Catherine of Siena, a Doctor of the Church and one of the most influential women in Catholic history. 


The History of St. Catherine of Siena Parish:

About seven miles from the western boundary of Idaho and at a point where the Priest River joins the Pend Oreille, stands the little community of Priest River.  While the early Jesuit missionaries for many years ministered to the wandering Indian camps of the vicinity, the town itself did not come into existence until the building of the Great Northern Railroad in 1891.  A few years later a station was built, a post office established and a stable community began.

Father F. A. Becker of Coeur d’ Alene began his monthly missionary excursions there in 1894 and his usual custom was to celebrate Mass, instruct, and baptize in the little Post Office building near the confluence of the two rivers.  A change of pastors in Coeur d’ Alene in 1897 brought Father Thomas Purcell once a month, on a Saturday.  His little mission of 12 families in 1895 increased, and was reported to be 61 in 1902.

A colony of Italians had taken over some lands from the Railroad Company, called the “Settlement.”  Therefore, in the fall of that year,  Fr. Purcell had a rather beautiful frame church erected.  It was dedicated to St. Catherine of Siena.  The building was 60 x 26 and had a well-proportioned central tower.  The church could seat a congregation of 120.

Father James Kelly of Rathdrum assumed charge of the mission, paid his monthly visits, and reported in 1903 that there were 28 families!  The evident reason for the marked decline was the method used for counting Catholic families.  In 1902 there had been a notable immigration of Italians, who settled on land adjacent to the town.  Father Purcell counted them as Catholics; but since they were not regular attendees at Church services, Father Kelly did not consider them Catholic families.  In 1909 he reported only 10 families.  Discouraged, he discontinued his monthly calls in 1912.

Zealous Bishop Glorieux wished some effort on behalf of his Italian children, so in 1910 he invited an Italian Jesuit from Gonzaga to interest himself in his fellow countrymen.  Father M. Balestra, S. J. was sent and in that same year secured two acres from the railroad company for the sum of $10.00.  In 1915 a church was built, with the aid of Extension, in the Italian Settlement for $1,500, and placed under the patronage of the Immaculate Conception. Both churches were attended to once a month until 1921.  The Jesuits ministered to the people in Priest River during those 9 years.

When father McElligott came to Spirit Lake as assistant in charge of missions in September 1921, the Bishop assigned Priest River to his list of Missions.  In the fall of the following year, the Bishop was convinced that Priest River should have a pastor of its own.  Bishop Gorman visited Priest River in the spring of 1923, in his chapel car called “St. Peter”, (a chapel car on wheels), said Mass, gave instructions, and handed out literature.  

Bishop Gorman therefore sent Father Remi Pecoul, who remained a year, during which period he secured a parish rectory at a cost of about $2,000.  In August 1923, Father Coleman King succeeded him in a parish , which as Father Pecoul had reported the previous year, numbered 21 American families and 40 Italian.  In 1924 his census showed 60 American and 25 Italian families and 7 more in Laclede.

After three years of exceptionally successful labor, Father King was transferred.  For the next 12 months, Priest River witnessed a procession of pastors:  Father P. Casey, Fr. Daniel Lunch, and then Fr. Arthur Corley.  This zealous sacrificing priest remained with the congregations until his death ten years later.

Although many churches in Idaho were closed or had services cut back during the depression years, Bishop Kelly (then Bishop of Idaho) would allow new buildings to be constructed if the present one was crowded and the parish could raise one-half of the necessary funds to build.

Around 1944, a decision was made to close the settlement church rather than institute necessary repairs.  The Italian families in the settlement then went to Mass at St. Catherine’s and the church became crowded.  The required funds were donated and a new church (the present one) was built in 1949 with seating capacity of 240. 

Donated, as well as paid labor, built the church which included members of several current families in the parish.

The history of St. Catherine’s and the Catholic church in Priest River is intimately connected to that of the Jesuits in the Pacific Northwest.

Past priests, remembered by elderly parishioners, include Father Bolfini and Father Piano in the settlement church; Father Zoore, Father McCarthy and Father Kunkee in St. Catherine’s.

Recent memory includes Father Don Simmons, Father Mike Scarcello, Father Thomas Guadian, Father Timothy O’Donovan, Father Don Turner, and Father Robert Bargen.


