Saints and Other Powerful Women in the Church Part II

Saints and Other Powerful Women in the Church Part II

Bob and Penny Lord

Published by Bob and Penny Lord at Smashwords

Copyright 2010 Bob and Penny Lord

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Table of Contents - Saints and Other Powerful Women in the Church Part II

Saint Catherine of Siena

Saint Bernadette of Lourdes

Saint Teresa of Avila

Saint Clare of Montefalco

Saint Catherine of Siena

"O Eternal God, accept the sacrifice of my life

for the mystical body of Thy holy Church."

Catherine of Siena, what an impressive woman and Saint! As I start on our sister’s story, like with the other powerful women in the Church, I can feel tears coming to my eyes, tears of joy. Thank You, Lord for the privilege of passing on what we have learned through our travels to the Shrines, as well as through the historians before us, who have felt this lady and her life so essential a part of the Story of our Church. As we write on the lives of these women we experience the same feelings we have had when we have walked on the cobblestone roads they walked, and touched the walls of the rooms they touched. If these walls and stones could talk, they would sing of the Glory and Love of Jesus and His Mother, as They spoke to and guided these Saints in their journey of faith to the Kingdom.

I’m so excited! Please stop a moment and pray with me that the words that flow on these pages be those of our Lord, the message He has for you today.

In 1347, Catherine was born into a large, wealthy family, the 23rd child of a family of 25 children. Catherine’s parents built their huge home, which you can visit till today, in the heart of the city on Via dei Tintori (Street of the Dyers). Their home included their Dye Works on the lower level and rooms above, where most of their surviving twelve children (thirteen having died at infancy), with their spouses, the family servant and dye workers lived and ate. It was, all in all, a very impressive home, with its courtyard and beautiful gardens, but not a very peaceful one. The hustle and bustle of the business, right there in the house, drowned out whatever quiet family life they might have enjoyed. The choking, putrid fumes from the dyes below, permeated all the rooms of the house, clinging to everything; the stench on their clothes following them, lingering long after they had ventured out into the streets.

One day, Catherine and her brother were slowly returning from the country home of their married sister Buonaventura, as Catherine loved and preferred the peaceful countryside. She paused on the hillside to look over the valley. Her eyes travelled toward the great Basilica of San Domenico (St. Dominic). She saw a Vision which would affect and determine the rest of her life.

Catherine saw Jesus seated on a throne, dressed in the white, gold-embroidered vestments of the Pope. On His Head He wore the Papal Tiara which has been passed on for almost two thousand years from Pope to Pope. Standing beside Him were the Apostles St. Paul and St. John the Evangelist, but He was not looking at them. Instead His Eyes were on Catherine, His Love and Smiling Face filling her with a joy she had never known before. He stepped toward her and blessed her with the sign of the Cross. Her eyes fixed on Him, she felt herself rising out of her body, being removed from the world around her, losing consciousness of her very self. There was such a magnetism drawing Catherine to the Lord, that although only six years old, she knew her childhood was over. Catherine reminds us of the children, who after our Lady touched their lives at Fatima, their toys meant nothing to them.

Catherine’s brother who had gone ahead, realizing she was not directly behind him, ran back to find her. Upon seeing her, as if in a trance, he called to her. Getting no response, he went over to her and shook her strongly. Her eyes were like someone who had been asleep, no, really more like someone who had seen something, or was it Someone, no one else had seen. Trying to share the experience, she turned toward him, saying, If only you could see what I see, you would never try to disturb me.

She turned back to the Vision, but Jesus was no longer there. She was so upset with herself. Had He left her because she had turned away from Him, even for a moment? She was to give her yes that day; and her commitment to say that yes, day in and day out, for the rest of her life. We are sure that yes took all the strength she had at times; as she was tested, failing; as she was lifted up by our Lord, falling; as she was armed anew with His Love, going on to the next yes. The life of a Saint is the story of a War, easy reading, but hard living. Catherine and her brother, on returning home, shared nothing of what had occurred with the family.

