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Catherine of Siena

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Saint Catherine of Siena, O.P. (March 25, 1347 - April 29, 1380) was a Tertiary (a lay affiliate) of the Dominican Order, and a scholastic philosopher and theologian. She was born into a prosperous urban family, her parents being Giacomo di Benincasa, a cloth-dyer, and Lapa Piagenti, a daughter of a local poet. She was their 23rd child out of 25 (Catherine’s twin sister, the 24th, died at birth).

Life

A native of Siena, Catherine received no formal education. At the age of seven she consecrated her virginity to Christ despite her family's opposition. Her parents wanted her to live a normal life and marry, but against her parent's will, she dedicated her life to praying, meditating and living in total solitude into her late teens. At the age of sixteen, she took the habit of the Dominican Tertiaries.

Catherine dedicated her life to helping the ill and the poor, where she took care of them in hospitals or homes. She rounded up a group of followers, both women and men, and traveled with them along Northern Italy where they asked for a reform of the clergy, the launch of a new crusade and advised people that repentance and renewal could be done through "the total love for God." Catherine also dedicated her life to the study of religious texts. (342)

In about 1366, Catherine experienced what she described in her letters as a 'Mystical Marriage' with Jesus, after which she began to tend the sick and serve the poor. In 1370 she received a series of visions of Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven, after which she heard a command to leave her withdrawn life and enter the public life of the world. Being illiterate, she dictated several letters to men and women in authority, especially begging for peace between the republics and principalities of Italy and for the return of the papacy from Avignon to Rome. She carried on a long correspondence with Pope Gregory XI, also asking him to reform the clergy and the administration of the Papal States.

In June of 1376 Catherine went to Avignon herself as ambassador of Florence to make peace with the Papal States, but was unsuccessful. She had tried to convince Pope Gregory XI to return to Rome, the rightful capital of the papacy. (Hollister 343) She impressed the Pope so much that he returned his administration to Rome in January of 1377. During the Western Schism of 1378 she was an adherent of Pope Urban VI, who summoned her to Rome, and stayed at Pope Urban VI's court and tried to convince nobles and cardinals of his legitimacy. She lived in Rome until her death in 1380. The problems of the Western Schism would trouble her until the end of her life.

Catherine's letters are considered one of the great works of early Tuscan literature. More than 300 letters have survived. In her letters to the Pope, she often referred to him affectionately as "Papa" or "Daddy" ("Babbo" in Italian). Her major work is the Dialogue of Divine Providence.

Catherine died of a stroke in the spring of 1380 in Rome. She died at the age of thirty-three, the same age at which Jesus Christ died. The people of Siena wished to have her body. There is a myth that explains how Catherine's head was able to get to Siena. The people of Siena knew they could not get her whole body past Roman guards and decided to take only her head which they placed in a bag. They were still stopped by guards and they prayed to Catherine to help them because they knew Catherine would rather be in Siena. When they opened the bag to show the guards it no longer held her head, but was full of rose petals. Once they got back to Siena they reopened the bag and her head reappeared. Because of this myth, Catherine is often seen holding a rose.

Posthumous recognition

Pope Pius II canonized Catherine in 1461. Her feast day was not included in the Tridentine Calendar. When it was later added to the Roman Calendar, it was put on 30 April (see General Roman Calendar as in 1954 and General Roman Calendar of 1962). When the calendar was revised in 1969, her feast was put on 29 April, the day of her death. Other Christians, including Lutherans, have chosen to commemorate her on that same day.

Pope Paul VI gave her the title of Doctor of the Church in 1970 - making her the first woman, along with Saint Teresa of Ávila, ever to receive this honor. In 1999 Pope John Paul II made her one of Europe's patron saints. She is also the patroness of the historically Catholic American sorority, Theta Phi Alpha.

References

See also

External links

Hollister, Warren C. and Judith M. Bennett. Medieval Europe: A Short History. 9th edition. Boston: McGraw-Hill Companies Inc., 2002. p. 342-343.



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