Inspiring Christian Lives

Catherine of Siena, 1347-1380

Violence and disorder, a splintered Church, uncertain futures; cities decimated by plague and a loss of vitality in religion. Sound familiar? The world today? Well, yes, but this was also Europe in the time of Catherine of Siena, 1347-80, a most remarkable, electrifying and inspiring Christian.

In the face of this suffering, the young cloth trader's daughter from Siena refused to resign herself, preferring instead to plunge herself into the needs of the time. Even though an illiterate woman in a male chauvinistic world her sanctity was so feted that she became the adviser to political and religious rulers. She even ticked off the then Pope for cowardice! Above all, though, she struggled for justice and peace. "Not by the sword or by war or by violence" could good be achieved, but "through peace and through constant humble prayer".

She knew that peace without justice would not prove a lasting foundation for stability. She advised the political rulers of her day and encouraged and sometimes succeeded in making them be reconciled to each other. She was active in helping the poor, needy and outcasts of her community. She also ticked off the Church for not sticking to its mission, for becoming too worldly, too concerned with power, prestige and status. Ever bold in her speech, she wrote to some senior members of the church about issues of justice: "Be silent no longer. Cry out with a hundred thousand voices. I see that the world is destroyed through silence". She called for all to use words that are truthful rather than false, to enlighten rather than darken and to unite rather than divide. She also had a real gift for building and sustaining life giving friendships, seeing truthfulness as the basis for this. In her writings and her work, she discovered that God is not some remote, abstract and theoretical idea, but that God is a person present in the very centre of our identity and being. The answer to the question "Who am I" she discovered - not as something selfish, but as a person loved into existence by God, with 'every hair on her head counted'. She also left behind a very fine prayer, which reveals that the true focus of the Christian is not our own inward looking emotions, but others, those outside of us:

Eternal God, I pray to you, for all those you have given me to love with a special love and with special concern. Let them be illuminated with your light. Let all imperfection be taken from them so that in truth they may work in your garden, where you have assigned them.

Study her life, read her works, and draw inspiration from this remarkable woman.