Catherine, a virgin of Siena, was born of pious
parents. She asked for and obtained the Dominican habit, such as it
is worn by the Sisters of Penance. Her abstinence was extraordinary
and her manner of living most mortified. She was once known to have
fasted without receiving anything but the Blessed Sacrament from Ash
Wednesday to Ascension Day. She had very frequent contests with the
wicked spirits who attacked her in various ways. She suffered much
from fever and other bodily ailments. Her reputation for sanctity was
so great that there were brought to her from all parts persons who
were sick or tormented by the devil. She, in the name of Christ,
healed such as were afflicted with malady or fever and drove the
devils from the bodies of them that were possessed.
Being once at Pisa on a Sunday, and having
received the Bread of Heaven, Catherine was rapt in an ecstasy. She
saw our crucified Lord approaching to her. He was encircled with a
great light, and from His five wounds there came rays which fell upon
the five corresponding parts of Catherine’s
body. Being aware of the favour bestowed on her, she besought our
Lord that the stigmata might not be visible. The rays immediately
changed from the colour of blood into one of gold, and passed, under
the form of a bright light, to the hands, feet and heart of the
Saint. So violent was the pain left by the wounds that it seemed to
her as though she must soon have died, had not God diminished it.
Thus our most loving Lord added favour to favour by permitting her to
feel the smart of the wounds, and yet removing their appearance. The
servant of God related what had happened to her to Raymund, her
confessor. Hence, when the devotion of the faithful gave a
representation of this miracle, they painted, on the pictures of
Saint Catherine, bright rays coming from the five stigmata she had
received.
Her learning was not acquired but infused.
Theologians proposed to her the most difficult questions of divinity
and received satisfactory answers. No one ever approached her who did
not go away a better man. She reconciled many that were at deadly
enmity with one another. She visited Pope Gregory XI who was then at
Avignon in order to bring about the reconciliation of the Florentines
who were under an interdict on account of their having formed a
league against the Holy See. She told the Pontiff that there had been
revealed to her the vow which he, Gregory, had made of going to Rome
— a vow which was known to God alone. It was through her entreaty
that the Pope began to plan measures for taking possession of his See
of Rome, which he did soon after. Such was the esteem in which she
was held by Gregory, and by Urban VI, his successor, that she was
sent by them on several embassies. At length, after a life spent in
the exercise of the sublimest virtues and after gaining great
reputation on account of her prophecies and many miracles, she passed
hence to her divine Spouse when she was about 33 years old. She was
canonised by Pius II.
Dom Prosper Guéranger:
The Dominican Order which yesterday presented a rose to our Risen Jesus now offers Him a lily of surpassing beauty. Catherine of Siena follows Peter the Martyr: it is a co-incidence willed by Providence to give fresh beauty to this season of grandest Mysteries. Our Divine King deserves everything we can offer Him, and our hearts are never so eager to give Him every possible tribute of homage as during these last days of his sojourn among us. See how nature is all flower and fragrance at this loveliest of her seasons! The spiritual world harmonises with the visible and now yields her noblest and richest works in honour of her Lord, the author of Grace. How grand is the Saint whose feast comes gladdening us today! She is one of the most favoured of the holy Spouses of the Incarnate Word. She was His, wholly and unreservedly, almost from her very childhood. Though thus consecrated to Him by the vow of holy virginity, she had a mission given to her by divine Providence which required her living in the world. But God would have her to be one of the glories of the religious state. He therefore inspired her to join the Third Order of Saint Dominic. Accordingly, she wore the habit and fervently practised, during her whole life, the holy exercises of a Tertiary.
From the very commencement there was a something heavenly about this admirable servant of God which we fancy existing in an angel who had been sent from Heaven to live in a human body. Her longing after God gave one an idea of the vehemence with which the Blessed embrace the Sovereign Good on their first entrance into Heaven. In vain did the body threaten to impede the soaring of this earthly seraph. She subdued it by penance and made it obedient to the spirit. Her body seemed to be transformed so as to have no life of its own but only that of the soul. The Blessed Sacrament was frequently the only food she took for weeks together. So complete was her union with Christ that she received the impress of the sacred stigmata and, with them, the most excruciating pain.
