St. Catharine of Siena - Virgin

 

 

 

Today is the Feast of St. Catharine of Siena, another of the great Canonised Holy Women, and, along with SS Teresa of Avila, Therese of Lisieux and Hildegard of Bingen, one of the female Doctors of the Church.

This brief life of St Catharine is taken from Catholic Online:

"The 24th child of a wool dyer in northern Italy, St. Catherine started having mystical experiences when she was only 6, seeing guardian angels as clearly as the people they protected. She became a Dominican tertiary when she was 16, and continued to have visions of Christ, Mary, and the saints. St. Catherine was one of the most brilliant theological minds of her day, although she never had any formal education. She persuaded the Pope to go back to Rome from Avignon, in 1377, and when she died she was endeavouring to heal the Great Western Schism. In 1375 Our Lord give her the Stigmata, which was visible only after her death. Her spiritual director was Blessed Raymond of Capua. St, Catherine's letters, and a treatise called "a dialogue" are considered among the most brilliant writings in the history of the Catholic Church. She died when she was only 33, and her body was found incorrupt in 1430."

Among a number of Patronages, St. Catharine of Siena is associated with the protection of women in pregnancy and childbirth, her elder sister, Bonaventura, having died in labour. It would therefore be fitting to invoke her prayers for her namesake, HRH Katherine, Duchess of Cambridge, at the time of the impending birth of the fourth in line to the British Throne, and, of course for the new Prince or Princess.

Sancta Catharina, ora pro nobis

Princess Katherine, Duchess of Cambridge