Today, April 29, is the memorial of Saint Catherine of Siena.
Doctor of the Church.
Born in 1347, Catherine was the youngest of 24 children of Lapa Piagenti and Jacopo di Benincasa, a wool-dyer.
When Catherine was five years old, she experienced her first vision of Jesus. At the age of seven, she had a vision in which Jesus appeared with Peter, Paul, and John; Jesus blessed her, and she consecrated herself to Him.
At the time, arranged marriages were common. Catherine’s parents tried to do that to her, but she said no. She then became a Dominican tertiary at 15, and took care of society’s poor and neglected. Her works encouraged other women, and even men, to join her.
Catherine experienced many mystical gifts, such as levitation and the stigmata, in life. At age 21, she had a vision in which Jesus entered into a mystical marriage with her. With Jesus’ encouragement, Catherine embraced public ministry.
She became a counsellor to and correspondent with Pope Gregory XI and Pope Urban VI.
She lived in Avignon, France in 1376, and then in Rome, Italy from 1378 until her death. She authored important Christian writings, among them the treatise “The Dialogue of Divine Providence.”
She was a friend of Blessed Raymond of Capua who was also her confessor.
Catherine died in 1380 at age 33. She was canonized in 1461 by Pope Pius II.
She was named Doctor of the Church in 1970 by Pope St. Paul VI.