Friday 29 April 2022

Today (29 April) the Church celebrates the life and ministry of Catherine of Siena.

Catherine Benincasa was born in 1347, the second youngest of twenty-five children.

Pious from her earliest years, she overcame family opposition to her vocation and became a Dominican tertiary at the age of eighteen. Nourished by a life of contemplative prayer and mystical experience, she devoted herself to active care for the poor and sick.

She became increasingly sought out as an adviser on political as well as religious matters and, in 1376, she journeyed to Avignon as an ambassador to the pope and influenced his decision to return to Rome.

She wrote a Dialogue on the spiritual life as well as numerous letters of counsel and direction, which stressed her devotion to the Precious Blood of Jesus.

She suffered a stroke on 21 April and died eight days later, on this day in the year 1380.



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