April
29
Saints of the Day
Saint Catherine of Siena,
1347-1380, 33 years old,
Doctor of the Church
One of the greatest mystics and writers, but very practical, the Doctor
of unity, tackling the huge problem of the Great Schism with 3 popes.
This laywoman lived in the fourteenth century
during the Crusades and the Great Schism. This period in Church history was most
ignoble. She shines with brilliance for her accomplishments in bringing about
needed changes and illumination, not only for the Church, but, for all humanity
seeking unity and reunification.
What Catherine accomplished for Catholicism is one of the
greatest milestone for the Catholic Church. To be graced with union and unity
with God is the most ardent of Jesus' wishes, and to help this unity in the
Church and in the world, "that all my be one as you Father and I are one"
(John 17)
Youngest of a 23 children family. At the age of 6
she had a vision in which Jesus appeared and blessed her.
Her parents wanted her to marry, but she became a
Dominican
tertiary, not a nun, but living like a nun at home.
Mystic.
Stigmatist. Received a vision in which she was in a mystical marriage with
Christ, and the Infant Christ presented her with a wedding ring.
Counselor to
Pope
Gregory XI and
Pope
Urban VI.
Proclaimed
Doctor of the Church on
4 October
1970,
one week after St. Teresa of Avila. Patron of Italy and
of Europe
Her spiritual testament is found in her Dialogue and
she also wrote many letters to popes, politicians and humble people,
though many claim she was illiterate, she dictated then.
Dialogue of the
Seraphic Virgin
The Great Schism:
Between 1374
and 1378, Catherine was called upon to exercise a broad influence in public
affairs. The Republic of Florence, at odds with Pope Gregory XI, sent her to
visit the Pope at Avignon, France, to make peace between Florence and the
papal states. She failed in that task, but she was more successful in urging
the Pope, who, like several of his predecessors had been living in France, to
return to his proper residence, Rome. It was during these years that she
achieved her widest influence. At the same time she began to write her
Dialogues, in which she set forth loyal but strong criticisms of the
public faults of some Church leaders. In these years, too, she received the
grace of the stigmata - Christ's wounds on her body.
When Gregory XI died in Rome
in 1378, the cardinals elected an Italian archbishop as his successor, Urban
VI. But when these cardinals found that Urban would not cater to them, they
forthwith declared his election invalid, and chose another prelate as Pope
Clement VI. Clement, a Frenchman, settled in Avignon. Thus began that terrible
tragedy, the Great Schism of the West. It lasted 36 years, and during this
period Catholics were sorely divided on the question which was the true Pope.
Catherine defended the claim
of Urban VI, even though she sometimes scolded him for imprudence in his words
and actions. This grievous division of Christendom brought her from Siena
to Rome, where she spent the rest of her life. She was constantly in
correspondence with princes and prelates of many lands to win them over to
Pope Urban. Even more importantly, she offered herself as a victim to God for
the peace of the Church; and she suffered much.
She actually plunged into the murky, chaotic world of
Italian religious and political life without thinking that, because she was only
an uneducated woman, she had no right to be there. The problems before her were
every bit as complex and hard to grasp as are the problems facing us in our
world. And, just as achievements in the our modern world can be difficult to
measure, partial, and ambiguous in impact, so were Catherine’s.
Even her greatest political accomplishment, convincing
Gregory VI to return to Rome, quickly lost its luster when two years later the
Church found itself with two competing claimants for the office of Pope. Thus
began the "Great Schism" that lasted thirty-six years and during which three men
claimed to be Pope at the same time. Just as the results of our love and work
are often obscured by the pressure of the problems and personalities about us,
so the long-term effects of Catherine’s courageous struggle were not visible
when she died at the young age of 33. At the end of her life, almost all of
Catherine’s efforts in peace-making and church reform seemed to have ended in
failure.
- Born
25 March
1347 at
Siena,
Tuscany,
Italy,
the youngest of a 23 children family
Died
29 April
1380 of a mysterious and painful illness that came on without notice, and was
never properly diagnosed
Canonized
July
1461
by
Pope
Pius II
Images
Gallery of images of Saint Catherine [11 images, 175
kb]
Writings Dialogue
of the Seraphic Virgin
Additional Information
http://www.catholic-forum.com/saints/saintc02.htm
http://www.doctorsofthecatholicchurch.com/C.html
http://www.stthomasirondequoit.com/SaintsAlive/id717.htm
http://www.magnificat.ca/cal/engl/04-30.htm
http://www.siena.org/library/sswin99/saintcatherine.htm
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Readings
Charity is the sweet and holy bond which links the soul with its
Creator: it binds God with man and man with God.
Everything comes from love, all is ordained for the salvation of man, God does
nothing without this goal in mind -Saint Catherine of Siena
Eternal Trinity, Godhead, mystery deep as the sea, you could give me no
greater gift than the gift of yourself. For you are a fire ever burning and
never consumed, which itself consumes all the selfish love that fills my
being. Yes, you are a fire that takes away the coldness, illuminates the mind
with its light, and causes me to know your truth. And I know that you are
beauty and wisdom itself. The food of angels, you gave yourself to man in the
fire of your love. -from On Divine Providence by Saint
Catherine of Siena
Saints of April 29:
http://www.saintpatrickdc.org/ss/0429.htm
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