Catherine of Siena by Mary O’Driscoll O.P.
All booklets are published thanks to the generous support of the members of the Catholic Truth Society
CATHOLIC TRUTH SOCIETY PUBLISHERS TO THE HOLY SEE
2
Contents Life and Times . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3 Doctor of the Church . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16 Walk on Two Feet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21 Contemplative Mystic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .28 Passionate Lover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .39 Further Reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .47
3
LIFE AND TIMES “It is we who play the coward while undaunted she shares with us her own courageous spirit”, so spoke the 14th century pope, Urban VI, of the simple unlettered woman who addressed him and his cardinals in Rome at the time of the great western schism. Who was this woman whose rousing words could shame the pope and succeed in instilling courage into the hierarchy? None other than Caterina Benincasa, widely and popularly known as Catherine of Siena, whose life and theological spirituality are the subject of these pages. Hers was such a colourful dynamic personality that she was not only a significant figure in the historical period in which she lived, but has also influenced succeeding centuries right up to our own time, gaining among other honours along the way, the titles of saint, doctor of the Church and co-patron of Europe. Early years Siena is a beautiful and culturally rich city in Tuscan Italy. It reached its peak in the late Middle Ages as an important trading and banking centre. With its encircling walls, its narrow gothic streets, its splendid cathedral and its houses huddled together in topsy-turvy fashion, to this
4
C AT H E R I N E
OF
S I E NA
day it retains its medieval character. At the beginning of the third millennium, it is therefore not too different from the city which the woman who bears its name knew and loved over 600 years ago. The date generally accepted for Catherine’s birth is 25th March 1347. She was born to Lapa di Puccio Piagenti and her husband Jacopo Benincasa who was a cloth-dyer. She was the twenty-third of her parents’ twenty-five children. Although not all of these children lived into adolescence, enough of them did, to make the Benincasa home a happy, bustling place. Being a lively and spontaneously loving child, Catherine fitted well into this family atmosphere which was intensified as her brothers married, brought their wives home, and started families of their own. Speaking of her little nieces and nephews, Catherine confided once to a friend: “If decency allowed, I would never stop kissing them!” Catherine was a woman who had a tremendous zest for life and who put all of herself into whatever she was convinced about. The truth that gripped her most was God’s overwhelming love for humanity manifested in Jesus Christ. One of her biographers describes her as someone who was always ‘at full stretch’, whether she was responding whole-heartedly to her loving God or reaching out compassionately to her needy neighbour. At a young age, Catherine decided that she wanted to give her life completely to God. This decision seems to
LIFE
AND
TIMES
5
have been connected with a vision of Jesus Christ, dressed in papal attire, which she saw over the church of St Dominic as she walked home one evening. In the vision Christ smiled lovingly at her and blessed her. The first step in her commitment was to make a vow of virginity. Some years after, when she was about 16 or 17, she joined the ‘mantellate’, a group of lay Dominican women, who lived in their own homes and dedicated their lives to prayer and charitable activity. These women, who mostly were much older than she, did not make it easy for this young, lively woman to join them. However, her conviction that this was God’s will was so strong that she eventually won them over. Follower of Dominic Catherine’s decision to become a Dominican was surely connected with the fact that she grew up in the shadow of the Dominican church in Siena. It was here that she went to Mass, received the eucharist and spent hours in prayer. The Friars who lived in the adjoining convent were her friends and mentors. As a result, over the years, she imbibed a deep appreciation of the Dominican way of life and of its theological perspectives on the truths of faith. In her book, The Dialogue, she describes St Dominic as “an apostle in the world” who “sowed God’s word wherever he went.” Catherine, as her life testifies, became an apostle of God’s word in the world too. It is not surprising therefore that on
6
C AT H E R I N E
OF
S I E NA
the occasion of the official declaration of her as a Doctor of the Universal Church, the Master of the Order, Fr Aniceto Fernandez, paid her the highest Dominican tribute in stating: “Into Catherine the whole soul of Dominic passed.” Her first three years as a ‘mantellata’ were spent in a secluded life of prayer at home. She left the house only to participate in liturgical celebrations at the nearby church. However, after this time of withdrawal, she was inspired to engage more actively in the service of her neighbour. There are many stories recounted of her sensitive concern for the poor, and her attentive care of the sick. There was in Siena, at this time, a poor woman, named Tecca, who had leprosy. People kept away from her out of fear of catching the disease. When Catherine heard this, she decided to look after her. Every day she washed her and cooked her meals. The sick woman, however, did not show any gratitude. Instead, she constantly found fault with Catherine. This situation continued for a long time during which Catherine’s loving care never diminished, even when she discovered leprosy on her own hands. When Tecca finally died, it was Catherine who washed and prepared the body. After the burial, she found that all traces of leprosy had disappeared from her hands. Another woman, Andrea, developed cancer of the breast. There was no known cure for this sickness at that time, and so, as Andrea grew worse, she was avoided by
LIFE
AND
TIMES
7
her neighbours because of the putrid smell of the disease. Once again, it was Catherine who came to the rescue, nursing Andrea even when the stench was nauseating. Instead of appreciating this devotion, the sick woman resented her carer, and began to spread all kinds of false rumours about her way of life. Yet, Catherine persisted in her compassionate nursing. Just before her death, Andrea repented of her slander and publicly acknowledged Catherine’s goodness. One can still visit the Hospital of the Misericordia in Siena where she nursed the dying at the risk of her own life when a fatal epidemic hit the region. “I was in prison and you visited me” (Mt 25:36) One very moving story, which belongs to a later period, is told of Catherine’s concern for a prisoner condemned to death. This young man, Nicholas, who had refused to see any visitor connected with the church, was so touched by her love and compassion that he allowed her to console him and talk to him about Jesus as he sat in his prison cell awaiting execution. Her presence meant so much to him that he begged her to come to the public place of execution so that she could give him courage and pray for him. She did so, and he allowed her to stretch out his neck in preparation for the executioner’s blow. While she held his head in her hands, she kept praying for him and whispering words of encouragement. After his death God
8
C AT H E R I N E
OF
S I E NA
revealed to her that Nicholas had been immediately welcomed into the peace and happiness of heaven. We can imagine Catherine’s joy and gratitude. It was soon after she began her apostolic activity, that disciples first gathered around Catherine. Although she had little or no formal education, the magnetism of her personality and the authenticity of her holiness so attracted them that they longed to be in her company and to learn from her how to be true followers of Christ. They called themselves her ‘family’, praying with her, travelling around Italy and even into France with her, and sharing her vision and hopes for the church and world of her day. Among them were men and women; priests, religious and laypersons; theologians, poets, artists and simple people; young and old. We could say that it was her same obvious holiness and moral authority that later inspired the two popes of her day, Gregory XI and Urban VI, to ask for her support and to listen to her advice. During her life, Catherine, ‘apostle of the word’, went about the task of preaching the gospel in all the ways open to her: teaching her followers; bringing the message of God’s love and care to the poor and the sick; proclaiming the good news of God’s endless mercy to sinners; counselling men and women from all walks of life; and acting as a mediator between feuding families. She was an urgent preacher of God’s message of love ‘in season and out of season’.