St. Catherine of Siena Essay -- Essays Papers

St. Catherine of Siena Catherine of Siena was born in Italy in 1347 at a time when political and religious changes were affecting the hierarchy of the Catholic Church. Dedicating her life to the Holy Spirit from a very young age, Catherine pursued a life of purity and simplicity that served as a background to her great literary work, The Dialogue of the Divine Providence . Her work focuses on the importance of prayer and its transcendent power in human life. In the early stages of Catherine's life the surfacing modern age was bringing with it social turmoil which spread throughout Europe (Giordani 3). During Catherine's lifetime, according to Mary Ann Sullivan in her essay â€Å"St. Catherine of Siena,† the center of Catholic rule fluctuated between Rome and Avignon and contributed to a schism between popes in Italy and France (1). Catherine was born 23rd in a line of 25 children and, according to Sullivan â€Å"even at a young age, [she] sensed the troubled society around her and wanted to help† (1). While her parents were not exceptionally religious, St. Catherine's biographer Blessed Raymond of Capua discusses Catherine's early zeal for Catholic practices: â€Å"When she was about five she learned the Hail Mary, and repeated it over and over again as often as she could†¦she was inspired by heaven to address the Blessed Virgin in this way whenever she went up and down stairs, stopping to kneel on each step as she di d so† (24). Her devotion to the Virgin Mary would become especially important in a vision she had around this time while walking with her brother to visit one of her sisters. When Catherine was six she saw a bridal chamber up in the heavens with Jesus Christ who bestowed upon her the sign of the cross and his eternal bene... ...e University of Georgia Press, 1984. 252-255. Blessed Raymond of Capua. The Life of Saint Catherine of Siena . Trans. George Lamb. New York: P.J. Kennedy and Sons, 1960. Catherine of Siena. The Dialogue of the Divine Providence . Trans. Algar Thorold. 1907. 25 Feb. 2004 . www.ccel.org/c/catherine/dialog/dialog.html Gardner, Edmund G. Saint Catherine of Siena . London: J.M. Dent & Co., 1907. Giordani, Igino. Catherine of Siena: Fire and Blood . Trans. Thomas J. Tobin. Milwaukee: The Bruce Publishing Company, 1959. Meiss, Millard. Painting in Florence and Siena After the Black Death . New York: Princeton University Press, 1979. Petroff, Elizabeth Alvilda. Medieval Women's Visionary Literature . New York: Oxford University Press, 1986. Sullivan, Mary Ann. St. Catherine of Siena . 1996. 29 Feb. 2004 . www.op.org/domcentral/trad/stcather.htm