8 things to know and share about Santa Caterina da Siena
April 29 is the memorial of Santa Caterina da Siena.
She is a saint, a mystic and a doctor of the Church, as well as a patroness of Italy and Europe.
Who was she and why is her life so significant?
Here are 8 things to know and share ...
- Who is Saint Catherine of Siena?
In 2010, Pope Benedict held an audience where he discussed the basic facts of his life:
Born in Siena [Italy] in 1347, in a very large family, she died in Rome in 1380.
When Catherine was 16 years old, motivated by a vision of San Domenico, she entered the Third Order of Dominicans, the female branch known as Mantellate.
While living at home, he confirmed his vow of virginity made privately when he was still a teenager and devoted himself to prayer, penance and works of charity, especially for the benefit of the sick.
Known from his birth and death dates that he lived only to be 33 years old. However, many things happened during his life!
- What happened after St. Catherine entered religious life?
Several things. Saint Catherine was sought after as spiritual director, and played a role in ending the papacy of Avignon (when the pope, although he was still the bishop of Rome, actually lived in Avignon, France).
Pope Benedict explains:
When the fame of his holiness spread, he became the protagonist of an intense spiritual guide activity for people of all social backgrounds: nobles and politicians, artists and ordinary people, consecrated men and women and religious, including Pope Gregory XI who lived in Avignon in that period and who urged energetically and effectively to return to Rome.
He has traveled extensively to urge internal Church reform and to promote peace between states.
It was also for this reason that the Venerable Pope John Paul II chose to declare his Patroness of Europe: may the Old Continent never forget the Christian roots that are at the origin of its progress and continue to draw the values from the Gospel fundamentals that ensure justice and harmony.
- Have you faced opposition in your life?
Pope Benedict explains:
Like many of the saints, Catherine experienced great sufferings.
Some even thought that they should not have trusted her, to the point that in 1374, six years before her death, the Dominican General Chapter summoned her to Florence to question her.
They appointed Raymund of Capua, an educated and humble friar and a future Master General of the Order, as his spiritual guide.
Having become his confessor and also his "spiritual son", he wrote a first complete biography of the Saint.
- How did your legacy develop over time?
Pope Benedict explains:
It was canonized in 1461.
The teaching of Catherine, who learned to read with difficulty and learned to write in adulthood, is contained in the Dialogue of Divine Providence or Book of Divine Doctrine, a masterpiece of spiritual literature, in her correspondence and in the collection of her prayers. .
Her teaching has such excellence that in 1970 the Servant of God Paul VI declared her Doctor of the Church, a title that was added to those of the Co-Patroness of the City of Rome - at the behest of the Blessed. Pius IX - and of the Patroness of Italy - according to the decision of the Venerable Pius XII.
- Saint Catherine reported having lived a "mystical marriage" with Jesus. What was this?
Pope Benedict explains:
In a vision that was always present in Catherine's heart and mind, Our Lady presented her to Jesus who gave her a splendid ring, saying to her: 'I, your Creator and Savior, will marry you in faith, which you will always keep pure until when you celebrate your eternal wedding with me in Paradise '(Blessed Raymond of Capua, St. Catherine of Siena, Legenda maior, n. 115, Siena 1998).
This ring was only visible to her.
In this extraordinary episode we see the vital center of Catherine's religious sense and of all authentic spirituality: Christocentrism.
For her, Christ was like the spouse with whom there is a relationship of intimacy, communion and fidelity; she was the best loved she loved above all other good.
This profound union with the Lord is illustrated by another episode in the life of this extraordinary mystic: the exchange of hearts.
According to Raymond of Capua who transmitted the confidences received by Catherine, the Lord Jesus appeared to her "holding in the holy hands a human heart, bright red and shining". He opened her side and put his heart inside her saying: 'Dear daughter, while I took your heart away the other day, now, you see, I am giving you mine, so that you can continue to live with it forever' (ibid.).
Catherine truly lived the words of Saint Paul: "It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me" (Galatians 2:20).
- What can we learn from what we can apply in our life?
Pope Benedict explains:
Like the Sienese saint, every believer feels the need to conform to the sentiments of the heart of Christ to love God and his neighbor as he loves Christ himself.
And we can all let our hearts transform and learn to love like Christ in a familiarity with him that is nourished by prayer, meditation on the Word of God and the sacraments, especially by frequently receiving Holy Communion and with devotion.
Catherine also belongs to the crowd of saints devoted to the Eucharist with which I concluded my Apostolic Exhortation Sacramentum Caritatis (cf. N. 94).
Dear brothers and sisters, the Eucharist is an extraordinary gift of love that God continually renews to nourish our journey of faith, strengthen our hope and inflame our charity, to make us more and more like him.
- Saint Catherine experienced a "gift of tears". What was this?
Pope Benedict explains:
Another trait of Catherine's spirituality is linked to the gift of tears.
They express an exquisite and profound sensitivity, an ability to be moved and tenderness.
Many saints had the gift of tears, renewing the emotion of Jesus himself who did not hold back or hide the tears on the grave of his friend Lazarus and the pain of Mary and Martha or the sight of Jerusalem during his last days on this earth.
According to Catherine, the tears of the saints mingle with the blood of Christ, of which she spoke in vibrant tones and with very effective symbolic images.
- Saint Catherine at one point uses a symbolic image of Christ as a bridge. What is the meaning of this image?
Pope Benedict explains:
In the Dialogue of Divine Providence, he describes Christ, with an unusual image, as a bridge launched between Heaven and earth.
This bridge is made up of three large stairways consisting of the feet, side and mouth of Jesus.
Rising from these scales, the soul passes through the three phases of each path of sanctification: detachment from sin, practice of virtues and love, sweet and loving union with God.
Dear brothers and sisters, let us learn from Saint Catherine to love Christ and the Church with courage, intensely and sincerely.
Therefore we make our words of Saint Catherine that we read in the Dialogue of Divine Providence at the end of the chapter that speaks of Christ as a bridge: 'By mercy you washed us in his Blood, by mercy you desired to converse with creatures. O mad with love! It was not enough for you to take meat, but you also wanted to die! ... O mercy! My heart drowns in thinking of you: no matter where I turn to think, I find only mercy '(chapter 30, pp. 79-80).