8 Things to Know and Share About St. Catherine of Siena

[Michie]

St. Catherine of Siena is a saint, mystic and doctor of the Church. Here are 8 things about her to know and share.


April 29 is the memorial of St. Catherine of Siena.

She is a saint, a mystic and a doctor of the Church, as well as a patroness of Italy and of Europe.

Who was she, and why is her life so significant?

Here are 8 things to know and share...



1. Who is St. Catherine of Siena?

Continued below.
8 Things to Know and Share About St. Catherine of Siena

 

[Bob Crowley]

In my hit and miss fashion, I sometimes read "Butler's Saint of the Day" as part of my "quiet time'.

I was on April 30 when I turned back a page and St. Catherine of Siena happened to be the reading for the 29th April. Since I usually attend a church named "St. Catherine", I decided to read her day instead of St. Peter of St. Joseph Betancurt.

Butler (and / or later editors) made a couple of surprising points -

"... Her politics were not always as clear as her aim, and she saw a crusade againts the Turks as a way of distracting Christian states from waging war on each other (so what's new?). She wrote a series of letters to Pope Gregory XI, often addressing him as though he were a naughty boy, urging him to return from Avignon: "I am telling you: come back and conquer our enemies ... Be a courageous man for me and not a coward". She went to Avignon in 1376, trying to mediate between him and anti-papal forces in Florence, but these were not going to be bouind by her. Gregory did return possibly spurred on by her prodding, but failed to resolve maters, and two years later he died. Catherine was almost killed by anti-papal forces - she lamented her escape - and the Great Schism began with the election of an antipope to oppose Urban VI...

... Her reaction to apparent failure was to make herself into a living sacrifice to persuade God to save the Church. She went on a complete hunger strike and collapsed after a month. She took minimal nourishment, mainly frequent Communion, but she had done her body too much damage and died at the age of thirty-three. How far she was responsible for her own death and how far she was suffering from what we now know as anorexia nervosa are questions that can by debated for ever. ...

... the divisions in the Church she had tried and failed to heal prevented this (her canonisation) from taking place for a further sixty-five years...

... Finally Pope Paul VI proclaimed her a doctor in the church in 1970, the only lay woman to receive the title in the history of the church".

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Those old time Catholic saints took their faith seriously. As a modern suburban Catholic, I'm more inclined to read about them over a cup of coffee than emulate them.