Thursday, April 29, 1999
First Reading: Acts 13: 13-25
Psalms: Psalm 89: 2-3, 21-22, 25, 27
Gospel Reading: John 13: 16-20
Saint Catherine of Siena, Virgin and Doctor of the Church
One of the great Doctors of the Church, Saint Catherine, born in 1347 in Sienna, was blessed with
apparitions of Our Lord when she was only seven years old. Jesus requested of Catherine, "Please give
Me your heart." Catherine willingly did so and in return, He gave her His Most Sacred Heart for God had a
special mission for this special saint He raised up for the Church. At 15 she entered the Third Order of St.
Dominic. Though courted by many young and noble bachelors, Catherine remembered what Christ had
asked her and turned down numerous offers of marriage to become a bride of Christ with the
Dominicans. Catherine did not know what exactly her mission was, but prepared for it through penance
and prayer, devoting herself to the poor. She knew in her heart the Pope belonged in Rome, the seat of
Christianity. Therefore, she made a pilgrimage to Avignon in Southern France to persuade the Pontiff
Pope Gregory XI to return from exile to Rome where he belonged. Heeding the advice of this simple nun,
he did as she requested for he knew intuitively that it was God's Will for God had sent Catherine as a light
in the darkness during this dark time in Church history. Dissension followed Gregory's decision to return
and those who followed their own will tried to elect a false pope and keep him in Avignon, but again
Catherine intervened and lovingly, wisely counseled those in power to accept Gregory as the true pope
and desist from promoting anyone else. They, too, understood this was God's Will and they obeyed, lifting
all barriers and allowing Gregory to return the papacy to Rome. Both Gregory and his successor Pope
Urban VI asked her counsel often, knowing it was of the Holy Spirit. Catherine died at the same age as Christ, 33 years old, receiving not only Jesus' Heart but His wounds as well as she was bestowed with
the stigmata. The world mourned this great saint in 1380 for she had touched and brought many nations
and princes back to the true faith through her simple, but firm faith. She also prophecied the schisms that
would come in the following centuries. In 1970, Pope Paul VI officially proclaimed her a Doctor of the Church.
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