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.
 

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

       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 sixteen 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 two years of her life 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 six, 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 !