tears of joy woke her from this dream.
From then on she carried this promise from God and from St Dominic in her heart, knowing that she would someday join the Sisters of Penance. It took some convincing, and the Sisters had to hold a special meeting, but she eventually received the habit.
Mystical Marriage to Christ
When St Catherine was 19 years old, she received a spectacular vision. On Fat Tuesday, while everyone else was feasting before the great fast of Lent, St Catherine was praying endlessly. Christ spoke to her, and explained that since she was fasting while the rest of the household was feasting, tonight they would celebrate their wedding feast.
The Blessed Virgin Mary appeared, as well as St John the Evangelist, St Paul, St Dominic, and King David. David played music on his harp, and Mary presented St Catherine to her Son Jesus, and asked Him to marry St Catherine in Faith. Christ agreed, and put into St Catherine’s finger a gold ring with four pearls and a diamond in the middle. After the vision had ended, St Catherine was the only one who could see the ring, as it was invisible to everyone else.
Public Life
After her marriage to Christ, St Catherine was strengthened in virtue. Christ had plans for St Catherine out in the world, and she was not going to be confined in her cell at home. He sent her out, asking her to do acts of Charity.
She helped the sick, even when they hated her out of jealousy. Sinners would feel compelled to confess sins and change their lives, and for this reason there was often a priest with her hear those confessions. She ended feuds between families. st Catherine also gave many goods to the poor from her family’s home, and at times the supplies in the home would multiply so more could be given to the poor.
She had a zeal for reconciling souls to God. She saved thousands, including two thief’s who were on their way to death. As they were led through the streets, St Catherine prayed fervently for their salvation. Her spirit followed them as her body was in her room. Demons tried to make her afraid, and threatened her, yet she continued to pray. Christ had mercy on the two thieves, and revealed himself to them, they repented and were saved.
As her father was destined for Purgatory, she begged Christ to let him go straight to Heaven. Divine justice had to be served however, so some form of punishment was required. St Catherine stated she would serve this punishment on behalf of her father, and the rest of her life she had a pain in her side.
She gathered a large group of followers, many of whom were the people she saved from their sinful lives. They viewed her as a sort of mother to them. A plaque broke out in Siena, and St Catherine and her followers fearlessly helped the plaque victims. St Catherine had miraculously healed many.
Bringing the Pope back to Rome
While she was in Pisa, St Catherine heard of Florence and Perugia joining in rebellion against the Holy See. At this time the Holy See was in Avignon, France, and was largely influenced by French bishops. This had caused resentment amongst the Catholic nations, because for decades France seemed to control the Church. St Catherine tirelessly wrote letters to Lucca, Pisa, and her hometown of Siena to encourage them to remain loyal to the Church, and not join the insurrectionists.
St Catherine arrived in Avignon to speak with Pope Gregory XI in 1376. Gregory had proposed moving the papacy back to Rome in the past, however had pressure to remain in Avignon from the bishops. St Catherine encouraged him to follow through on this idea. She also reminded him of a promise he made to God. While still a cardinal, the Pope had made a vow to God, that if he was elected he would return the Papacy to Rome. Pope Gregory was impressed by this knowledge that St Catherine had possessed, since he did not tell anyone about this vow. He departed for Rome two days after St Catherine left Avignon.
The Great Schism
Two years after the Papacy moved back to Rome, the Catholic Church was in the midst of schism. Pope Gregory XI died in 1378, and Urban VI was chosen in Rome. Some of the bishops in Avignon, that were not too happy that the Papacy moved back to Rome, decided Pope Urban’s election was invalid. They set up their own pope, Clement VII.
This was very hard on St Catherine, who grieved with a broken heart. Her beloved Church was divided. She sent a constant stream of letters out, first to Pope Urban, as encouragement and support, and then to leaders throughout Europe to give their support to Pope Urban. It was very clear to St Catherine who the true Pope was, the one who succeeded Pope Gregory in Rome.
She also had sharp words for the cardinals who rebelled and elected their own pope, calling them traitors to their high responsibility. And more sharp words to those leaders in Europe who had joined the French Pope, reminding them of the danger to their souls. Though she spoke of harsh things to these cardinals and leaders, she still did so respectfully and humbly.
St Catherine would fight against this schism for the rest of her life, and was summoned to Rome by Pope Urban VI, so she could better counsel him on how to repair the Church. This was a very unusual office for a woman at the time.
St Catherine’s Writings
Two major works are credited to St Catherine. One is a collection of her letters sent to European leaders, cardinals, and popes. The total number of letters that she wrote are 383. These letters cover many things and give a deep insight into what this saint was like.
The other work, called the Dialogue, is a work that was written over 5 days, in which she dictated to secretaries a conversation between herself and Christ. It is regarded as a deeply spiritual book. This is her most famous work, and truly defines her spirituality.
Other Miracles
St Catherine performed many miracles throughout her life, so it would be impossible to chronicle each of the in a blog post, but here are some of my favorites that I have not mentioned yet.
Stigmata- St Catherine bore the stigmata on her hands and feet. Though this was invisible to others at her own request, as she did not want any attention for herself. These became visible to others when she died.
Crown of Thorns- Also invisible to others, St Catherine bore a mystical crown of thorns on her head, which she constantly felt.
Levitation- St Catherine was found levitating during prayer.
Flying Eucharist- a priest watched as a Eucharist wafer flew from his hand and into St Catherine’s mouth
Fireproof- during one of her ecstasies, St Catherine had fallen into a fire. She was discovered by others, and though she had been fully within the fire, she did not burn and was not harmed.
Lay Exorcist- St Catherine was also credited with exorcising people who were possessed. This was not typically something a lay person was able to do.
Sustaining Eucharist- it was said that St Catherine did not need to eat any food, she sustained herself entirely on the Eucharist.
Her Death
On April 21st, 1380, St Catherine suffered a stroke which took away her ability to walk. 8 days later she died at the age of 33. 33 is a significant age, because this was the same age that Christ died for our sins.
St Catherine was canonized in 1461, and eventually declared a doctor of the Church in 1970. She is one of 4 women doctors of the Church, and the only lay person.
If you would like to learn more about St Catherine I would highly suggest a book called “The Life of St. Catherine of Siena” by Blessed Raymond of Capua. This book was written by her spiritual advisor and confessor.