And yet, in the midst of all these supernatural favours, Catherine felt the keenest interest in the necessities of others. Her zeal for their spiritual advantage was intense, while her compassion for them, in their corporal sufferings was that of a most loving mother. God had given her the gift of miracles, and she was lavish in using it for the benefit of her fellow-creatures. Sickness and death itself were obedient to her command, and the prodigies witnessed at the beginning of the Church were again wrought by the humble Saint of Siena.
Her communings with God began when she was quite a child, and her ecstasies were almost without interruption. She frequently saw our Risen Jesus who never left her without having honoured her, either with a great consolation, or with a heavy cross. A profound knowledge of the mysteries of our holy faith was another of the extraordinary graces bestowed on her. So eminent, indeed, was the heavenly wisdom granted her by God that she who had received no education used to dictate the most sublime writings in which she treats of spiritual things with a clearness and eloquence which human genius could never attain to, and with a certain indescribable unction which no reader can resist.
But God would not permit such a treasure as this to lie buried in a little town of Italy. The saints are the supports of the Church, and though their influence be generally hidden, yet, at times, it is open and visible, and men then learn what the instruments are which God uses for imparting blessings to a world that would seem to deserve little else besides chastisement. The great question at the close of the fourteenth century was the restoring to the Holy City the privilege of its having within its walls the Vicar of Christ who, for 60 years, had been absent from his See. One saintly soul, by merits and prayers, known to Heaven alone, might have brought about this happy event after which the whole Church was longing, but God would have it done by a visible agency and in the most public manner. In the name of the widowed Rome — in the name of her own and the Church’s Spouse — Catherine crossed the Alps and sought an interview with the Pontiff who had not so much as seen Rome. The Prophetess respectfully reminded him of his duty, and in proof of her mission being from God, she tells him of a secret which was known to himself alone. Gregory XI could no longer resist, and the Eternal City welcomed its Pastor and Father. But at the Pontiff’s death a frightful schism, the forerunner of greater evils to follow, broke out in the Church. Catherine, even to her last hour, was untiring in her endeavours to quell the storm. Having lived the same number of years as our Saviour had done, she breathed forth her most pure soul into the hands of her God, and went to continue in Heaven her ministry of intercession for the Church she had loved so much on Earth, and for souls redeemed in the precious Blood of her Divine Spouse.
Our Risen Jesus who took her to her eternal reward during the Season of Easter granted her, while she was living on Earth, a favour which we mention here as being appropriate to the mystery we are now celebrating. He, one day, appeared to her, having with Him His Blessed Mother. Mary Magdalene, she that announced the Resurrection to the Apostles, accompanied the Son and the Mother. Catherine’s heart was overpowered with emotion at this visit. After looking for some time upon Jesus and his holy Mother, her eyes rested on Magdalene whose happiness she both saw and envied. Jesus spoke these words to her: “My beloved! I give her to you to be your mother. Address yourself to her, henceforth, with all confidence. I give her special charge of you.” From that day forward Catherine had the most filial love for Magdalene, and called her by no other name than that of Mother.
* * * * *
Holy Church, filled as she now is with the joy of her Jesus’ Resurrection, addresses herself to you, O Catherine, who follows the Lamb wherever He goes (Apocalypse xiv. 4). Living in this exile where it is only at intervals that she enjoys His presence, she says to you: “Have you seen Him, whom my soul loves? (Canticles iii. 3). You are His Spouse, so is she. But there are no veils, no separation, for you: whereas, for her, the enjoyment is at rare and brief periods and, even so, there are clouds that dim the lovely Light. What a life was yours, O Catherine, uniting in itself the keenest compassion for the sufferings of Jesus, and an intense happiness by the share He gave you of His glorified life. We might take you as our guide both to the mournful mysteries of Calvary, and to the glad splendours of the Resurrection. It is these second that we are now respectfully celebrating: oh speak to us of our Risen Jesus. Is it not He that gave you the nuptial ring with its matchless diamond set amid four precious gems? The bright rays which gleam from your stigmata tell us that when He espoused you to Himself, you saw Him all resplendent with the beauty of His glorious wounds.
