As we begin this day, let me focus on the person for whom it is named, Catherine Beninicasa later known as St. Catherine of Siena – Saint and Doctor of the Church. I will give some history during prayer to begin this conference. Catherine is the co-patroness of Italy and after her death so many wanted her body in their churches, so it was divided: her mummified head and thumb are in San Domenico in Siena, her foot and three fingers are in the Church of St. John and James in Venice, and the rest of her is in the Minerva. Pilgrim sites all.
Catherine was born in Siena on March 25 1347, the 24th of 25 children to Lapa and Jacobo Benincasa. Her twin sister died shortly after birth. (As an aside: perhaps Lapa should be the saint having had 25 children!) This was a family of means, as her father had a successful wool-dying business. Catherine was a mystic– that is from an early age she had a deep sense of the presence of God. And with that sense, the thin veil between her and her creator lifted at times. Her famous work the Dialogue Is a record of her conversations with Christ. He spoke; she listened.
Despite her parents wanting her to marry, Catherine felt called to a life of prayer and penance. After trying to dissuade her by having her become a servant in the house, her parents finally relented allowing her to have a small cell in the house where she spent time in prayer and listening to her God. (Her house and this cell are still preserved in Siena.)
Catherine, listener to the voice of our God teach us to listen to God’s voice in the silence of our hearts and in the people we encounter so we might bring your voice to the challenges of our days.
After a time cloistered in her cell, she responded to the call of God to be of service to her community. She requested to join the Sisters of Penance or the Mantellates who were a group of widows and matrons connected to the Dominican Order. At first, they refused because she was so young, but relented and Catherine threw herself into service of the people of Siena. She nursed the sick and visited prisoners, even to literally walking to the gallows with a young prisoner. During this time a group of followers attached themselves to her as confessors and secretaries. Her famiglia joined her in the service. Her reputation for holiness grew. In another outbreak of the Black Death, she nursed and her followers nursed the sick and dying. Now we have experience with the plague of COVID, but remember this is 1348. Siena was devastated. One went to bed healthy and was dead in the morning. Bodies filled the streets. And there she was ministering and healing.
Catherine, healer of bodies and souls, grant us the courage to reach out to the most vulnerable, not counting the cost but joining with others to be a healing presence in a world hurting and desperate for the relationships that bring solace.
Catherine was both political and spiritual. She was an active participant in the politics of Tuscany and the politics of the church. Through her connections to the influential families of Siena and Florence, she attempted to negotiate peace among and between the many factions of the political realm in Florence and Siena. These were times fraught with divisiveness and violent political differences. She was even the target of an assassination plot. In the 380 letters that remain from her correspondence, many are to political leaders to attempt to bring peace for the sake of the people. Remember: she was a woman who did not seem to know her place. This was especially true in the church. She was most distressed at the papacy, which had gone to Avignon France from Rome. The Pontifical court was filled with embellishments of French aristocracy. Catherine traveled to Avignon to plead with Pope Gregory XI to return to Rome, which he did in 1378. Before doing so, he sent Catherine to negotiate peace with Florence which had been waring with the Holy See. She was political for the sake of peace and the people. She forcibly but respectfully challenged those in power and sometimes succeeded.
Catherine, challenger of the powerful, grant us the strength to speak truth to the political structures that lay waste to truth and justice. Assist us with your prayers for the people who suffer under oppressive structures and actions. Help us to listen to the cry of the poor, the marginalized, and our earth and to act not counting the cost.
If you go to Siena you will notice in this medieval city tight linked houses, narrow streets and steep hills. This geography speaks of Catherine. Some say our personalities resemble the contour of the place where we were nurtured. So it might be said of Catherine. She built a close-knit community, narrowed by the love of God. And she moved with the determined step and spirit that one needs to conquer the hills of Siena. She was sure of foot and heart.
Her last visit to Rome was to support the papacy of Urban VI, an irritable man but duly elected by the cardinals in Rome while the French Cardinals elected another in Avignon and still another was said to be elected in Pisa. As she lay dying, the Church which she struggled to heal was in disarray. But she never gave up promoting the truth. She said, “Preach the truth and do not be silent through fear.” She died in Rome in a room above the Minerva next to the Pantheon. Fitting. She was 33 years of age but is now ageless.
Catherine, woman of truth and justice, intercede for us so that we may be strengthened to preach truth and justice, so that as you said we preach truth as if we have a million voices. It is silence that kills the world. May we do such preaching!
Amen.