We are told Catherine was a very healthy, happy child. But, Catherine, the beautiful child, was to grow into an exquisite young lady with golden hair, the pride of her family. She had an infectious, bubbly personality, her joy only surpassed by the love that she so generously poured out to everyone. Although she always made herself available to make the rounds of the sick with her neighbors, she preferred to be alone. You can still see the dark corner of the house, where she would go off, pretending it was a cave and she a hermit. The means of flagellation, or the discipline1, a knotted rope she used on herself, is still there in the little room, beside an iron grate she used as a pillow.

She was not easy to play with as a child; being strong-willed, she insisted all the children play Saints or better yet, hermits. When she could convince them, she would play teacher; making them recite after her, the Lord’s Prayer and the Hail Mary. She also taught them about fasting and penance, introducing them to the knotted rope she used for discipline, that they then proceeded to use on one another.

This play-acting was good for children, but soon Catherine desired the real thing. She left the house one morning to seek out a cave where she could begin her life as a hermit. Well fortified, a loaf of bread under her arm, she walked to the outskirts of town, to a deserted area dotted with caves. She entered a cave where she would begin her new life. She fell on her knees and began to pray. She went into a state of ecstasy2, feeling nothing around her, not even her own presence. When she came out of this trance, she didn’t know where she was or why she was there. She began to worry. It was getting quite dark out; she had been away from home a long time. Were her parents worried? She feared the gates of the city would be closed. She hurried home, trying to run unsuccessfully, her legs feeling like lead, weakened as well by so much kneeling. Lord, let me just get home and I promise never to worry my parents like this again, she prayed, bargaining for all she was worth. How many times have we said this as children?

All her worries turned out to be unnecessary. But back in the safety of her home, the girl who had left that morning, had grown up. Something had happened to Catherine in that cave. She never tried to live as a hermit again, although I believe her parents might have preferred that to the life she was to later follow.

In this newly found, more mature relationship with the Lord, she recognized the importance of virginity, realizing how the world and its cares, could be very distracting in her search for the Lord. As she walked closer to Him, she knew with all she was or ever would be, she could not serve two masters. She had begun to hate the world, as her love for the Lord grew. She thought about the words of St. Paul,

The virgin - indeed any unmarried woman - is concerned with things of the Lord, in pursuit of holiness in body and spirit. The married woman, on the other hand, has the cares of this world to absorb her and is concerned with pleasing her husband. (1Cor 7:34)

Catherine, desiring virginity, turned to the Virgin of all virgins, our Blessed Mother, for guidance on how to put Her Son Jesus before all others. Who better than the Mother of God, whose yes brought her to the foot of the Cross, could intercede so powerfully with our Lord in Catherine’s behalf! She knew the Lord would accept from His Mother, each act of death to self and to the world Catherine would make.

One day, she prayed,

Most Blessed Virgin, overlook my unworthiness and my nothingness, and graciously grant me this favor - to give me as my Spouse the One I long for from my inmost heart, your own all Holy and only Son, our Lord Jesus Christ; and I promise Him and promise you that I will keep my virginity forever spotless for Him.

Mother Mary presents Catherine to her Son Jesus

As Catherine continued praying, Blessed Mother appeared with her Son. She took the Hand of her Son Jesus and presented Catherine to Him. Catherine considered herself engaged to Jesus from that day on.

Knowing Jesus deserved the very best, Catherine strove to become the best bride she could be. As one of her biographers, Blessed Raymond of Capua said, she ...began to fight against the flesh before the flesh began to rebel. She gave up eating meat, passing it to her brother Stephen or that failing, dropping it under the table for the cats.

