Catherine

Saint Catherine of Siena, pray for us, who have recourse to thee…

Saint Catherine of Siena (Carlo Dolci)

In the fourteenth century, in Siena in Italy, Saint Catherine of Siena was born.

Catherine was her mother’s twenty-fifth child.  When she turned sixteen, her sister died and her brother in law was a widower.  Catherine’s parents wanted her to marry her brother in law, but she refused this request.  Instead, she cut her hair off.  This was a serious thing to do.  In Medieval times, women never cut their hair.  Female hair was seen as a thing of beauty and to cut her hair, Catherine was signalling that she would give away her beauty and would be considered ugly (as a nun would be as nuns cut their hair when they took their vows) and in this way she would reject the attentions of men.

As a teenager, Saint Catherine had made a personal vow of chastity and as she grew older, she confirmed that vow.  She dedicated herself to prayer and penance and acts of charity – especially in caring for the sick.  Saint Catherine learned to rad.  She found this very challenging and during her lifetime it was unusual for people to read and even less usual for a woman to read and write.  However, Catherine persevered – despite terrible difficulty – and composed great spiritual treasures including “The Dialogue”.  It is for these works that Saint Catherine of Siena has been called a Doctor of the Church, which is just a fancy way of saying that she has contributed to the knowledge and teaching of the Church.

Saint Catherine is well known for her sacrifices for love of the Church.  During her lifetime, Pope Gregory XI decided to leave Rome and reside in Avignon.  After his death, there was a great Schism in the Catholic Church and three men declared themselves Pope.  Catherine travelled and negotiated tirelessly with these men to establish the true successor of Saint Peter and the true pope.  Saint Catherine dedicated the last two years of her life to this cause and miraculously survived by consuming the Blessed Eucharist alone during that time.  She purposefully offered herself as a victim for the church and died at the age of thirty-three…

Saint Josemaria greatly admired this other saint because he believed in her courage to speak the truth despite her apparent weakness and relative unimportance in those affairs.  She loved the Church and the Pope very truly…

And she allowed Christ to help her, “At that time Jesus declared, ‘Come to me, all who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.’” (Matthew 11:25-30).

Saint Catherine of Siena, pray for us, who have recourse to thee…

For with prayer, I stand on Holy Ground where everything is clear. Here. At the Foot of the Cross.