Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 3.djvu/505

 CATHERINE

447

CATHERINE

pital of Genoa, where she eventually became manager and treasurer. She died worn out with labours of body and soul, and consumed, even physically, by the fires of Divine love within her. She was beatified in 1675, by ('lenient V. but not canonized till 1737, by i 'lenient XII. Meantime, her writings had been ex- amined by the Holy ( Iffice and pronounced to contain doctrine that would be enough, in itself, to prove her sanct it v.

The first published life, based on early MSS., is GEN1 i i. I Ua

dottrina sanla delta Beata Caterin t <la (ienova (Flor-

i i on the above Flicbb, SI Catha int

. ,-t n.m esprit (1881); Life and Doctrine of St

. he tr., New York, 1ST It. For a discussion

of her doctrine, Parpera, Beata Caterina tieniien.sis illuMrala

(Henna, Itisji. See also BcTLER. Lives of the Saints, IX, 14

Sepi, and a modern life by it; Bi BSli ia-.

! . \1. Capes.

Catherine of Siena, Saint, Dominican Tertiary, b. at Siena. 25 .March, 1347; d. at Home. 29 April, 1380. She was the youngest but one of a very large family. Her father. Giacomo di Benincasa, was a dyer; her mother, Lapa, the daughter of a local poet. liiiv belonged to t he lower middle-class faction of tradesmen and petty notaries, known as "the Party of the Twelve", which between one revolution and another ruled the Republic of Siena from 1355 to 1368. From her earliest childhood Catherine began

\ isions and to practise extreme austerities. At the age of seven she consecrated her virginity to

, in her sixteenth year she took the habit of the

nican Tertiaries. and renewed the life of the

anchorites of the desert in a little room in her father's

house. After three years of celestial visitations and

ir conversation with Christ, she underwent the mystical experience known as the "spiritual es- pousals", probably during the carnival of 1366. She now rejoined her family, began to tend the sick, especially those afflicted with the most repulsive diseases, to serve the poor, and to labour for the con- version of sinners. Though always suffering terrible physical pain, living for long intervals on practically no food save the Blessed Sacrament, she was ever radiantly happy and full of practical wisdom no less than the highest spiritual insight. All her contem- poraries bear witness to her extraordinary personal charm, which prevailed over the continual persecu- tion to which -In- was subjected even by the friars of her own order and by her sisters in religion. She began to gather disciples round her, both men and women, who formed a wonderful spiritual fellowship, united to her by the bonds of mystical love. During the summer of 1370 she received a series of special manifestations of Divine mysteries, which culminated in a prolonged trance, a kind of mystical death, in which she had a vision of Hell, Purgatory, and I haven, and heard a Divine command to leave her cell and enter the public life of the world. She began to dispatch letters to men and women in every con- dition of life, entered into correspondence with the princes and republics of Italy, was consulted by the

fiapal legates about the affairs of the Church, and set If to lieal the wounds of her native land by stay- ing the fury of civil war and the ravages of faction. She implored the pope, Gregory XI. to leave Avignon, to reform the clergy and the administration of the Papal Mate-, and ardently threw herself into his design foi a crusade, in the hopes of uniting the pow- ers of Christendom against the infidels, and restoring peace tn Italy by delivering her from the wandering companies o) mercenary soldiers, While at Pisa, on ourth Sunday of Lent. 1375. she received the

Stigmata, although, at her special prayer, the marks did i,. il ardly in her body while she lived.

Mainly through the tnisgovernment of the papal officials, war broke out between Florence and the Holy See. and almost the whole of the Papal States rose in insurrection. Catherine had already been

sent on a mission from the pope to secure the neutral- ity of Pisa and Lucca. In June, 1376, she went to Avignon as ambassador of the Florentines, to make their peace; but, either through the bad faith of the republic or through a misunderstanding caused by the frequent changes in its government, she was un- successful. Nevertheless she made such a profound impression upon the mind of the pope, that, in spite of the opposition of the French king and almost the whole of the Sacred College, he returned to Rome (17 January, 1377). Catherine spent the greater part of 1377 in effecting a wonderful spiritual revival in the country districts subject to the Republic of Siena, and it was at this time that she miraculously

learned to write, though she still seems to have chiefly relied upon her secretaries for her correspondence. Early in 1378 she was sent by Pope Gregory' to Flor- ence, to make a fresh effort for peace. Unfortu- nately, through the factious conduct of her Floren- tine associates, she became involved in the internal politics of the city, and during a popular tumult (22 June) an attempt was made upon her life. She was bitterly disappointed at her escape, declaring t hat her sins had deprived her of the red rose of martyrdom. Nevertheless, during the disastrous revolution known as "the tumult of the Ciompi", she still remained al Florence or in its territory until, at the beginning of August, news reached the city that peace had been signed between the republic anil the new pope. Catherine then instantly returned to Siena, where she passed a few months of comparative quiet, dicta ting her " Dialogue", the book of her meditations and revelations.

In the meanwhile the Great Schism had broken out in the Church. From the OUtsel Catherine en- thusiastically adhered to the Roman claimant, Urban VI, who. in Xovember. 137s, summoned her to Rome. In the Eternal City she -pint what remained of her life, working strenuously for the reformation of the