By Leon Bent –
When we read profiles of holy women and men, it is like throwing open a window on a stuffy old Church, and our personal lives, and taking in big gulps of fresh air.
Today, I would like to share with you the story of a woman who played an eminent role in the history of the Church: St. Catherine of Siena. The century in which she lived – the 14th – was a troubled period in the Church, and throughout the social context of Italy, and Europe – in general. Yet, even in the most difficult times, the Lord does not cease to bless his People, bringing forth Saints, who give a jolt to minds and hearts, provoking conversion and renewal.
Catherine is one of these saints, and even today, speaks to us, and impels us to walk courageously toward holiness, and be disciples of Jesus, ever more fully.
Saint Catherine of Siena (25th March, 1347 – 29th April, 1380), a laywoman associated with the Dominican Order, was a Scholastic philosopher, and theologian who had a great influence on the Catholic Church.
These beautiful words are found in the Office of Readings for her Feast. They come from the pen of this strong woman of God, who found solidarity in deep communion with God: “Eternal Trinity, Godhead, mystery deep as the sea, you could give me no greater gift than that of yourself. For, you are a fire, an ever burning fire, which consumes all the selfish love that fills my being.” At the age of six, young Catherine was walking home when she saw Jesus seated in glory.
At the age of sixteen, Catherine chose the way of another hero of the faith, St. Dominic, in responding to the grace of her vocation. He had left a way of life for all who sought to live what the church has called, the “evangelical counsels”. Catherine became a tertiary (lay follower) of the Dominican Order. She embraced a life of poverty, chastity, and obedience.
She joined the Sisters of the Penance of St. Dominic and made her vows. She made herself known very quickly by being marked by mystical phenomena such as stigmata and mystical marriage.
She, like many other saints and heroes throughout the history of the Church, believed that Jesus hid himself in the wrinkled face and the wounds of the poor. She preferred to minister lepers and cancer patients, caring for them with the love of the Crucified One whom she loved. Then, the Lord gave her a following of women, who recognized that Catherine was a follower of the Servant, Jesus Christ. Her bunch of sisters began to walk the way with her.
When the plague broke out in Sienna, one of her friends wrote: “She was always with the plague-stricken. She prepared them for death; she buried them with her own hands. I myself witnessed the joy with which she nursed them and how effective her words were.”
Catherine also regularly frequented prisons and loved to work with those preparing for execution. In January of 1380, while praying at Peter’s tomb, she experienced the great weight of the Church fall on her shoulders, and she offered herself and her suffering as a “victim” for the renewal of the Church, and its multiple “Popes”, fighting for supremacy. She wrote, “If I die, let it be known that I die … of passion for the Church.” Her death-bed prayer is a model of love poured out for all who follow Jesus Christ, and desire the healing and unity of the Church in our day: “Oh eternal God, receive the sacrifice of my life on behalf of the mystical Body of Holy Mother, the Church. I have nothing else to give except what you have given me.”
Catherine was a prolific letter writer. At least 400 of her letters have survived. She wrote only one book, Dialogue, which is an ongoing account of her intimate communion with the Lord, whom she loved very intimately. She considered herself espoused to Him. Her spiritual testament is found in The Dialogue. On 9th April, at the age of thirty-three, the same age at which Jesus offered Himself on the altar of the Cross, Catherine was called home to the Father.
Catherine ranks high among the mystics and spiritual writers of the Church. In 1939, she and Francis of Assisi were declared co-patrons of Italy.
Pius II canonized Catherine in 1461. Pius IX declared her, along with Francis of Assisi, the second patron of Italy. In 1970, Pope Paul VI proclaimed Giacomo and Lapa Benincasa’s twenty-fifth child, never formally educated, a “Doctor of the Church.”
Leon Bent is an ex-Seminarian and studied the Liberal Arts and Humanities, and Philosophy, from St. Pius X College, Mumbai. He holds Masters Degree in English Literature and Aesthetics. He has published three Books and have 20 on the anvil. He has two extensively “Researched” Volumes to his name: Hail Full of Grace and Matrimony: The Thousand Faces of Love. He won The Examiner, Silver Pen Award, 2000 for writing on Social Issues, the clincher being a Researched Article on Gypsies in India, published in an issue of the (worldwide circulation) Vidyajyoti Journal of Theological Reflection, New Delhi. On April, 28, 2018, Leon received the Cardinal Ivan Dias Award for a research paper in Mariology.