April 29: Catherine of Siena, Mystic and Prophetic Witness, 1380

The Collect of the Day

Catherine of Siena

Almighty and everlasting God, who kindled the flame of thy love in the heart of your servant Catherine of Siena: Grant unto us the same strength of conviction and power of love that, as we rejoice in her triumph, we may profit by her example; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Catherine of Siena

Almighty and everlasting God, who didst kindle the flame of thy love in the heart of thy servant Catherine of Siena: Grant unto us the same strength of conviction and power of love that, as we rejoice in her triumph, we may profit by her example; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

1 John 1:5–2:2
Psalm 36
Luke 12:22–31

Catherine Benincasa was the youngest of twenty-five children of a dyer of Siena. At six years of age, she had a remarkable vision that decided her life’s vocation. Walking home from a visit, she stopped on the road and gazed upward, oblivious to everything around her. “I beheld our Lord seated in glory with St. Peter, St. Paul, and St. John.” She went on to say later that the Savior smiled on her and blessed her.

From then on, Catherine spent most of her time in prayer and meditation, despite her mother’s attempts to force her to be like other girls. To settle matters, Catherine cut off her hair, her chief beauty. Her family harassed her continually; but in the end, convinced that she was deaf to all opposition, her father let her do as she wished: close herself away in a darkened room, fast, and sleep on boards. Eventually, she was accepted as a third order Dominican postulant.

Catherine had numerous visions, and was also tried most severely by temptations. Frequently, she felt totally abandoned by God. At last, in 1366, the Savior appeared with Mary and the Heavenly Host, and espoused her to himself, thus ending her years of lonely prayer and struggle. She became a nurse, as Dominican tertiaries regularly did, caring for patients with leprosy and cancer, whom other nurses disliked to treat.

Opinion in Siena was sharply divided about whether she was a saint or a fanatic, but when the Bishop of Capua was appointed as her confessor, he helped her to win full support from the Dominican Mother House. Catherine was a courageous worker in time of severe plague. She visited prisoners condemned to death, and she was constantly called upon to arbitrate feuds and to prepare troubled sinners for confession.

During the great schism of the papacy, with rival popes in Rome and Avignon, Catherine wrote tirelessly to princes, kings, and popes, urging them to restore the unity of the church. She even went to Rome to press further for the cause.

Besides her many letters to all manner of people, Catherine wrote a Dialogue, a mystical work dictated in ecstasy. Exhausted and paralyzed, she died at the age of thirty-three.

Lessons and Psalm

First Lesson

Psalm

¹There is a voice of rebellion deep in the heart of the wicked; *there is no fear of God before his eyes.

²He flatters himself in his own eyes *that his hateful sin will not be found out.

³The words of his mouth are wicked and deceitful; *he has left off acting wisely and doing good.

⁴He thinks up wickedness upon his bed and has set himself in no good way; *he does not abhor that which is evil.

⁵Your love, O Lord, reaches to the heavens, *and your faithfulness to the clouds.

⁶Your righteousness is like the strong mountains, your justice like the great deep; *you save both man and beast, O Lord.

⁷How priceless is your love, O God! *your people take refuge under the shadow of your wings.

⁸They feast upon the abundance of your house; *you give them drink from the river of your delights.

⁹For with you is the well of life, *and in your light we see light.

¹⁰Continue your loving-kindness to those who know you, *and your favor to those who are true of heart.

¹¹Let not the foot of the proud come near me, *nor the hand of the wicked push me aside.

¹²See how they are fallen, those who work wickedness! *they are cast down and shall not be able to rise.

Gospel

²²He said to his disciples, “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat, or about your body, what you will wear. ²³For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. ²⁴Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds! ²⁵And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? ²⁶If then you are not able to do so small a thing as that, why do you worry about the rest? ²⁷Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. ²⁸But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you—you of little faith! ²⁹And do not keep striving for what you are to eat and what you are to drink, and do not keep worrying. ³⁰For it is the nations of the world that strive after all these things, and your Father knows that you need them. ³¹Instead, strive for his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.