St catherine of siena biography summary form

The feast of her Espousals is kept on the Thursday of the carnival.

St catherine of siena biography summary form

The works of St. Catherine of Siena rank among the classics of the Italian language, written in the beautiful Tuscan vernacular of the fourteenth century. Notwithstanding the existence of many excellent manuscripts, the printed editions present the text in a frequently mutilated and most unsatisfactory condition. While those addressed to popes and sovereigns, rulers of republics and leaders of armies, are documents of priceless value to students of history, many of those written to private citizens, men and women in the cloister or in the world, are as fresh and illuminating, as wise and practical in their advice and guidance for the devout Catholic today as they were for those who sought her counsel while she lived.

Others, again, lead the reader to mystical heights of contemplation, a rarefied atmosphere of sanctity in which only the few privileged spirits can hope to dwell. Skip to main content Accessibility feedback. Click to enlarge. Did you like this content? Enjoying this content? It is believed that this book was dictated by Catherine while she remained in ecstasy.

It is a conversation between a soul and the Father in Heaven. In addition to this great spiritual masterpiece, of her letters and twenty-six of her prayers have survived. Saint Catherine was one of the greatest and most influential saints in the history of the Church. In her lifetime she had a powerful impact upon those she encountered, including the pope.

In her death, she continues to have a profound impact upon the Church as a Doctor of the Church. None of that would have been possible had she not engaged in fervent prayer and penance throughout her life. Ponder your own st catherine of siena biography summary form life as we honor Saint Catherine, and strive to imitate her burning love for her Lord, her Divine Spouse.

That love, fueled by a unquenchable desire for God, is beautifully seen in the following prayer that she herself wrote:. You are a mystery as deep as the sea; the more I search, the more I find, and the more I find, the more I search for You. But I can never be satisfied; what I receive will ever leave me desiring more. When You fill my soul, I have an ever greater hunger, and I grow more famished for Your light.

I desire above all to see You, the true Light, as You really are. Saint Catherine of Siena, pray for me. Jesus, I trust in You. Reflection taken from:. Further Reading:. Letters of Saint Catherine. The Dialogue of Saint Catherine. Catholic Culture. Catholic Exchange. Catholic News Agency. Her family was part of the lower classes and she did not become literate until At the age of six, Catherine had a vision of Jesus Christ.

She continued to receive many visions throughout her life. At age 12, Catherine cut off her hair and was obligated to serve her family, living in small quarters in the basement. At age 28 she received the stigmata when praying next to a crucifix. She wrote a book called Dialoguewhich taught that if you love your neighbors it is loving God.

She also devoted her life to improving the Catholic church, helping the ill, poor, and spiritually underprivileged. Catherine persuaded the pope to return from AvignonFrance and back into Rome. She also tried to start a new Crusade to the holy landJerusalem. Nannes gave to the saint a stately house which he possessed within two miles of the city.

This, by the pope's authority, she converted into a nunnery. We omit the miraculous conversion of James Tholomei and his sisters, of Nicholas Tuldo, and many others; particularly of two famous assassins going to die with blasphemies in their mouths, and in transports of rage and despair, who were suddenly converted in their last moments, on the saint's praying for them, confessed their crimes to a priest with great signs of repentance, and appeared thoroughly resigned to the punishment about to be inflicted on them.

A pestilence laying waste the country inCatherine devoted herself to serve the infected, and obtained of God the cure of several; amongst others, of two holy Dominicans, Raymund of Capua, and Bartholomew of Sienna. The most hardened sinners could not withstand the force of her exhortations to a change of life. Thousands flocked from places at a distance in the country to hear or only to see her, and were brought over by her words or example to the true dispositions of sincere repentance.

She undertook a journey to Monte Pulciano to consecrate to God two of her nieces, who there took the religious veil of Saint Dominic: and another journey to Pisa, by order of her superiors, at the earnest suit of the citizens. She there restored health to many in body, but to a far greater number in soul. While she was at Pisa, inthe people of Florence and Perugia, with a great part of Tuscany, and even of the Ecclesiastical State, entered into a league against the holy see.

The news of this disturbance was delivered to Catherine by Raymund of Capua, and her heart was pierced with the most bitter sorrow on account of those evils, which she had foretold three years before they came to their height. The two furious factions of the Guelphs and Ghibellines, who had so disturbed and divided the state of Florence, then a powerful commonwealth, united at last against the pope, to strip the holy see of the lands it possessed in Italy.

The disturbance was begun in June,and a numerous army was set on foot: the word Libertas, written on the banner of the league, was the signal. Perugia, Bologna, Viterbo, Ancona, and other strongholds, soon declared for them. The inhabitants of Arezzo, Lucca. Sienna, and other places, were kept within the bounds of duty by the prayers, letters, and exhortations of St.

Catherine, and generously contemned the threats of the Florentines. Pope Gregory XI. He therefore sent the cardinal Robert of Geneva, his legate, with an army, and laid the diocese of Florence under an interdict. Internal divisions, murders, and all other domestic miseries amongst the Florentines, joined with the conspiracy of the neighboring states, concurred to open their eyes, and made them sue for pardon.

The magistrates sent to Sienna to beg St. Catherine would become their mediatrix. She could not resist their pressing entreaties. Before she arrived at Florence, she was met by the priors or chiefs of the magistrates; and the city left the management of the whole affair to her discretion, with a promise that she should be followed to Avignon by their ambassadors, who should sign and ratify the conditions of reconciliation between the parties at variance, and confirm every thing she had done.

The saint arrived at Avignon on the 18th of June,and was received by the pope and cardinals with great marks of distinction His holiness, after a conference with her, in admiration of her prudence and sanctity, said to her: "I desire nothing but peace. I put the affair entirely into your hands; only I recommend to you the honor of the church.

Their ambassadors arrived very late at Avignon, and spoke with so great insolence, that they showed peace was far from being the subject of their errand. God suffered the conclusion of this work to be deferred in punishment of the sins of the Florentines. Catherine sanctified herself still more by suffering longer amidst a seditious people. The saint had another point no less at heart in her journey to Avignon.

Innocent VI. The then pope Gregory XI. The Romans complained that their bishops had for seventy-four years past forsaken their church, and threatened a schism. Gregory XI. The saint soon after left Avignon. We have several letters written by her to him, to press him to hasten his return; and he shortly after followed her, leaving Avignon on the 13th of September, in