St. Catherine of Siena, Patroness of Europe

On the life, writings and spirituality of St. Catherine of Siena, virgin and doctor

St. Catherine of Siena, 1347-1380 A.D.: together with St. Teresa of Avila, was declared a doctor of the Church in 1970 A.D.; she is the patron saint of Italy, of fire prevention, and of nursing.

Biographical sketch

Catherine Benincasa, now known as St. Catherine of Siena, was the youngest of 25 children - born in Siena to Giacomo [a prosperous cloth-dyer] and Lapa Benincasa. At six years of age, because of her spiritual giftedness, St. Catherine began to have mystical experiences - experiences that will mark her mission in the Church throughout her life.

Though urged by her parents to marry, St. Catherine resisted and instead entered the Third Order Dominicans [the Mantellata] in 1365 A.D. She was sixteen years old at the time. As a Third Order Dominican (Dominican tertiary), she began to lead a life of penance and prayer - according to the spirituality of her time (which was rigorous and severe compared to modern practices). At 18 years of age, St. Catherine mystically espoused Christ. Besides her mystical experiences and intense life of prayer, she ministered to the sick in hospitals - caring for those with leprosy and other distressing sickness.

St. Catherine possessed supernatural gifts and had an outspoken support of the Pope. It is her support of the papacy that gained her both supporters and enemies. Her enemies brought St. Catherine before a chapter general of the Dominicans in 1374 A.D. at Florence. But upon investigation, accusations against her were dismissed.

Back in Siena, St. Catherine cared for those stricken by the plague. Aside from taking care of plague victims, she also ministered to prisoners. St. Catherine was widely acclaimed for her holiness and for her peacemaking abilities, that she was called to arbitrate feuds and misunderstandings.

In 1375 A.D., something very extraordinary happened to St. Catherine. She was praying in the Church of St. Cristina in Pisa, Italy, when she received the 'stigmata' from Christ - piercing her hands, feet and side. [The stigmata are the "wounds of Christ" which Christ shares with some of His chosen servants]. The other popular saints who was known to have this stigmata was St. Francis of Assisi.

In 1376 A.D., St. Catherine was instrumental in the return of the Papacy from Avignon, France, to Rome. She also helped reconcile the differences between the city-state of Florence and the Holy See.

In 1378 A.D., a great schism in the Church began with the dispute on Urban VI's papacy. A group against Urban VI, elected an antipope and set up a papal court in Avignon. St. Catherine worked unceasingly to secure support for Urban VI's papacy. Urban VI brought her to Rome and made her his advisor. St. Catherine then continued in her work of prayerful support until her death in 1380 A.D. at 33 years of age.

Before her death, St. Catherine of Siena spent the rest of her days composing "The Dialogues", a book which she wrote under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. It was told that without knowing how to read or write, and with no theological education, she dictated all that was put in "The Dialogues" - which became a reason for consecration her as a doctor of the Church. Besides "The Dialogues", she also dictated letters to popes, cardinals, princes and politicians. There are about 382 letters of great interest; remarkable for its beauty and spirituality.

St. Catherine of Siena was declared a saint in 1461 A.D. by Pope Pius II; she was declared a doctor of the Church in 1970 by Pope Paul VI; and in 1999 A.D., Pope John Paul II declared her, along with two other female saints (Bridget of Sweden and Teresa Benedicta of the Cross [Edith Stein]), as one of the six patrons of Europe (together with Sts. Benedict, Cyril and Methodius).

Teaching and spirituality

The main point of St. Catherine of Siena's thought and spirituality is this: God is truth/love - truth that is love and love that is truth - revealed in Jesus Christ and discovered in knowledge of oneself in God and of God in oneself. The symbol that captures the reality of this dynamic is the heart: more specifically, the heart of Jesus revealing God's heart, and the human heart responding to God's heart incarnated in Jesus.

For Catherine of Siena, it is charity, love springing from God, from which the human heart receives the source of life. And the means by which the human heart can "see and experience" God in this life, is to follow in the footsteps of Jesus, and embrace the truth/love He is. This emphasis of St. Catherine of Siena on truth/love, and the charity that springs forth from God, reveals her life and spirituality as ultimately a life of charity. She has truly lived a life of charity - giving her whole self and life for the work of the Church, especially the unity needed in the Church of her time.

Excerpts from writings

Oh boundless charity! I am not surprised that in your
blood I find the power of compassion, for I see that it
was out of divine compassion, not because you owed it
to us, that you shed your blood. And you took vengeance on
the cruelest of cruelties, the cruelty we inflicted on
ourselves when by sin we made ourselves worthy of death
(Letter T210, to Matteo Cenni).

