ST CATHERINE: THE GIRL WHO WROTE TO POPES!
From Siena, with little formal education, she sent letters to popes and kings. This voice was impossible to ignore!
Learning to read was difficult; she learned to write only as an adult. Yet her letters reached Church and political leaders. Catherine of Siena, born in 1347 and dead in 1380, moved from minimal schooling to remarkable influence in just thirty-three years.
Faith takes her beyond home
At sixteen she joined the Mantellate, the women’s branch of the Dominican Third Order. Living with her family, she prayed and cared for sick people. Religious and lay companions gathered around her. Her friendships and demands grew together.
She urged Gregory XI, then in Avignon, to return to Rome and reform the Church. She spoke directly to priests, bishops and cardinals and intervened in political crises. Many people contributed to the pope’s return; her voice was an important one.
Nobody was too powerful to receive a letter
She also wrote to Charles V of France and Louis of Hungary and Poland. John Paul II discussed her letters on rulers’ responsibilities: justice and care for poor people, because power isn’t private property.
Her path wasn’t easy. The Dominican chapter summoned her to Florence in 1374. Raymond of Capua became her spiritual guide and later her biographer.
An inner room, an outer world
Catherine’s “inner cell” was the secret place of recollection. Meanwhile she wrote, met people and served: prayer and public life belonged together. Her Dialogue of Divine Providence, Letters and Prayers survive. In the Dialogue, Christ is a bridge between heaven and earth, expressing her spiritual teaching.
A Doctor of the Church since 1970 and co-patron of Europe since 1999, she is celebrated on 29 April. Read a letter in full. Knowing whom she’s addressing changes how you hear her voice.
