One of this Blog’s Patrons’ Feastday
On this day we celebrate the feast of Saint Catherine of Siena, only one of the two women doctors of the Church who had personified that great amount of courage in defending the See of Peter against assaults of heresy. In honour of her legacies as the saint who defied convention in the name of truth, I indicate here an account of Bl. Raymond of Capua (the saint’s biographer and spiritual director) on St. Catherine’s spiritual espousal to our Lord Jesus.
I want to Marry You in the Faith
On Shrove Tuesday, before the beginning of Lent, Christ appeared to St Catherine of Siena when she was praying in her cell and said: “You have rejected far from you and fled from all the vanities of the world, because of me. You hold all desires of the flesh with contempt, and you have chosen me as your heart’s only pleasure. That is why I have also chosen a moment to solemnly celebrate with you the wedding of your soul. As I’ve promised you, I want to marry you in the faith.”
At once, “his glorious Mother, the Virgin Mary appeared, with Saint John the Evangelist, Saint Paul the Apostle, the most holy Dominic and the prophet David. The Virgin Mother of God took the virgin’s hand in her blessed hand, and reached her fingers towards her son. She asked him if he deigned to marry Catherine in the faith. The only Son of God made a graceful gesture of assent, and presented Catherine a gold ring. With his right hand, he placed the ring on the ring finger of her right hand …”
(Catherine of Siena (1347-1380), Italian saint, Dominican tertiary, and Doctor of the Church was canonized in 1461.)
Sancta Catalina, ora pronobis.
Tags: feast days, Saints, spiritual marriage, spirituality, st. catherine of siena