You must love [others] with the same pure love with
which I love you. But you cannot do this for me because
I love you without being loved by you, even before you
existed...[Y]ou cannot repay me. But you must give this
love to other people, loving with without being loved by
them. You must love them without any concern for your
own spiritual or material profit, but only for the glory
and praise of my name, because I love them (The
Dialogues 88 165)

Edited from the following sources:

• Saints for Our Time
• Doctors of the Church
• Spiritualities of the Heart
• Catherine of Siena: Passion for the Truth, Compassion for Humanity, by Mary O' Driscoll, O.P.
• A Year with the Saints, by Don Bosco Press, Inc.
• The Friendship of God: Christianity as Friendship, by Segundo Galilea

5th Sunday of Easter (B)

(Edited) Reflections (from) 5th Sunday of Easter (B), May 6, 2009

First reading: Acts 4:26-31
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 22
Second reading: 1 John 3:18-24
Gospel reading: John 15:1-8

"For apart from Me you can do nothing."

The gospel passage for the 5th Sunday of Easter, is taken from the 15th chapter of John, verses 1-8. In the passage, Jesus gives a discourse on how our lives and good works are really rooted in our relationship with Him. He says that He is the vine, the Father is the vine-grower, and all His followers are the branches. If anyone is not rooted in Jesus, he would be like a barren branch. But those who are in a personal relationship with Jesus, will bear fruit, and increase the yield of good in their life and work.

Jesus speaks about imagery in His parables which the people of His time are familiar with: shepherd-sheep, sower-seed, and wedding banquet-wedding guests. For it is in such simple parables, and things of nature which His people can easily relate with: the mustard seed, faith that can move mountains, the lilies of the field and the birds of the air, etc. In today's passage from the gospel of John, He speaks of vine-branches imagery. He uses this image to make a very essential point in life: without God, all life and successes in work are empty and barren. However, if all life and work are rooted in God (like branches to the vine), the fruits produced will overflow not only with the material essentials needed for life, but with a spirit of joy in doing God's will.

In the course of a lifetime, all people experience both successes and failures: some more intensely than others, while others with less severity or tragedy. All that is part of being human and living in a world also filled with both positive and negative realities. Before their conversion, many of the Church's Saints sought the pleasures of life without realizing that it can make an opposite turn. But this was exactly the time God sought the opportunity to make Himself real for them. He used such experiences to help His children mature with an attitude akin to His Son Jesus. It is in their relationship with God that one can see God's Hand as the Vine-grower trimming their souls to bear the spiritual fruit that is building His Kingdom: joy, fortitude, charity, perseverance, fidelity, generosity, and wisdom. These are good fruits needed in the midst of the darkness of their centuries, and also the good fruits needed up to this time in our world.

St. Louis-Marie de Montfort Writes on the Theme of Holiness

The Writings and Teachings of St. Louis-Marie de Montfort on the Theme of Christian Holiness

Feast day of St. Louis-Marie de Montfort, April 28

Introduction

St. Louis-Marie reveals

• (1) the source of holiness (the Most Blessed Trinity);
• (2) describes its origin (the Christian vocation);
• (3) indicates its authors (the Holy Spirit working through the Mother of the Redeemer);
• (4) reveals its marvelous secret (the true devotion to Mary);
• (5) proposes models of holiness (Christ, Mary, and the saints);
• (6) reminds us of the necessity of mankind's cooperation in order to acquire it (the virtues);
• (7) traces the development of its intensity (the three stages of the spiritual life); and
• (8) speaks to us of its final goal (eternal life in God).

(1) the source of holiness

The source of all holiness is the Most Blessed Trinity - the One and indivisible Triune Being who we know through the person of Christ our Lord. Montfort emphasizes the central role that Jesus plays in making us see that "in Him alone dwells the entire fullness of the divinity (Colossians 2:9) and the complete fullness of grace, virtue and perfection...in Him alone we have been blessed with every spiritual blessing (Ephesians 1:3)


In a hymn dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, Montfort invites all Christians to draw on the source of holiness in God our Savior: "This is the source of life / On whom all the saints have drawn, / This is the beautiful fire / In which their hearts were embraced / ... Here the most imperfect soul / Can easily become the most holy" (Montfortian Hymns: 40,
16, 18)

(2) the origin of holiness

Montfort reminds all who follow his spirituality that God wishes us to become saints on earth, like Christ, and to become a part of God's glory for all eternity. He says, "It is certain that growth in the holiness of God is your (Christian) vocation...Otherwise you are resisting God in not doing the work for which he is even now keeping you in being" (Secret of Mary: 3).

