Virgin, (1347-1380)
St. Catherine, the daughter of a humble Christian tradesman, was raised up to be the guide and guardian of the Church in one of the darkest periods of its history, the fourteenth century. As a child, prayer was her delight. She would say the "Ave Maria" on each step as she mounted the stairs, and was granted in reward a vision of Christ in glory. And He revealed to her the secrets of Christian perfection. When six years old, our Lord appeared to her with the Apostles Peter, Paul and John, together with St. Dominic, looked tenderly at her and gave His blessing. This was the beginning of many and extraordinary visions with which the holy virgin was graced until her death. Her heart from this time was filled with intense love of God. She read most carefully the lives of the Saints, and endeavored to follow their example. When only seven years old she made a vow of virginity, afterwards enduring bitter persecution for refusing to marry.
Her parents persisted long in their refusal to allow her to enter religious life, her only ambition; but she made a kind of spiritual and penitential convent cell in her heart's depths, and there she found her Beloved and conversed with Him each day. At the age of fifteen she was permitted to enter the Third Order of Saint Dominic, but continued to reside in her father's house, where she united a life of active charity to the prayer of a contemplative Saint. Our Lord bestowed on her His Heart in exchange for her own, gave her Communion with His own hands, and imprinted on her body the marks of His wounds. She had asked Our Lord that these be not visible (as some stigmatics had them), so Our Lord made them a golden color. However, she experienced the pain just the same as Our Lord had.
Bread, herbs and water were her only nourishment, two bare boards her bed. She was girded by a pointed chain which she Continued to wear until a few hours before her death, when at the instance of her confessor, she laid it aside. She only allowed herself one or two hours of sleep during the night; the remainder she employed in prayer or in the contemplation of the divine mysteries. She scourged herself three times daily, sometimes until she drew blood. These austerities she observed from her eighteenth year until her death. After she had been received into the third order of St. Dominic, she aspired most fervently after sanctification, but Satan endeavored with the most loathsome imaginings and temptations, to trouble the repose of her soul and pervert her thoughts; Catherine, however, increasing her penance and her prayers, withstood him bravely, but still without feeling more relieved or more quiet. At length, when, one day, Christ appeared to her, she said: "O Lord, why hast Thou forsaken me?" "I was in thy heart," answered the Saviour. "What;" said she, "hast Thou been in my heart which was filled with such abominable thoughts?"; "Hast thou then consented to them? Hast thou been pleased with them?" asked Christ. "Oh, no!" replied Catherine, "it was most painful to me to be afflicted with them." "And this was thy merit," said Christ; "I have seen how thou hast battled, and I have assisted thee." Thus ended her temptations, which were succeeded by the most comforting visions of our Lord, His Blessed Mother and other Saints, the number of which is known only to God. She frequently saw Christ as a lovely little child in the holy Sacrament, for which divine mystery she entertained the most fervent devotion. She partook of it almost daily, but always with renewed piety and shedding a flood of tears. It was very remarkable that the receiving of it preserved also her temporal life, for it is a fact that one year she partook of nothing else but the Blessed Eucharist from Ash-Wednesday until Ascension-day. When she was required, as an act of obedience, to take some food, she suffered so greatly by so doing, that the request was not repeated. After some time, Christ commanded her to be kind and charitable to her neighbors, and she began to nurse the sick with an indescribable loving care. Among others, she attended to two women, of whom one was afflicted with leprosy, the other with cancer. In nursing them she evinced the most perfect self-control.
