This article first appeared in Our Sunday Visitor magazine. Subscribe to receive the monthly magazine here.
St. Catherine of Siena holds a rare and profound standing in the eyes of the Church. Among the 37 Doctors of the Church, she is the only layperson, which is to say, she did not have the advantage of seminary or similar formation to aid in her writings and understanding of the Faith. She was a Third Order Dominican, which is why she is often depicted in a habit. Still, she was not cloistered as the other three female Doctors were.
In her time, Catherine was known for her service in a local hospital and in her neighborhood. She’s often remembered now for her involvement in ecclesiastical and national politics, particularly her role in Pope Gregory XI’s return to Rome from Avignon and in peace negotiations with the Florentine Republic. Stories of her successes — which are, admittedly, impressive — are liable to be washed in the light of what we might call “girl power.”
It’s not about achievement
Yet I often think that if she or any of the other saints came face to face with modern folks extolling their achievements, she would swiftly shift the focus from herself back to Christ, where it belongs. We ought to marvel not at what St. Catherine did, but rather at what the Lord accomplished through her because she responded to the grace to unite her will to his.
St. Catherine was blessed with mystical visions throughout her life, beginning in childhood. She held to an early vow to give herself totally to God, even when her family tried to compel her to marry. She lived an intensely ascetic life, eventually subsisting on the Eucharist alone. These markers, too, can seem to glorify the woman rather than the Lord, but I doubt she’d want it that way.
Remaining in him
As with any saint, St. Catherine’s wisdom and fortitude were not her doing, but gifts bestowed on her by the Lord. Her sanctity was a grace that she cultivated through further grace, her actions the fruit of concentrated contemplation. These roots of holiness are not reserved for those who will one day be remembered with honorifics. Rather, they are both the foundation of and the way into what each of us is called to do. St. Catherine’s life was the path that God offered for her own sanctity; he desired that St. Catherine be close to him just as he desires that every one of his sons and daughters remain in him.
We could easily be intimidated by St. Catherine’s life and think it impossible to see a connection between our lives and hers. But when we strip away the titles and the big names that surrounded her, we’re left with a child of God in love with the Lord, striving for holiness and devoting herself to drawing others to the same. In that way, she is more than a Doctor of the Church. We can consider her our sister in Christ.
