St. Catherine of Siena Book Review-

Saint Catherine of Siena's The Dialogues: The Great Lover

Introduction

In order to properly review something, the reviewer ought to reveal where they stand in relation to the work; whether diametrically opposed, as a critic, or as a member of the author's inner circle who will be taking certain things for granted when reading. This revelation helps prevent the reader from coming to assumptions about the work without giving the author its fair due in the case of a critic, or giving the work the skepticism it desires if written by an acolyte. It must be stated at the outset, that this work will not be reviewed with the penetrating eye of a doctoral student, trying to examine from the source document whether Saint Catherine was or was not a true mystic, or just how many secretaries were actually transcribing when the Saint was in ecstasy. Rather this review is done by a fellow Catholic, a spiritual sister of Saint Catherine of Siena who believes what she believes, (belief in the present tense since she lives in heaven). It is a review from a place of intellectual curiosity and love, the same attitude which Catherine approaches God the Father at the beginning of the work.

God the Father with SS. Catherine of Siena and Mary Magdalene, painting by Fra Bartolommeo

The Contents

For a work that is a very intimate look at the inner spiritual life of the soul, it seems surprising upon the first read that Saint Catherine began the book with instructions. However, instructions do not have to be technical, in fact, these instructions are more of a translation, preparing the reader for this new logical and spiritual language they are to understand.

"This she does because knowledge must precede love, and only when she has attained love, can she strive to follow and to clothe herself with the truth...So, that soul, wishing to know and follow the truth more manfully, and lifting her desires first for herself—for she considered that a soul could not be of use, whether in doctrine, example, or prayer, to her neighbor, if she did not first profit herself, that is, if she did not acquire virtue in herself"

First this...then that, first improve oneself then you may help your neighbor, first, gain love, then truth will follow. These are if-then syllogisms, staples of classical logic that support the spiritual framework of the Dialogue, which makes reading it a fresh and more comprehensible experience. She is preparing the reader to read the dialogue as she sees the soul, a multi-layered work, with successive levels of revelation and depth. After she explains the necessity of the pursuit of personal virtue to attain intimacy with God, she reveals the four requests she put to God, a request for herself, the reformation of the Catholic Church, peace of the whole world, but in particular for heretical Christians and last of all for Divine Providence to provide for things in life overall.

The Dialogue is broken into four subchapters, each of varying length; divine providence is first, discretion second, prayer third, and obedience fourth. The first, divine providence, is surprisingly the shortest section and serves the role of introduction and theme setting for the following sections. After reflecting on the aforementioned instructions on personal virtue, Catherine accounts that the "neediness" of the world caused her to be grieved, and as she sat in Mass, the weightiness of her own sins, put up in contrast to the beauty of majesty of God, seemed almost unbearable to her.

This visual contrast, of finite vs infinite, good vs evil is a persistent theme throughout the work. Even at the end of the book when God the Father says, "I wish you to know, dearest daughter, that whiteness is better seen when placed on a black ground, and blackness on a white, than when they are separated," this idea of contrast for edification comes to the foreground. Much of the Dialogue is finding different ways to understand the "Truth" by examining what is not true, or apart from it, and though to a skeptic, the book may seem to rely heavily on symbolic language, this is as true as when one attempts to speak of God who may only be defined by saying what he is not, for instance, that he is endless, formless without limit, and ageless.

As Catherine offers up her grief to God, this sacrifice of self during the sacrifice of the mass connects Catherine's soul with God's who sends down the holy spirit to her to speak with her, in the truest sense of a loving embrace, Catherine describes being gathered up into the bosom of the Truth, and what follows in the rest of the Dialogues is their conversation.

Saint Catherine of Siena by Lo Spagna (Giovanni di Pietro) Art Institute of Chicago

                                                                 The First Treatise
Catherine put four requests to God and so got four responses during this ecstasy. Given that her first request was for herself, the first treatise was God's explanation on what the root of all virtue is, namely charity for others, how Catherine might attain it and avoid its opposite, and why these virtues are distributed differently among people. 

In an interesting way, this treatise is really the story of contradiction, because God's love for mankind is a contradiction in terms. Who could have foreseen that a faultless, limitless God would love a sinful, limited finite creature? Catherine's desire to suffer for souls, though noble is pointless if it is not done out of love for God, and a desire to have charity on others. To seek to self perfect oneself in virtue, as if virtue were something totally self-sufficient is impossible. God warns Catherine that, " 

"...guilt is not punished in this finite time by any pain which is sustained purely as such. And I say that the guilt is punished by the pain which is endured through the desire, love, and contrition of the heart; not by virtue of the pain, but by virtue of the desire of the soul."

Continuing on with this theme of virtue in the context of selflessness through self-knowledge and perfection, the section ends with a dual-edged lesson, virtues and vices of self are visited on one's neighbors. Perhaps the most powerful lesson in practical ethics in the Dialogue is the reminder Catherine receives that everything someone does which is wrong, has a negative impact on their neighbor. Every act of pride or failure to love will impact others, just as attaining virtue will benefit society and provide for the needs of others. Closing out the chapter with an analysis of contradictions, Catherine is shown that every virtue is strengthened by means of it inverse. Compassion is strengthened in contrast to cruelty, patience when faced with impatience, justice when tempted by injustice, and the Love of God when tested by the fickleness of Man.

The Second Treatise 

The Third Treatise

The Fourth Treatise

Bibliography:

Catherine of Siena. The Dialogue of Saint Catherine of Siena. London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner,                 and Co., Ltd., 1907. At Christian Classics Ethereal Library, www.ccel.org.
           

Images:
God the Father with SS. Catherine of Siena and Mary Magdalene, painting by Fra Bartolommeo, 1509; in the Pinacoteca Civica, Lucca, Italy. Encyclopedia Britannica. Accessed Online.

Saint Catherine of Siena. 1510/15 Lo Spagna (Giovanni di Pietro) Art Institute of Chicago. Accessed Online.