April 27th: the Feast of Saint Catherine of Siena, Her Life, and Her Words

Saint Catherine of Siena is one of the most outstanding figures of the Church. She is often known for very intriguing facts about her like being the second youngest of 25 children (her mother should be a Saint too...), a stigmatist, the woman who courageously admonished the Pope (and he listened), and great mystic. She is the patron Saint of Rome and co-patron of Italy with Saint Francis of Assisi, one of six patrons of Europe as a whole, the patron Saint of journalists, media, and nursing. She was also declared a Doctor of the Church by Pope Paul VI alongside Saint Teresa of Avila in 1970.

She was born March 25th, 1347 and died in 1380 a few days after she suffered a stroke.

She decided at a young age not to marry, against her parents' wishes and became a Dominican Tertiary (a third order Dominican). Many think she was a Religious Sister because she is pictured in the Dominican habit, but back then the Dominican Tertiaries were permitted to wear the habit as well at this time. She lived a life of much solitude, fasting, and penance until she felt called to a more active and apostolic life. She began serving the poor and sick (hence being the patron of nurses), and became spiritual guide to many.

She began preaching to the laity and priests alike to live a life more totally for Christ, specifically encouraging the faithful to more penance and repentance. It was also during this time of her life that she received the stigmata which was only seen to her, and shortly after that she began writing to and meeting with Pope Gregory XI while he was living in Avignon, France where he took up residence. His return to Rome is often attributed to her letters and their meetings.

Saint Catherine also received many significant locutions and visions from the Lord, which are now contained in a book called "The Dialogue of Saint Catherine of Siena". Below are some quotes from Saint Catherine herself and excerpts from this spiritual treasury.

1.“What is it you want to change? Your hair, your face, your body? Why? For God is in love with all those things and he might weep when they are gone.”

2.“Be who God meant you to be, and you will set the world on fire.”

3.“Proclaim the truth, and do not be silent through fear.”

4.“Nothing great is ever achieved without much enduring.”

“We've had enough exhortations to be silent. Cry out with a thousand tongues - I see the world is 5.rotten because of silence.”

6.“You know that every evil is founded in self-love, and that self-love is a cloud that takes away the light of reason, which reason holds in itself the light of faith, and one is not lost without the other.”

7.“The soul always fears until she arrives at true love.”

8.“It is surely justice to share our natural gifts with those who share our nature.”

9.“Our Lord hates above all things three abominable sins: covetousness, unchastity and pride.”

10.

“The soul is in God and God is in the soul. God is closer to us than water is to a fish.”