Today,
in the 1962 Dominican Rite Calendar, we celebrate the feast of the illustrious
St. Catherine of Siena, Virgin, Doctor of the Church, Patroness of the Third Order of St. Dominic. At the time the 1962 Dominican Breviary was published, her feast was II Class, though it could be celebrated as I Class by Tertiaries and Churches which bore her name. By the time of the publication of the English translations of the Breviarium S.O.P., the Order raised her feast to I Class. Accordingly, the festive
office is prayed according to the rubrics.
At Rome, St. Catherine of Siena, virgin, of the Order of our Father St. Dominic. While hardly more than an infant, she consecrated her virginity to Christ and preserved it unsullied until death. She was famed for her innumerable halos of virtue, and excelled in a remarkable innocence of life. Strengthened by Christ her Spouse in frequent sweet conversations, she merited to become a sharer in His sufferings and wounds. Lastly, she was distinguished by the gift of prophecy, by miracles, and by doctrine. Having frequently conquered and triumphed over Satan, she ascended to heaven to the happy embraces of her Spouse on April 29. She was buried in the Church of Santa Maria sopra Minerva, and Pius II inscribed her in the number of the holy virgins.
From “Short Lives of the Dominican Saints” (London,
Kegan Paul, Trench, and Trübner & Co., Ltd., 1901):
Saint
Catherine was born at Siena in Tuscany, April 30 A.D. 1347. Her father, James
Benincasa, was a dyer of that city and she was the youngest of his numerous family.
Whilst still a little child she attempted to retire into solitude, in imitation
of the Fathers of the Desert, and at the age of seven she consecrated herself
to God by a vow of virginity. When she grew older her parents endeavored to
persuade her to marry and the Saint had to undergo much domestic persecution
on this account, all which she bore with invincible patience and constancy. At
length her father became convinced that her resolution was from God, and gave
orders that she should no longer be opposed in her pious designs. She spent some
years in a life of strict retirement and at the age of about seventeen took the
habit of the Third Order of Saint Dominic, being, it is said, the first
unmarried woman who had ever been received into that Sisterhood. She continued,
however, as before, to live in her father's house, devoting herself to
exercises of prayer and the practice of severe austerities. It was the Divine
will that she should be tried by grievous temptations, over which her humility
and unshaken confidence in God enabled her to be always victorious. She was
miraculously taught to read and write and Our Lord deigned often to recite the
Office with her in her little chamber.
On the
last day of the Carnival, A.D. 1367, she was visibly espoused to our Divine
Lord, and some years later He vouchsafed to her the mysterious favor of the
exchange of hearts and the impression of the sacred Stigmata. After her
espousals she began to come forth from her retirement and to take part in the household
duties. Our Lord had taught her to seek and find Him in His two chosen
dwelling-places the Sacrament of His love and the person of His poor.
She was
accustomed to approach the Holy Table very often, at a time when frequent
Communion was by no means common; her influence and example are said to have
largely contributed to the revival of this salutary practice. In accordance
with her own maxim, that "the love we conceive towards God we must bring
forth in acts of charity towards our neighbor," she began to practise the
most heroic services of charity. Her self-devotion was on more than one occasion
repaid only by the blackest calumny and ingratitude; but her sweetness and
patience triumphed, and her persevering prayer won back her persecutors for God.
Marvellous conversions were granted in answer to her fervent supplications and
she had an extraordinary power over the evil spirits, whom she often drove from
the bodies of the possessed.
The
sphere of her influence gradually widened as her sanctity made itself more and
more apparent. She was called upon to heal the terrible feuds which were the
bane of Italy in the Middle Ages, to urge on the undertaking of a fresh Crusade
against the infidels, and to become the counsellor of Popes, Cardinals, and Princes.
The Florentines had revolted against the Holy
See, and, fearing the consequences of their rebellion, they entreated the holy
maiden of Siena to plead their cause with the Sovereign Pontiff. For this end
she visited Avignon, where the Papal Court then resided, and whilst there
succeeded in persuading Gregory XI to return to Rome. The Saint went back to
Florence as ambassador from the Pope, and April 30 after much trouble and persecution
succeeded in effecting a reconciliation between that city and the Apostolic See.
She dictated some sublime treatises whilst in a state of ecstasy, and they were
afterwards published under the title of the "Dialogue." A great
number of her letters to persons of all classes and conditions have also been
preserved; they are full of the most beautiful and practical instructions in
the spiritual life.
Saint
Catherine greatly exerted herself to maintain the authority of the Holy See
during the unhappy schism which followed on the death of Gregory XL His
successor, Urban VI, summoned her to Rome towards the close of the year 1378
that he might be assisted by her wise counsels. The remaining seventeen months
of her earthly pilgrimage were spent in the Eternal City. There she prayed, and
suffered, and finally offered her life as a victim for the Church and its
visible Head, "the Christ on earth," as she loved to call him. The
sacrifice was accepted; and after many weeks of agonising suffering, both of
body and soul heroically endured, she departed to her Spouse on Sunday, April
29, A.D. 1380. She was canonized in the year 1461 by Pius II., himself a native
of Siena, who wrote her Office with his own hand.
We
cannot better conclude this brief notice than by quoting two of Saint
Catherine's favourite maxims which were taught her by our Lord in these words: "Thou
must not love Me, or thy neighbour, or thyself, for thyself; but thou must love
all for Me alone; " and again, " Make in thy soul as it were a little
spiritual cell, closed in with the material of My Will . . .which must so
encompass every faculty of thy body and soul that thou shalt never speak of
anything but what thou deemest pleasing to Me, nor think nor do anything but
what thou believest to be agreeable to Me."
Prayer
O
God, you enabled the blessed Catherine, graced with a special privilege of
virginity and patience, to overcome the attacks of evil spirits and to remain
unshaken in your love; grant, we beseech you, that following her example by
treading underfoot the wickedness of the world, and overcoming the wiles of
our enemies, we may pass tin safety to your glory. Through our Lord…