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Did You Know? Saint Catherine of Siena (Feast Day: April 29)
The third episode in an ongoing series of brief videos filled with interesting details regarding the lives and miracles of well-known and lesser-known saints, and the devotions and traditions that have developed around them over time.
More "Did You Know?":
- St. Joseph (Feast Day: March 19)
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- St. Bernadette Soubirous (Feast Day: April 16)
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TRANSCRIPT
St. Catherine of Siena
Saint Catherine of Siena was an Italian Doctor of the Church and Dominican tertiary who experienced her first divine vision at the age of 6 and has two final resting places. Born Catherine Benincasa on March 25, 1347 to her parents Giacomo and Lapa, she was one of 26 children, but sadly half of her siblings had already died from the Black Death and even Catherine's twin sister, Giovanna, passed away shortly after birth. But, Catherine was healthy and was such a happy child that her family called her Euphrosyne, the Greek word for "JOYOUS".
One day while walking home, 6-year old Catherine stopped in the road, gazing up to the sky. Her brother, noticing that she had fallen behind, returned and took Catherine by the hand, but she burst into tears, for she had been in ecstasy, experiencing a vision of Christ seated in glory with the Apostles Peter, Paul, and John, and it was now gone.
At the age of 12, Catherine's mother wished for her to marry. So, Catherine began fixing her hair and dressing in brightly jeweled gowns. But she soon repented of such vanity and resolutely declared that she would never marry, defiantly chopping off her beautiful hair when her parents persisted.
Finally, Catherine's father realized her unwavering intentions and arranged a small room for her where she offered prayers, fasted and slept on a wooden board. Catherine soon became a Dominican tertiary, which was an unusual privledge for such a young girl. For the next three years, she devoted herself completely to prayer, speaking only to her confessor, never venturing out except to church, and consuming little more than the Blessed Sacrament.
In 1366 while praying in solitude, Catherine received a vision of Christ, the Virgin Mary and a multitude of angels. Our Lady held Catherine's hand before Christ, who then espoused her to Himself by placing a ring on her finger. Though the ring was invisible to others, Catherine could see it at all times and it served as the sign that her period of solitude was now complete and her faith could overcome all temptations.
Catherine began helping in the city hospitals, choosing to aid those with the most difficult conditions, which is one reason she was named the Patron Saint of Nurses. She inspired many conversions, continually aiding victims of the plague, preparing the sick for death and personally laying them to rest, but many of her patients survived as well including Blessed Raymund of Capua, her confessor and eventual biographer.
In February, 1375, Catherine visited Pisa where she experienced another spiritual vision in the church of Santa Christina. While gazing in ecstasy at the crucifix, five red rays of light suddenly descended from it, piercing her hands, feet and heart, so painfully that she fainted. Catherine quietly retained the wounds of stigmata the rest of her life, but they became visible to all after her death.
During her life, Catherine's beautiful writing was compared to the great Italian literary figures Dante and Petrarch: most notably, her "Dialogue" and over 400 letters she wrote, including one that urged Pope Gregory XI to return the papacy from Avignon, France to Rome, in which she bluntly stated: "Courage father! Be a man! It is your duty to come back to Rome: therefore come!" And so he did, even going as far as to summon Catherine to Rome to be a personal advisor.
Catherine passed away on April 29, 1380, eight days after suffering a paralytic stroke. Her body is revered in the Basilica of Saint Mary above Minerva in Rome, but her incorrupt head and finger are enshrined in St. Dominic's Basilica in Siena, believed to have been smuggled back there by the people of Siena.
Pope Pius II canonized Catherine in 1461 and along with St. Francis of Assisi, she was named Patron Saint of Italy. And that is how a six year old mystic became the saint we know today!