She pressed the offensive matter out of the sores and cleansed them with water. Feeling disgust, she drank the purulent matter which she had kept in a vessel mixed with water, saying to her confessor that she had never tasted anything more agreeable. Christ appeared to her on the following night, praised her self-mortification and rewarded her with great interior peace and tranquility. It was hard for her to bear when this very woman, whom she had so tenderly nursed, instigated by Satan, not only complained of her, but slandered her in the whole city. But Christ visited her and presenting to her two crowns, one of gold, the other of thorns, said: "Which of these two do you desire?" Catherine answered: "Lord, I desire to resemble Thee in this life, and it is a joy to me to suffer as Thou didst": and with these words she took the crown of thorns and pressed it upon her head. Christ, upon this, commanded her to continue her charity towards the sick, which she did with unprecedented patience and kindness. Her love towards those whose souls were diseased, was still more tender, and she offered for such her prayers and many penances, through which means she obtained from God the conversion of many sinners, who otherwise would have gone to destruction. She prayed three whole days for a certain woman who was dangerously sick, and who hated the Saint most bitterly. At last, she said to Christ: "I will not move from this place until Thou givest me this soul." He graciously complied with her request by converting the woman and giving her a happy death.
She was also gifted by God with the grace of reading the inmost thoughts of those who approached her: hence her exhortations were always addressed to their weakest spot. If a lascivious person came near her, she always perceived so terrible an odor that she had to cover her nose and mouth. Many other graces God had bestowed upon her, to relate all of which would take too much space. One of the most remarkable of these was, that Christ had impressed the marks of his five holy wounds upon her, but in such a manner that, exteriorly, nothing was to be seen, while she suffered all their pains. She had prayed to Christ for this grace in order that it might remain unknown to the world. The many miracles which she performed on the sick and possessed, and the heavenly wisdom with which she was filled, secured her not only the highest regard of the people, but also of the prelates of the Church, as well as of worldly princes. She was even sent in times of strife and contention, as a messenger of peace, and the effect of her wonderful talents more than surpassed all expectations. At Rome, whither she had been called by the Pope, she became dangerously sick, and during four months she suffered excruciating pain: she ceased not, however, praising and giving thanks to God. The Almighty, whose judgment, though inscrutable, is always just, sent her a last bitter trial after she had received the holy Sacrament; Satan reproached her that in her actions and ecstasies, she had only sought her own aggrandizement. But she overcame the enemy of her peace, and after this anguish of soul, she had a most consoling and tender discourse with Christ, who visibly appeared to her, and into whose hands she breathed her chaste soul in the thirty-third year of her life. Her last words were: "Lord, into thy hands I commend my spirit."
From her obscure home the seraphic virgin was taken by Providence to defend the Church's cause. Her life became a continuing miracle. Armed with Papal authority and accompanied by three confessors, she traveled through Italy, reducing rebellious cities to the obedience of the Holy See, and winning hardened souls to God. In the sight of virtually the whole world she sought out Gregory XI at Avignon, brought him back to Rome (after 60 years), and by her letters to the kings and queens of Europe made good the Papal cause. She was the counselor of Urban VI, and sternly rebuked the disloyal cardinals who took part in electing an antipope.
Long had the holy virgin foretold the terrible schism which began before she died. Day and night she wept and prayed for unity and peace. But in spirit she saw the entire city of Rome full of demons, who were tempting the people to revolt and even to slay the Vicar of Christ. With intense earnestness Saint Catherine begged Our Lord to prevent this enormous crime. Their seditious temper was subdued by her prayers, but they vented their rage by scourging the Saint herself, who gladly endured all for God and His Church. She died in Rome in 1380, at the age of thirty-three years old, the same as Our Lord.
Our beloved Abbot Gueranger has a prayer at the end of his thoughts on St. Catherine. He is asking for prayers for Italy, but the rest of it is quite applicable for these days.
"...Pray, too, for unhappy Italy, which was so dear to thee, and which is so justly proud of its Saint of Siena. Impiety and heresy are now permitted to run wild though the land; the name of thy 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 imperiled. Intercede for thy unfortunate country, dear Saint! oh! surely, it is time to come to her assistance, and rescue her from the hands of her enemies. The whole Church hopes that thou mayest effect the deliverance of this her illustrious province: delay not, but calm the storm which seems to threaten a universal wreck!"
This seraphic St. Catherine willingly sacrificed the delights of contemplation to labor for the Church and the Apostolic See. How deeply do the troubles of the Church and the consequent loss of souls afflict us? How often do we pray for the Church and the Pope? This is especially needed these days.
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