Her relatives were pious, spirit-filled people; so no one paid particular attention when Catherine, as a little girl, preferred playing saint over mother or king and queen. God carefully chooses to whom He sends His chosen ones. Catherine’s father was not only a holy man, but he was equally respected for his integrity and patience. There was an incident in their lives which could have resulted in the family losing everything they had, making them destitute. A man falsely accused Catherine’s father Giacomo of owing him money. Most men of that time would have reacted violently, starting a vendetta3, a blood bath. Giacomo asked his family, instead, to pray for the man. Giacomo consoled them, reassuring them of God’s mercy and justice; God would show the man, who had falsely made that allegation, the error of his ways; God would be their Defender. When they take you before synagogues and magistrates and authorities, do not worry about how to defend yourselves or what to say, because when the time comes, the Holy Spirit will teach you what you must say. And Giacomo was right! The truth became known; Giacomo was exonerated, his good name restored and his fortunes returned to him.

Catherine’s family were people of great faith. They prayed together. They attended Mass as a family, regularly. They believed in miracles and passed that belief on to their families. Their role models were the Saints. They instilled faith in God and confidence in themselves, by teaching their children, through the lives of the Saints; they provided them role models, with particular emphasis on Saints of their region, considering them part of their heritage.

Catherine never went to school. Women of those days did not receive any formal education, not even those of wealthy families like Catherine’s. She loved to hear about the Saints and study the stained glass windows and paintings in the churches, using them, as many who had no formal education did, as textbooks from which to learn. She listened intently as the Priest at Mass would bring yet another hero or heroine into Catherine’s life on that Saint’s Feast Day. She would also pay strict attention to the Word, wanting, no, hungering to know more about Jesus.

Catherine was quiet, requiring solitude in order to grow in the Lord. The house in which she lived was crawling with people, a hub of activity and noise, not conducive to someone called to Catherine’s special walk with Jesus. To compound her struggles, her mother, although a good woman, very often contributed to the madness with her very loud and incessant chattering.

Having turned twelve years of age, Catherine was no longer allowed to go outside the house unchaperoned4, not even to attend Mass. She was a favorite with her mother, father and brothers. They all carefully set about choosing the very best husband for her. Her mother prodded her to bathe often and dress attractively. Sensing no interest on Catherine’s part, her mother was completely confused. After all, wasn’t that why she had been born, why every woman is born, to love and serve a husband?

Whereas the mother’s interest was to provide for her daughter’s welfare, the father and brothers were spurred on by the added incentive of possibly accruing more wealth and land for themselves. 10

This was the custom of that time, to arrange a good marriage of one’s daughter to a man of high social standing and great wealth. It helped no end if the girl, like Catherine, was beautiful with golden hair.

Catherine tirelessly resisted her mother and the other members of her family with their endless nagging and coaxing. As they made plans, choosing this suitor and that beau, Catherine kept faithful to the vow she had made to the Lord. Finally, to placate them, she started to fuss over her appearance, grooming her hair, almost taking her mother’s foolish suggestion to dye her beautiful golden hair. She even agreed to go out socially, which she would regret the rest of her life, and was introduced to many eligible bachelors. Finally one was chosen! No sooner done, Raymond of Capua said later, it was as if the Hand of God struck her sister down; Buonaventura, who had encouraged her to take on things of the world, died suddenly and painfully.

Catherine gave up all ideas of marriage and resumed her life of prayer and penance. The family, not knowing of her vow of virginity, were more than a little confused and upset. They called on a cousin, who had had a great influence on Catherine’s spiritual life, for help. He had told her many stories of the Saints and was now a Priest, someone to whom she would listen. Catherine confessed to her cousin, the promise of eternal love and faithfulness she had pledged to the Lord. Although knowing the ways of the family, her cousin gave her a piece of advice that was to blow the lid off the house. Shave your head! Cutting off her beautiful golden curls, her head shaved clean, was a clear sign that Catherine intended to become a Nun. Not only would Catherine’s mother not accept this symbol of marriage to the Bridegroom, but on seeing Catherine’s shaven head, she loudly moaned, calling upon all the colorful expletives of that day to curse their misfortune.

The family hatched a new plan! If she would not marry, well then she could be their servant! They dismissed their servant and took away Catherine’s bedroom, so she wouldn’t have a place where she could be alone and pray. Now, without her bedroom, where she had been able to come and go as she pleased, she formed a room within her soul that no one could take away from her, one