Our Christian vocation to holiness will be provided by the grace and help of God so that we can attain it: and Montfort lists the means of doing so - sincere humility, unceasing prayer, complete self-denial, abandonment to divine Providence, and obedience to the will of God. (Secret of Mary: 4-5)

(3) the authors of holiness

Montfort teaches that the authors of holiness is rooted in the "hidden relationship between the Holy Spirit and the Blessed Virgin Mary, and the influence they exert on the Church. Montfort is noteworthy among spiritual theologians for his efforts to make this vital relationship between the Holy Spirit and Mary visible.

His teaching on this subject can be known through what he writes in his book The True Devotion to Mary: "God the Holy Spirit wishes to fashion his chosen ones in and through Mary...the formation and the education of the great saints who will come at the end of the world are reserved to her...when the Holy Spirit finds (the spirit of Mary) in the soul, He hastens there and enters fully into it. (True Devotion: 34-36)

(4) a secret of holiness

In his writings, Montfort proposes and recommends a special form of holiness that he calls "perfect devotion to Mary", the keynote of his own spirituality and teaching. Here is how he describes this secret of holiness. Montfort says that he has seen many devout souls searching for means and ways to obtain holiness but having worked so hard and so many times, they often end up with nothing. But according to Montfort, if we follow the immaculate path of Mary, we will work very little, but we will achieve a quality of holiness that is incomparable to others - because Mary is a holy place, a holy of holies, in which saints are formed and molded in her womb to the likeness and image of Christ. (True Devotion: 218)

(5) the models of holiness

Montfort provides us with very good models of holiness: Jesus Christ, Mary, and the saints.

Jesus is the teacher and the exemplar of all Christian sainthood. Christ alone brings all the works of God to perfection, especially the saints, for he shows them what they must do and teaches them to appreciate and put into practice all he has taught them (Love of Eternal Wisdom: 56)

For Montfort also, Mary is the perfect model of every virtue and perfection, fashioned by the Holy Spirit for us to imitate, as far as our limited capacity allows (True Devotion: 260). We Christians can imitate her ten primary virtues: "deep humility, lively faith, blind obedience, unceasing prayer, constant self-denial, surpassing purity, ardent love, heroic patience, angelic kindness, and heavenly wisdom." (True Devotion: 108). To these basic ten virtues, Montfort also adds: poverty, silence and ability to listen, modesty, thankfulness, and abandonment to divine Providence.

The saints are also exemplary models of Christian perfection. Montfort teaches that among the virtues of the saints that we must imitate are: the splendor of their humility, the charm of their tenderness, the excellence of their obedience, their strength of patience, the beauty of their virginity, the necessity of their penance, the tenderness of their brotherly charity, their joy of pardon, their blessed solitude, the frequency of their prayer, their power of fasting, the generosity of their alms, their love for the Cross, the treasures of their poverty, the flame of their zeal, the wisdom of their silence, their experience of the presence of God, the pleasant appeal of their modesty, their thankfulness, and their abandonment to Providence.

Montfort spoke prophetically of the Marian secret of sainthood and had a natural sympathy for saints who, like himself; had followed the virginal and immaculate way of Mary to grow in wisdom, maturity, and holiness.

(6) the necessity of mankind's cooperation

Everyone in the Church is called to sainthood. But to do this we must cooperate with the action of God's grace and abandon the worldly spirit that prevents us from becoming holy. Among the numerous virtues that Montfort considers part of our cooperation with God's saving and sanctifying graces, two in particular should be emphasized: obedience, which is the foundation and unshakeable support of all holiness; and charity, which in itself contains the most perfect holiness.

(7) the development of intensity in holiness

The spirituality of Montfort is dynamic. It guides the Christian through the stages of (a) purification, (b) illumination, and (c) union. In the stage of purification, God liberates us from the worldly spirit that is counter to the Spirit of Jesus Christ. After going through this purgative process, the spiritual journey and experience intensifies to the level of illumination. This is the stage where the charismatic knowledge of Mary and of her way of living, dynamic presence in the mystery of Christ and the Church, and thus in the spiritual life of the Christian, is better known and loved. Finally, once this stage has been fully experienced, the third and most intense level of holiness is union with God and His will. This is the stage and level where the Christian is filled with the very fullness of Jesus Christ Himself by the very means and intercession of the Blessed Mother.

(8) the final goal of holiness

According to Montfort, the final goal of holiness is to follow the path of Mary's obedience to the will of God. If any Christian follows this path, he will be blessed with the abundance of grace and sweetness that Mary imparts to all. They will be happy at the hour of death which is sweet and peaceful - for Mary is usually present to lead these devoted souls to the home of everlasting joy and eternal life. They will be happy for all eternity because no servant of Mary who followed her path of obedience to God's will and who imitated her virtues during their life has ever been lost. They will surely be guided to their proper end: eternal life with God in heaven.

Context of this article

God Alone: The Complete Collected Writings of St. Louis-Marie de Montfort