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==Life==
==Life==
Saint Catherine was born Catherine Benincasa
Saint Catherine was born Catherine Benincasa
in [[Siena]], Italy, to Giacomo di Benincasa, a cloth-dyer, and Lapa Piagenti, a daughter of a local poet. She was the 24th out of 25 children, and her twin sister died at birth.
in [[Sienna]], Italy, to Giacomo di Benincasa, a cloth-dyer, and Lapa Piagenti, a daughter of a local poet. She was the 24th out of 25 children, and her twin sister died at birth.


Catherine received no formal education, and 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 parents' 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 received no formal education, and 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 parents' 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.
Line 55: Line 55:


Saint Catherine's body is buried in the [[Basilica]] of [[Santa Maria sopra Minerva]] in Rome, which is near the [[Pantheon, Rome|Pantheon]].
Saint Catherine's body is buried in the [[Basilica]] of [[Santa Maria sopra Minerva]] in Rome, which is near the [[Pantheon, Rome|Pantheon]].




==Saint Catherine Of Siena's Prayer==
==Saint Catherine Of Siena's Prayer==

Revision as of 22:21, 12 October 2008

For other uses, see Catherine of Siena (disambiguation).
Catherine of Siena
St. Catherine of Siena. Detail of a work by Domenico Beccafumi, c. 1515
Virgin; Doctor of Church
BornMarch 25, 1347
Siena, Italy
DiedApril 29, 1380
Rome, Italy
Venerated inRoman Catholic Church; Evangelical Lutheran Church in America; Anglican Communion
Canonized1461 by Pope Pius II
FeastApril 29; April 30 (Roman Calendar, 1628-1960)
AttributesDominican tertiaries' habit, lily, book, crucifix, heart, crown of thorns, stigmata, ring, dove, rose, skull, miniature church, miniature ship bearing Papal coat of arms
Patronageagainst fire, bodily ills, diocese of Allentown, Pennsylvania, USA, Europe, firefighters, illness, Italy, miscarriages, nurses, people ridiculed for their piety, sexual temptation, sick people, sickness, television, of Nurses

Saint Catherine of Siena, O.P. (March 25 1347 – April 29 1380) was a Tertiary of the Dominican Order, and a Scholastic philosopher and theologian. She also worked to bring the Papacy back to Rome from its displacement in France, and to establish peace among the Italian city-states.

Life

Saint Catherine was born Catherine Benincasa in Sienna, Italy, to Giacomo di Benincasa, a cloth-dyer, and Lapa Piagenti, a daughter of a local poet. She was the 24th out of 25 children, and her twin sister died at birth.

Catherine received no formal education, and 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 parents' 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.[1]

In about 1366, St Catherine experienced what she described in her letters as a "Mystical Marriage" with Jesus. Based on these visions of Jesus Christ 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.[2] She impressed the Pope so much that he returned his administration to Rome in January, 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.

St 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."

St Catherine died of a stroke in Rome, the spring of 1380, at the age of thirty-three. 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, where it has been entombed in the Basilica of San Domenico. 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 St 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. Due to this myth, St Catherine is often seen holding a rose.

Saint Catherine's body is buried in the Basilica of Santa Maria sopra Minerva in Rome, which is near the Pantheon.

Saint Catherine Of Siena's Prayer

O marvelous wonder of the Church, seraphic virgin, Saint Catherine, because of thine extraordinary virtue and the immense good which thou didst accomplish for the Church and society, thou art acclaimed and blessed by all people. O blessed Catherine, turn thy benign countenance towards me, who confident of thy powerful patronage call upon thee with all the ardor of affection and I beg thee to obtain by thy prayers the favors I so ardently desire (mention your request).

Thou wast a victim of charity, who in order to benefit thy neighbor obtained from God the most stupendous miracles and became the joy and the hope of all; thou canst not help but hear the prayers of those who fly to thy heart - that heart which thou didst receive from the Divine Redeemer in a celestial ecstasy.

O seraphic virgin, show once again proof of thy power and of thy flaming charity, so that thy name shall ever be blessed and exalted; grant that we, having experienced thy most efficacious intercession here on earth, may come one day to thank thee in Heaven and enjoy eternal happiness with thee. Amen.[3]

References

  1. ^ *Warren C. Hollister, and Judith M. Bennett. "Medieval Europe: A Short History", 9th edition, Boston: McGraw-Hill Companies Inc., 2002. p. 342
  2. ^ *Warren C. Hollister, and Judith M. Bennett. "Medieval Europe: A Short History", 9th edition, Boston: McGraw-Hill Companies Inc., 2002. p. 343
  3. ^ Novena Prayer Cards from the Dominican Shrine of St. Jude, 411 East 68th Street, New York, NY 10021. Nihil Obstat: Rev. E.A. Cerny, SS., S.T.D. Imprimatur: Most Reverend Francis P. Keough, D.D., Archbishop of Baltimore, September 29, 1954.
  • Warren C. Hollister, and Judith M. Bennett. "Medieval Europe: A Short History", 9th edition, Boston: McGraw-Hill Companies Inc., 2002. p. 343-343.
  • Thomas McDermott, OP. "Catherine of Siena. Spiritual Development in Her Life and Teaching." New York: Paulist Press, 2008.

See also

External links

Wikiquote has quotations related to Catherine of Siena.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Saint Catherine of Siena.
  • Works by Catherine of Siena at Project Gutenberg
  • Public Domain Edmund G. Gardner (1913). "St. Catherine of Siena". Catholic Encyclopedia.
  • EWTN Library: Saint Catherine of Siena, Virgin
  • Letters of Catherine from Gutenberg
  • Saint Catherine of Siena: Text with concordances and frequency list
  • Drawn by Love, The Mysticism of Catherine of Siena
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