Sunday, April 28, 2013

April 29th: St. Catherine of Siena, O.P., Doctor of the Church


The Dominican Third Order is the only Third Order to have produced a Doctor of the Church, and she is St. Catherine of Siena, whose feast is today.  She only lived to be 33 -- the age at which Christ died on the Cross -- but her sanctity was such that she served as a counsellor to Popes, and did much to heal the Great Western Schism.  She is the patroness, among other things, against miscarriages (she was the youngest of 24 children) and of the Dominican laity, who especially honor her on her feast day.

Supertradmum has provided an excellent compendium of posts of information and spiritual reflections about and by Catherine of Siena.  And here is the Litany of Catherine of Siena:

LORD have mercy on us,
Christ have mercy on us.
Lord have mercy on us.
Eternal Fountain of all being, have mercy on us.
Unspotted Mirror of God's Majesty, have mercy.
Love of the Father and of the Son, have mercy.
Sacred Trinity of Persons, in unity of essence, have mercy.
August Mary, tabernacle of God with men, pray for us.
Holy father Saint Dominic...
Saint Catherine of Sienna...
Saint Catherine, our holy Mother and Patroness...
Chaste Spouse of Jesus Christ...
Fervent lover of our Lord...
Faithful follower of the Cross...
Contemplative soul, instructed by the Holy Ghost...
Enemy of vanity...
Vanquisher of the evil one...
Pattern of obedience and docility...
Humble Catherine...
Rigidly austere...
Immaculate Catherine...
Most devout to the Blessed Sacrament...
Entirely devoted to the Sacred Heart of Jesus...
Lustre of Dominicanesses...
Heroically meek and patient...
Transcendently charitable...
Powerful in converting souls...
Mediatrix for sinners...
Angel of peace...
Guide in the interior life...
Replenished with eternal knowledge...
Filled with divine gifts...
Caught up to the Throne of the Divinity...
Following the Lamb whithersoever He goeth...
Encompassed with glory, and inebriated with the plenitude of the house of God...

Brightness of Eternal Light, Have mercy on us.
Teacher of St. Catherine, Have mercy on us.
Increated Beauty, rewarder of St. Catherine, Have mercy on us.

V. Pray for us, O blessed St. Catherine.
R. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

Let us pray.

O God, Who didst adorn blessed Catherine with a special privilege of purity and patience, and didst enable her to triumph over malignant spirits, and to persevere unshaken in the love of Thy Holy Name; grant, we beseech Thee, that by her example, contemning the world, and overcoming all its deceits, we may securely pass to the enjoyment of Thy glory. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

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