Daughter of Magdalene, like her, you are a messenger of the Resurrection, and when your last Pasch comes — the Pasch of your thirty-third year — you go to Heaven, to keep it for eternity. O zealous lover of souls! love them more than ever, now that you are in the palace of the King, our God. We too are in the Pasch in the New Life. Intercede for us that the life of Jesus may never die within us but may go on, strengthening its power and growth, by our loving Him with an ardour like your own. Get us, great Saint, something of the filial devotedness you had for holy Mother Church, and which prompted you to do such glorious things! Her sorrows and her joys were yours, for there can be no love for Jesus where there is none for His Spouse. And is it not through her that He gives us all His gifts? Oh, yes, we too wish to love this Mother of ours. We will never be ashamed to own ourselves as her children! We will defend her against her enemies. We will do everything that lies in our power to win others to acknowledge, love and be devoted to her.
Our God used you as His instrument, O humble Virgin, for bringing back the Roman Pontiff to his See. You were stronger than the powers of this Earth which would fain have prolonged an absence disastrous to the Church. The relics of Peter in the Vatican, of Paul on the Ostian Way, of Lawrence and Sebastian, of Caecilia and Agnes, exulted in their glorious tombs when Gregory entered with triumph into the Holy City. It was through you, O Catherine, that a ruinous captivity of seventy years’ duration was brought, on that day, to a close, and that Rome recovered her glory and her life.
Pray for unhappy Italy, which was so dear to you, and which is so justly proud of its Saint of Siena. Impiety and heresy are now permitted to run wild through the land. The name of your Spouse is blasphemed. The people are taught to love error and to hate what they had hitherto venerated. The Church is insulted and robbed. Faith has long since been weakened, but now its very existence is imperilled. Intercede for your unfortunate country, dear Saint!Oh surely it is time to come to her assistance and rescue her from the hands of her enemies. Delay not, but calm the storm which seems to threaten a universal wreck!
Also on this day according to the ROMAN
MARTYROLOGY:
At Lambesa in Numidia, the birthday of the holy
martyrs Marian, lector, and James, deacon. The former, after having
successfully endured vexations for the confession of Christ in the
persecution of Decius, was again arrested with his illustrious
companion, and both being subjected to severe and cruel torments
during which they were twice miraculously comforted from heaven,
finally fell by the sword with many others.
At Saintes, blessed Eutropius, bishop and martyr,
who was consecrated bishop and sent to Gaul by St. Clement. After
preaching for many years he had his skull crushed for bearing
testimony to Christ and thus gained a victory by his death.
At Cordova, the holy martyrs Amator, priest,
Peter, monk, and Lewis.
At Novara, the martyrdom of the holy priest
Lawrence, and some boys, whom he was educating.
At Alexandria, the holy martyrs Aphrodisius,
priest, and thirty others.
At Ephesus, St. Maximus, martyr, who was crowned
in the persecution of Decius.
At Fermo in the Marches of Ancona, St. Sophia,
virgin and martyr.
At Naples in Campania, St. Severus, bishop, who,
among other prodigies, raised for a short time a dead man from the
grave, in order to convict of falsehood the lying creditor of a widow
and her children.
At Evorea in Epirus, St. Donatus, a bishop, who
was eminent for sanctity in the time of the emperor Theodosius.
At London in England, St. Erconwald, a bishop
celebrated for many miracles.
And in other places, many other holy martyrs,
confessors and virgins.
Thanks be to God.