Our Patron Saint: 

Catherine of Siena, (birth name Caterina Benincasa) was born March 25, 1347, in Siena, Tuscany [Italy],  She died April 29, 1380 in Rome. She was Canonized in 1461; feast day April 29), was a Dominican tertiary, and a mystic.  She was declared a Doctor of the church in 1970 and the patron saint of Europe in 1999.

       The value Catherine makes central in her short life and which sounds clearly and consistently through her experience is complete surrender to Christ. What is most impressive about her is that she learns to view her surrender to her Lord as a goal to be reached through time.
       She was the 23rd child of Jacopo and Lapa Benincasa and grew up as an intelligent, cheerful, and intensely religious person. Catherine disappointed her mother by cutting off her hair as a protest against being overly encouraged to improve her appearance in order to attract a husband.  One of the first examples of Catherine’s gift of getting the other party to see her side in negotiation came when she was just 16 years old. An older sister had died, and the family decided Catherine would marry her widower. Catherine had decided nearly ten years earlier that she would be the wife of no one other than Christ, and so she declined. (Her decision might also have had something to do with the way she had seen the man treat her sister.) When her parents persisted in pushing for the match, she went on a fast, a tactic she would use throughout her short life, and then cut off her hair. Ultimately, her parents gave in.  Her father finally ordered her to be left in peace, and she was given a room of her own for prayer and meditation.
       She entered the Dominican Third Order at 18 and spent the next three years in seclusion, prayer, and austerity. Gradually, a group of followers gathered around her—men and women, priests and religious. An active public apostolate grew out of her contemplative life. Her letters, mostly for spiritual instruction and encouragement of her followers, began to take more and more note of public affairs. Opposition and slander resulted from her mixing fearlessly with the world and speaking with the candor and authority of one completely committed to Christ. She was cleared of all charges at the Dominican General Chapter of 1374.
       Her public influence reached great heights because of her evident holiness, her membership in the Dominican Third Order, and the deep impression she made on the pope. She worked tirelessly for the crusade against the Turks and for peace between Florence and the pope.  In 1378, the Great Schism began, splitting the allegiance of Christendom between two, then three, popes and putting even saints on opposing sides. Catherine spent the last seven years of her life subsisting only on the Eucharist and water; with the last two being spent in Rome, in prayer and pleading on behalf of the cause of Pope Urban VI and the unity of the Church.
       Then, a mystical encounter with Christ prompted her to reenter the world, nursing and comforting the sick, the poor, and the condemned.  But her work did not stop there. When Catherine emerged, she quickly became a political force with which to be reckoned. Though she had no formal education and was not a member of a religious order, her letters to monarchs, Church leaders, and others were persuasive. Her activism may have had a role in returning the pope to Rome from France after nearly seventy years.
       We know her best, however, for her obedience to the One to whom she would never say no, with whom she never bargained. Her Dialogues and other writings illumine a God who loves us and desires union with us, not a deity who seeks to punish capriciously or willfully. Catherine’s example inspires us to continue to talk and reason with those in our lives who seem intractable and stubborn—and to believe in the promise of the Resurrection and reunion.
       Catherine ranks high among the mystics and spiritual writers of the Church. In 1939, she and Francis of Assisi were declared co-patrons of Italy. Pope Paul VI named her and Teresa of Avila doctors of the Church in 1970. Her spiritual testament is found in The Dialogue.
       Though she lived her life in a faith experience and spirituality far different from that of our own time, Catherine of Siena stands as a companion with us on the Christian journey in her undivided effort to invite the Lord to take flesh in her own life. Events which might make us wince or chuckle or even yawn fill her biographies: a mystical experience at 6, childhood betrothal to Christ, stories of harsh asceticism, her frequent ecstatic visions. Still, Catherine lived in an age which did not know the rapid change of 21st-century mobile America. The value of her life for us today lies in her recognition of holiness as a goal to be sought over the course of a lifetime. She offered herself as a victim for the Church in its agony. She died surrounded by her “children” and was canonized in 1461.

St. Catherine of Siena is also the Patron Saint of Italy and for Fire Protection. 

SAINT CATHERINE OF SIENA PRAY FOR US !

St. Catherine of Siena is best known as the Doctor of Unity for bringing about the union of the Papacy and returning it to Rome after nearly a century in France. St. Catherine dictated, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, four treatises called “The Dialogues.” She also wrote nearly four hundred letters and a series of prayers.