“Be who God wants you to be and you will set the world on fire!”

During Women’s History Month, we honor St. Catherine of Siena, a 14th-century lay Dominican. She resisted an arranged marriage, joined the mantellates (later part of the third Dominican Order), aided the sick and marginalized, persuaded Pope Gregory XI to return to Rome,  and otherwise engaged in papal and European politics. Most significantly, she underwent many mystical experiences beginning when she was a child and dictated a compendium of her mature spiritual thought called The Dialogue, all before her death at age 33. 

Pope Pius II canonized Catherine in 1461. In October 1970, Pope Paul VI named Catherine a Doctor of the Church, along with Teresa of Avila, making them the first women to receive this honor (there are 37 doctors of the Church, including four women). On October 1, 1999, St. Pope John Paul II named her as a one of the six patron saints of Europe, together with St. Benedict of Nursia, Saints Cyril and Methodius, St. Bridget of Sweden, and St. Edith Stein. 

Her legacy endures as a symbol of courage and compassion.

The Central Province’s own Fr. Thomas K. McDermott, OP,  an expert on St. Catherine, wrote about her life and teachings in Catherine of Siena: Spiritual Development in her Life and Teaching. The Central Province’s Archives, compiled by Fr. Al Judy, OP, are rich with resources about St. Catherine’s life. See:

St. Catherine of Siena by Mary Ann Sullivan 
Letters of St. Catherine of Siena, ed. Vida Dutton Scudder (1906)
Various web links on St. Catherine of Siena

Above: The Mystic Marriage of Saint Catherine of Siena, Clemente de Torres, oil on canvas, c. 1700. Private collection. Public domain, Wikipedia.