|  | 1. Who is St. Catherine of Siena? |
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| | Born in Siena [Italy] in 1347, into a very large family, she died in Rome in 1380. |
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| | she entered the Third Order of the Dominicans, the female branch known as the Mantellate. |
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| | dedicated herself to prayer, penance and works of charity, especially for the benefit of the sick. |
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| | she only lived to be 33 years old. |
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| | 2. What happened after St. Catherine entered religious life? |
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| | she played a role in ending the Avignon papacy (when the pope, though still the bishop of Rome, actually lived in Avignon, France). |
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| | she became the protagonist of an intense activity of spiritual guidance for people from every walk of life |
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| | she energetically and effectively urged to return to Rome. |
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| | Venerable Pope John Paul II chose to declare her Co-Patroness of Europe |
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| | 3. Did she face opposition in her lifetime? |
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| | six years before her death, the General Chapter of the Dominicans summoned her to Florence to interrogate her. |
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| | Raymund of Capua, a learned and humble Friar and a future Master General of the Order, as her spiritual guide. |
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| | 4. How has her legacy developed over time? |
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| | She was canonized in 1461. |
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| | declared her a Doctor of the Church, a title that was added to those of Co-Patroness of the City of Rome — at the wish of Bl. Pius IX — and of Patroness of Italy |
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| | 5. St. Catherine reported experiencing a "mystical marriage" with Jesus. What was this? |
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| | In a vision that was ever present in Catherine's heart and mind Our Lady presented her to Jesus who gave her a splendid ring |
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| | This ring was visible to her alone. |
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| | For her Christ was like the spouse with whom a relationship of intimacy, communion and faithfulness exists |
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| | another episode in the life of this outstanding mystic: the exchange of hearts. |
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| | Catherine truly lived St. Paul’s words, “It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me” |
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| | 6. What can we learn from this that we can apply in our own lives? |
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| | every believer feels the need to be conformed with the sentiments of the heart of Christ to love God and his neighbour as Christ himself loves. |
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| | we can all let our hearts be transformed and learn to love like Christ in a familiarity with him that is nourished by prayer, by meditation on the Word of God and by the sacraments, above all by receiving Holy Communion frequently and with devotion. |
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| | the Eucharist is an extraordinary gift of love that God continually renews to nourish our journey of faith, to strengthen our hope and to inflame our charity, to make us more and more like him. |
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| | 7. St. Catherine experienced a "gift of tears." What was this? |
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| | Saints have had the gift of tears, renewing the emotion of Jesus himself who did not hold back or hide his tears at the tomb of his friend Lazarus and at the grief of Mary and Martha or at the sight of Jerusalem during his last days on this earth. |
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| | the tears of saints are mingled with the blood of Christ, of which she spoke in vibrant tones and with symbolic images that were very effective. |
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| | 8. St. Catherine at one point uses a symbolic image of Christ as a bridge. What is the significance of this image? |
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| | three stages of every path to sanctification: detachment from sin, the practice of the virtues, and of love, sweet and loving union with God. |
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| | St Catherine’s words that we read in the Dialogue of Divine Providence at the end of the chapter that speaks of Christ as a bridge:
“out of mercy you have washed us in his Blood, out of mercy you have wished to converse with creatures. O crazed with love! It did not suffice for you to take flesh, but you also wished to die!... O mercy! My heart drowns in thinking of you: for no matter where I turn to think, I find only mercy” (chapter 30, pp. 79-80). |
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