Homily for Memorial of St. Catherine of Siena

Homily for the Memorial of
St. Catherine of Siena

April 29, 2024
Collect
Salesian HS, New Rochelle

If I asked you who are the greatest saints of the Middle Ages, I hope you wouldn’t ask me when were the Middle Ages.  Perhaps you might suggest St. Francis of Assisi and today’s saint, Catherine of Siena. 

Monument to St. Catherine, Rome

St. Catherine was born in 1347 and died in 1380—a very short life by our reckoning.  But she lived fully and accomplished much.  The prayer for her memorial notes 2 qualities:  “her contemplation of the Lord’s Passion and her service of [God’s] Church.”

Catherine gave herself entirely to God from her earliest years and had an intense prayer life.  Like many people in her time, she focused particularly on Christ’s passion.  He let her know that prayer wasn’t enuf:  she also had to put her love for him into action.

Catherine began by caring for the sick and the poor in her city.  But observing the sad state of the Church and of public life, she became active in public affairs.  The Popes had been living in France for 70 years.  Italy was torn by wars between the city-states.  Many bishops and priests were corrupt, caring more for wealth and comfort than for their flocks, and some led sinful lives.  While always respectful of the Church and its leaders, Catherine and her followers undertook campaigns to mediate wars and to reform the Church.  She wrote hundreds of letters and traveled to meet the Pope and other leaders in person.  Solidly grounded in Jesus Christ our Savior, she was able to achieve partial success in her efforts and left us a body of writings that caused Pope Paul VI to declare her a doctor of the Church and Pope John Paul to name her a patron saint of Europe.

When our lives are similarly grounded on Christ thru prayer, the sacraments, and the Scriptures, our union with Christ will enable us, too, to bring his love to our brothers and sisters in practical charity, respect for everyone, honest living, and the use of our abilities and opportunities to serve the common good of our country and God’s Church.