St. Catherine of Siena was a Dominican saint and mystic who lived in the fourteenth century. This great saint had an incredible relationship with God the Father and wrote the Dialogue while in deep prayer with God. Within the Dialogue is a compilation of St. Catherine’s three hundred, eighty-one letters and twenty-nine prayers that were dictated to her secretaries by the Saint in ecstasy.(1)
Saint Catherine of Siena was born on the feast of Palm Sunday, March 5th, 1347, in Italy. Catherine was one of twenty-five siblings, thirteen of which only survived. Tiny Catherine’s spiritual life began to blossom at the age of five, when she began kneeling at the bottom of the staircase and repeating a “Hail Mary” at each step (2). Soon thereafter, Catherine revealed to her parents that she was interested in religious life and could see herself marrying no one other man than Jesus Christ Himself (3). Catherine and her family lived near the Dominican Church of San Domenico in Siena, Italy. At the age of sixteen she joined the Dominican order as a member of the Mantellata or Sisters of Penance, a group of women who took vows, wore the habit of the order, shared in an apostolate to the poor and sick, and though some lived in community, others, like Catherine, lived at home (4).
Saint Catherine of Siena was born on the feast of Palm Sunday, March 5th, 1347, in Italy. Catherine was one of twenty-five siblings, thirteen of which only survived. Tiny Catherine’s spiritual life began to blossom at the age of five, when she began kneeling at the bottom of the staircase and repeating a “Hail Mary” at each step (2). Soon thereafter, Catherine revealed to her parents that she was interested in religious life and could see herself marrying no one other man than Jesus Christ Himself (3). Catherine and her family lived near the Dominican Church of San Domenico in Siena, Italy. At the age of sixteen she joined the Dominican order as a member of the Mantellata or Sisters of Penance, a group of women who took vows, wore the habit of the order, shared in an apostolate to the poor and sick, and though some lived in community, others, like Catherine, lived at home (4).
Saint Catherine had an intense prayer life, which is reflected in her Dialogue with God the Father. Her Dialogue is broken up into four parts: A Treatise of Divine Providence, A Treatise of Discretion, A Treatise of Prayer, and A Treatise of Obedience. In Catherine’s Dialogue, a consistent theme is that of charity, or the affection of love. By the affection of love, the soul becomes another Christ. This is attained through prayer and thus by uniting with God, the soul follows the footprints of Christ Crucified, attaining a union of love (5).
In Saint Catherine’s Dialogue, she converses with God about His presence in our being, a reality we can sometimes neglect to remember. He says to Catherine, “Your very being, is derived from me, since I have loved both you and others before you were in existence… I have washed you and re-created you in the Blood of my Only-Begotten Son.”(6) In addition to this theme, God assures Catherine of His immense grace. By His grace, He has drawn her out of darkness and lifted her up into the light of true knowledge.
Another common theme found in Saint Catherine’s Dialogue is virtue. God reveals to Catherine, “No virtue, my daughter, can have life in itself except through charity, and humility, which is the foster-mother and nurse of charity.”(7) God the Father emphasizes the necessity of virtue, specifically prudence, humility, obedience, temperance, patience, and charity. The virtue of charity comes forth from self-knowledge. By growing in virtue, we will come to bear good fruit. God tells Catherine, “Merit consists in the virtue of love alone, flavored with the light of true discretion.”(8)
God the Father also reveals to Catherine truths about His identity in The Dialogue. He calls Himself the “Supreme and Eternal Truth.”(9) God reveals that He is the Eternal Deity, Eternal Goodness, and the Abyss of Charity who gave us the Bridge of His Son, Jesus Christ. “The Bridge” is the name given to Jesus, communicated to Catherine by God the Father in The Dialogue. The Bridge allows man to reach heaven from earth and bring us to eternal union with God the Father. God reveals to Catherine that the Bridge has three steps, which signify the three different states of the soul. As we proceed in the steps of the Bridge, man becomes greater friends with Jesus and achieves a closer relationship with Him. Another means by which we can achieve a closer relationship with Jesus is through fervent prayer. Although prayer can become tedious to the soul, Catherine’s Treatise on Prayer emphasizes the importance of perseverance in prayer. Through God’s goodness, we have been given the strength to rise above our human weaknesses and failures to humbly ask God for His mercy in prayer. God reveals to Catherine, “Perfect prayer is not attained in many words, but through affection of desire, the soul raising herself to me, with knowledge of herself and of my mercy.”(10)
A famous quote from The Dialogue can be found in the Treatise of Divine Providence, where God tells Catherine, “In my house are many mansions, and that I wish for no other thing than love, for in love of Me is fulfilled and completed the love of the neighbor.”(11) This quote a beautiful representation of St. Catherine of Siena’s spirituality and devotion to her Catholic Faith. The wisdom passed on from St. Catherine’s Dialogue is an example of one of the many reasons the Catholic Church has declared her a Doctor of the Church. Through reading St. Catherine’s Dialogue in prayer and meditation, we can come to better understand the nature of God, an awareness of His presence in our life, the necessity to grow in virtue, and how to love one’s neighbor.
St. Catherine of Siena, pray for us!
[1] Catherine of Siena, The Dialogue, 12.
[2] The Dialogue, 8.
[3] Translated by Content Engine, L. L. C, "Santoral Today, April 29: Saint Catherine of Siena, Patron Saint of Italy," CE Noticias Financieras, (Apr 29, 2021), English ed. https://www.proquest.com/wire-feeds/santoral-today-april-29-saint-catherine-siena/docview/2520123958/se-2?accountid=41697.
[4] Catherine Joseph Droste, "Catherine of Siena’s Humanism: A Tale of Two Cities," Journal of Markets and Morality 22, no. 2 (2019), https://www.proquest.com/scholarly-journals/catherine-siena-s-humanism-tale-two-cities/docview/2510295374/se-2?accountid=41697.
[5] The Dialogue, 14.
[6] The Dialogue, 16.
[7] The Dialogue, 16.
[8] The Dialogue, 27.
[9] The Dialogue, 27.
[10] The Dialogue, 70.
[11] The Dialogue, 22.
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