Although she lived in the fourteenth century, Catherine of Siena was a woman for all ages: mystic and activist, counselor to popes and princes, peacemaker and caregiver.

She was born in Siena, Italy, 25 March, 1347, the youngest of a large family. In many ways she was a normal, delightful child. When she was only 6 years old she had a mysterious vision of Jesus, seated upon a church, wearing the Papal crown, and blessing her. That vision would set the direction of her life. She resisted her family’s attempts to have her married for she wanted to devote herself to prayer and intercession on behalf of others. A room in the family home became her “monastery”. She became a Third Order Dominican (or lay associate). She was well known in Siena for assisting the poor and the sick. During the summer of 1370 she received a series of special manifestations of Divine mysteries, which culminated in a prolonged trance in which she had a vision of Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven, and heard a Divine command to enter the public life of the world.

She began to dispatch letters to men and women in every condition of life, entered into correspondence with the princes of Italy, was consulted by the papal legates about the affairs of the Church, and set herself to heal the wounds of her native land by staying the fury of civil war. While at Pisa, on the fourth Sunday of Lent, 1375, she received the Stigmata, although, at her special prayer, the marks did not appear outwardly in her body while she lived. The masterwork of her life was imploring Pope Gregory XI to leave Avignon in France and to return to Rome, to reform the clergy and the administration of the Papal States. He returned in 1377.

In November 1378 the new pope, Urban VI, summoned her to Rome. There she spent what remained of her life working strenuously for the reformation of the Church, serving the destitute and afflicted, and dispatching eloquent letters in behalf of Urban to high and low in all directions. Her strength was rapidly being consumed; she besought her Divine Bridegroom to let her bear the punishment for all the sins of the world, and to receive the sacrifice of her body for the unity and renovation of the Church. It seemed to her that the Ship of Peter was laid upon her shoulders, and that it was crushing her to death with its weight. After a prolonged and mysterious agony of three months, endured by her with supreme exultation and delight, she died in Rome, 29 April, 1380.

Pope Paul VI recognized her lasting influence when in 1970 he named her a “Doctor of the Church” (or one of the most important teachers in the Church). She was the first woman named, and is one of only three women to be so honored.

In St. Catherine's life we see how God's love and grace can empower us to achieve the unexpected.

The Feast of St. Catherine of Siena is celebrated on April 29.