Saints, Contemplation, Feastdays, Mysticism
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 The Sisters of Penance were not cloistered, but lived withdrawn from the world in their own homes.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.]
29 Apr 2008 gabrielle
I didn’t know any of this about her.
Sweet.
“The Dialogue of St. Catherine of Siena” was one of the first things I found, after Teresa of Avila, many years ago which really helped me; and if you can get a hold of a biography, such as the one from which I quoted, you will be amazed and totally inspired.
I must say, that with every blog I have opened today I have been blessed by the appearance of St Catherine. As I said in my blog I have been privileged to carry her name with me through this life. It has been quite an inspiration for me. Thank you for your lovely offering. It’s been quite a celebration for me!!!
Blessed to go out and serve. Mary & Martha balanced in the life.
That is the message I get from this Saint’s life today in your blog.
Thank you for sharing.
My beautiful little adopted-out granddaughter, who will be 7 soon, was originally named for my mother - my own daughter’s angel on this earth. But she knew the name she gave would be only temporary, tho’ she and this granddaughter’s sister still refer to her by that original name. Upon handing her babe over to her brand new (and handpicked devout Catholic) parents who had so greatly longed for this child, she was named for both her two brand new grandmas. She goes by initials which are awfully cute, but Catherine is her first name. I’d always felt, since we are part Micmac, that it was a form of Kateri.. The wife of a friend whose MS doesn’t stop her from much, sculpted a Bl. Kateri (”Catherine” also) for me..that I might remember little Catherine is being watched over by her namesake. And now, little C has yet another grandma to watch over her, and over her brand new sibling– this St. Catherine.
One can’t have too many grandmas– or Catherines.
Cathy, I’m so happy you were inspired everywhere you turned - St. Catherine of Siena’s life is truly inspirational - Doctor of the Church, mystic, ascetic, teacher and influencer of Popes…healer of the sick…what a wonderful namesake you have.
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 was educated by Dominicans and one of their houses was known St Catherine’s, another was Blessed Imelda’s and another St. Martin’s.
I’ll be linking to your other site tomorrow, Gabrielle.
St Catherine’s prayer to Our lady is beautiful beyond words.
What a fine education you must have had, Ann. Another interesting fact about St. Catherine of Siena is that she was unable to write until a friend tried to teach her around the age of 19 or 20; according to her biographers, things didn’t go well until Jesus Himself took over and taught her.
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.
Just wanted to say I found her “Dialogue” online.
Oh, that’s wonderful, Carol - why do I always forget that there’s so much great stuff online? My first thought if I don’t have a book is to check the library, when I could possibly have it right at my fingertips. Thank you on behalf of anyone reading here who doesn’t have it!
I myself am never far enough away from the old IBM Selectric days (and libraries with ceiling-high windows) — I forget one can look up even church bulletins online, now, and kids can look up their homework assignments.. and no one needs to buy a cookbook anymore, nor even go out to develop photos. It’s all quite unreal, wonderfully so! Husband is even worse — he has put away pocket protectors, tho’ his fellow civil engineer friend still bears one even now in his retirement, but he still takes up his ancient 40 lb. Atlas of the World (half that world has been renamed, now!) — he never, ever thinks to look up anything online. Nothing, never, no-how!
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.