ST. CATHERINE OF SIENA 

SOME  KEY  COMMENTS

INTRODUCTION

This morning I'd like to give some key comments about a well known Catholic saint: St. Catherine of Siena.

Dates:  1347 - 1380 - She died at the age of 33.

She was born in Siena - close to the famous cathedral of Sienna. She was a twin - the 23^rd of 25 children in the Benicasa family of Siena. 13 reached adulthood.

She died in Rome in 1380.

She was a 3^rd order Dominican - which gave her the freedom to roam. If she were a nun, there would be restrictions.  Being a Dominican gave her support and a group that backed her - once they recognized they had someone special here.  She was seen as a saint in her lifetime.  Some saw her as a mystic. Others saw her as a prophetess or spiritual teacher.

QUITE A LIFE

She had quite a life: challenging and charming popes and bishops and important government leaders in Northern Italy. She was “good” as they say. One comment was, “She kissed the Pope’s feet while twisting his arm.

She challenged priests to live the life they were called to life. Quit vanity. Stop messing around.  Pope and church officials asked her a few times to be an ambassador and that she was - among waring and arguing families and factors around Italy.

In 1377 she told the Pope - Gregory XI - to get back to Rome. The French  had gotten in  control of the Church and the popes lived up there in the French town of Avignon for 70 years. It was called the Babylonian Captivity.

Well, Gregory XI went back to Rome and after his death, the cardinals - mostly French met in Rome to elect a new pope They chose an Italian, who was a disaster. He was an angry man. He was arrogant. There was other stuff too. So once out of Rome, they met - and elected a new pope Clement         VII - who moved the papacy back to Avignon,  We now had a Papal Schism from 1378 - 1417.

It was during her time that we had the Papal Schism of 1378 - the church being sort of cut up by theologians and personalities.  We had two popes in place.  After electing the pope, folks weren’t happy with their choice, so they elected another pope.

She was a writer. In 1970 they made her a woman “Doctor - that is,  a   Teacher of the Church.” Up to Catherine all were men.  Now we have 4 women doctors of the Church: Hildegard of Bingen, Catherine of Siena, Teresa of Avila and St. Therese of Lisieux.   She didn’t have much education. She would do a lot of her writing  dictating to a couple of people.

She had the guidance of Stefano di Corrado Maconi (d. 1424) - who later became head of the Carthusians - as well as St. Raymond of Capua who later became head of the Dominicans.

Doctors or teachers of the Church means there are readings and teachings to look at.  We have some 400 of her letters - written to those on the top shelf and those who were at the bottom of the barrel.  Her main book was The Dialogue - basically conversations with God.  Her other document was The Treatise if Divine Providence.

THREE   QUOTES

“Love changes us into what we love.”

We’ve all heard that in familiar slogans like: We become what we eat?  Garbage in. Garbage out.  In marriage, in a good loving marriage, the other becomes one with her or his spouse.  So St. Catherine of Siena is telling us, “Love changes us into what we love.”

The second quote is, “God is more willing to pardon than we have been willing  to sin.” 

That’s worth pondering. Jesus loves us more than we might love sin.

Here’s the third quote. In The Dialogue we read, “The soul is in God and God in the soul, just as the fish is in the sea and the sea in the fish.”   Next time you’re at the beach or at the water say, “There are fish out there. I can’t see them, but there are fish out there.”  Close your eyes and look into yourself and say, “God is in me and I am in God.”

ENOUGH

That’s enough for starters. Amen