Apr 29 2008
Feastday of St. Catherine of Siena
The mystical life of St. Catherine of Siena (1347-1380) began early. She was only six
when she saw a vision of heaven in the sky, where Jesus appeared to her along with Peter, Paul and John the Evangelist. Jesus smiled upon her lovingly while making the sign of the cross over her, and from that moment on Catherine knew that she wanted to devote herself and her life to God. Her continued absorption in God was profound, distressing her family very much, but upon finally realizing that Catherine’s mystical life was the will of God, her family conceded and Catherine was accepted as a Third Order Dominican with the Sisters of Penance. The Sisters of Penance were not cloistered, but lived withdrawn from the world in their own homes. In “Catherine of Siena“, by Igino Giordani, the author writes: “It seems curious that considering her absorption in God and her yearning to flee the world and conquer her flesh she did not seek admission into a cloistered convent. Instead, Catherine, whose only wish was to withdraw from the world, still determined to remain in it. The Lord had called her to a special mission: that of an apostle, whose vocation is to be in the world but not of the world.”
Catherine, continually absorbed in contemplative prayer and well-practiced in asceticism and mortification, reached the heights of love of God and experienced the mystical espousal with the Lord when she was only twenty. Quickly thereafter, the Lord sent her back out into the world to care for the sick, give her followers spiritual direction, and teach the most learned and powerful. Igino Giordani beautifully writes:
“Thus appears a second phase of Catherine’s life: the phase of active life; but not as a change or turning point in her former life – rather as its increase and complement. She merely joined action to contemplation; or, more exactly, her contemplation was so penetrating that it had to express itself in action. She was united to God; therefore she had to be united to men. And if she will no longer live enclosed in a cell with walls, [my note: Catherine's bedroom] she will always live in the cell which is knowledge of self. She will carry her cloister, her cell, with her wherever she goes; her rule will ever be love.”
[For a beautiful prayer written by St. Catherine of Siena to the Blessed Virgin, please see my post of today at Consecrated to Mary.]
Sweet.
That is the message I get from this Saint’s life today in your blog.
Thank you for sharing.
teresa, it was no small struggle for Catherine, not only to become active as well as contemplative, but to get over her fear of going out into the world; it was not a part of her culture for women to be out alone or in small groups doing what was considered “men’s” work, but the Lord explained to her that He saw neither male nor female, and had chosen her as a woman to “confound” the supposedly learned and powerful of her day.
C.O., what a beautiful story about your little grandchild, as well as the sculpture which you received. My maternal grandmother was also Catherine!
I’ll be linking to your other site tomorrow, Gabrielle.
St Catherine’s prayer to Our lady is beautiful beyond words.
Thank you, Ann – I found it very beautiful as well. I will be doing a post sometime soon at Consecrated to Mary to let everyone know about the excellent book in which I found the prayer. It is a Marian book, and an excellent resource.
Anyway, indeed, it’s an interesting story. I was very surprised to find that online, but some good souls have put many MANY books online, God bless them.
[...] heard of St Catherine of Siena’s beautiful phrase “dwelling in the cell of self-knowledge” when I attended a Lay [...]