LAKE JAMES

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Saint Catherine of Sienna, Nun

    Opinion has long been divided as to whether Catherine of Sienna was a saint, a fanatic, or mentally ill.  Born to a wealthy family, she was the youngest of twenty-five children.  At the age of six, she had a vision of Jesus, seated in glory, with Saints Peter, Paul, and John standing by.  In that vision, she said that Jesus smiled at her and gave her a special blessing.

    From then on, she spent most of her time in prayer despite her mother’s attempts to get her to be like other girls her age.  To settle things, Catherine cut off her hair, her chief beauty.  Eventually her family gave up their constant harassments, letting her do as she chose.  She enclosed herself in a darkened room and slept on boards.  Eventually, she entered the Dominican Order, but even then,  Catherine had intense spiritual struggles, including feeling abandoned by God.  Finally, in 1366, in another vision, she beheld Christ with the Blessed Virgin and all the Saints of heaven, during which the Lord espoused her to himself and her struggles ended.  She became a nurse (a common vocation for Dominican nuns) and was widely known for caring for patients with leprosy and cancer – illnesses which many other nurses disliked or even refused to treat.

    A prolific letter writer, Catherine also wrote a mystical work, Dialogue which she is said to have dictated during ecstatic episodes. Her Feast Day is kept on April 29th, the day on which, in the year 1380, exhausted  and paralyzed, she died at the age of thirty three.

 [from “Lesser Feasts and Fasts” and other sources – A. T. K. Z.+]

 

The Collect for the Feast of Saint Catherine of Sienna

 Everlasting God, you so kindled the flame of holy love in the heart of blessed Catherine of Sienna as she meditated on the passion of your Son our Savior, that she devoted her life to the poor and the sick, and to the peace and unity of the Church: Grant that, aided by her prayers, we also may share in the mystery of Christ’s death, and rejoice in the revelation of his glory; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.  Amen.

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To learn more about Saint Catherine of Sienna from Wikipedia.org, click here.

 

This page last modified on Wednesday, April 23, 2008 09:41 PM