The value Catherine makes central in her short life and which sounds
clearly and consistently through her experience is complete surrender
to Christ. What is most impressive about her is that she learns to view
her surrender to her Lord as a goal to be reached through time.
She
was the 23rd child of Jacopo and Lapa Benincasa and grew up as an
intelligent, cheerful and intensely religious person. Catherine
disappointed her mother by cutting off her hair as a protest against
being overly encouraged to improve her appearance in order to attract a
husband. Her father ordered her to be left in peace and she was given a
room of her own for prayer and meditation.
She entered the
Dominican Third Order at 18 and spent the next three years in
seclusion, prayer and austerity. Gradually a group of followers
gathered around her—men and women, priests and religious. An active
public apostolate grew out of her contemplative life. Her letters,
mostly for spiritual instruction and encouragement of her followers,
began to take more and more note of public affairs. Opposition and
slander resulted from her mixing fearlessly with the world and speaking
with the candor and authority of one completely committed to Christ.
She was cleared of all charges at the Dominican General Chapter of 1374.
Her
public influence reached great heights because of her evident holiness,
her membership in the Dominican Third Order, and the deep impression
she made on the pope. She worked tirelessly for the crusade against the
Turks and for peace between Florence and the pope
In 1378, the
Great Schism began, splitting the allegiance of Christendom between
two, then three, popes and putting even saints on opposing sides.
Catherine spent the last two years of her life in Rome, in prayer and
pleading on behalf of the cause of Urban VI and the unity of the
Church. She offered herself as a victim for the Church in its agony.
She died surrounded by her "children."
Catherine ranks high among
the mystics and spiritual writers of the Church. In 1970 Paul VI named
her and Teresa of Avila as doctors of the Church. In recent years, it
has been suggested that she (among other possibilities) should be named
patron of the Internet. Her spiritual testament is found in The Dialogue.
Comment:
Though
she lived her life in a faith experience and spirituality far different
from that of our own time, Catherine of Siena stands as a companion
with us on the Christian journey in her undivided effort to invite the
Lord to take flesh in her own life. Events which might make us wince or
chuckle or even yawn fill her biographies: a mystical experience at
six, childhood betrothal to Christ, stories of harsh asceticism, her
frequent ecstatic visions. Still, Catherine lived in an age which did
not know the rapid change of twenty-first-century mobile America. The
value of her life for us today lies in her recognition of holiness as a
goal to be sought over the course of a lifetime.
Quote:Catherine's book Dialogue
contains four treatises—her testament of faith to the spiritual world.
She wrote, "No one should judge that he has greater perfection because
he performs great penances and gives himself in excess to the staying
of the body than he who does less, inasmuch as neither virtue nor merit
consists therein; for otherwise he would be an evil case, who for some
legitimate reason was unable to do actual penance. Merit consists in
the virtue of love alone, flavored with the light of true discretion
without which the soul is worth nothing."
Prayer of Saint Catherine of Siena to the Precious Blood of Jesus
Precious Blood,
Ocean of Divine Mercy:
Flow upon us!
Precious Blood,
Most pure Offering:
Procure us every Grace!
Precious Blood,
Hope and Refuge of sinners:
Atone for us!
Precious Blood,
Delight of holy souls:
Draw us! Amen.
-Saint Catherine of Siena