Our united parish is blessed to have many patron saints praying for us as we work together to live out the Gospel message. Each of these individuals has guided a segment of our parish community for many years, and now that we are united together as one parish, there is so much we all can learn about these powerful witnesses to the faith. Their example helps bring us closer to Jesus as his disciples on Earth.

Saint Catherine of Siena
(1347-1380)

Saint Catherine of Siena offers us not only a strong witness to the Catholic faith, but also a model of how to live our faith with courage and confidence. Saint Catherine was very devout in her prayers and love of Jesus. She is also one of the few saints who was blessed with the miracle of the stigmata, having the wounds of Christ on her hands, which unites her more closely to the suffering of our Lord.
 
She was born into a very large family, and at an early age, our Lord appeared to her in a vision at Saint Dominic's church and called her to do special work. The fact that this occurred in a church named Saint Dominic prefigured her eventual call to the Third Order Dominicans, the Order of Preachers. As she grew in faith and wisdom, she shared advice with civil leaders and even the pope. 
 
At this time in the Church, the pope lived in Avignon, France due to unrest in Rome. Catherine implored Pope Gregory XI to return to Rome, and even went as far to tell him to get “Up, father, like a man.” The Pope’s return to Rome and his death shortly after sparked another schism in the church (known as the Western Schism) where there were two people at once, and later three, claiming to be the pope. Ultimately, the popes who were elected by the College of Cardinals in Rome were regarded to be the true successors of Saint Peter, and the others are now referred to as “antipopes.”
 
Because of her extensive writings that teach us more about our Catholic faith and how to place our trust in God, she was declared in 1970 to be a Doctor of the Church. In addition, she also received the stigmata; the wounds of Christ on her hands and feet, but she requested that Our Lord only allow her to see and experience it. Saint Catherine of Siena and Saint Teresa of Avila are the first female Doctors of the Church.

The Catholic Church celebrates Saint Catherine of Siena on April 29.
 

Prayer to Saint Catherine of Siena

O God, who set Saint Catherine of Siena on fire with divine love in her contemplation of the Lord's Passion and her service or your Church, grant, through her intercession, that your people, participating in the mystery of Christ, may ever exult in the revelation of his glory. Who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Saint Catherine of Siena, pray for us!