April 29 2022 - St. Catherine of Siena and the Avignon Papacy

 St. Catherine’s incorrupt body is preserved in the beautiful gothic basilica of Santa Maria Sopra Minerva in Rome.  I visited her a few times in that amazing basilica, and had the honor of attending Mass on, this, her feast day, in a small chapel behind the sacristy of the basilica from which St. Catherine would make a daily pilgrimage to St. Peter’s Basilica to pray for the return of the Pope from Avignon.

Along with many holy faithful members of the Church at the time, the Dominican nun. Catherine was deeply concerned that for nearly 70 years, the Pope resided, not in Rome, but in the lavish palace of Avignon France. It seemed the Pope had abdicated his spiritual responsibilities for purely temporal ones.  St. Catherine wrote to the Pope and visited the Pope and pleaded with him to return to Rome for the spiritual good of the Church. She did penance, she prayed, and as I said she made this daily pilgrimage. The prayers and pleadings of the holy woman were heard by God. For, in 1377, Gregory XI’s heart was moved to return his Curia to Rome where it has rightly remained.

St. Catherine life was filled with extraordinary mystical phenomena such as visions and revelations, raptures, mystical marriage, and the stigmata, and also great works of charity: nursing the sick and comforting prisoners in jail. She received the holy stigmata on her hands, feet and heart.  Catherine, also lived many years, eating nothing, save the flesh and blood of Christ in the Eucharist.  

“Preach the Truth as if you had a million voices,” she said. “It is silence that kills the world.” What an important message as we contemplate our Easter mission to preach the risen Christ and to “speak the word of God with boldness”. 

In the Gospel for today, our Lord multiplies a few fragments of bread to feed a multitude. The Lord is able to take the meager fragments of our lives, offered to him, to accomplish miraculous things, like in the life of St. Catherine—the humble, holy third-order Dominican who moved the heart of the Pope.

Through the example and heavenly intercession of St. Catherine of Siena, may we put all the gifts God gives us into his service for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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Filled with Paschal joy, let us turn earnestly to God, to graciously hear our prayers and supplications.

For the shepherds of our souls, the pope, bishops, and clergy, that they may govern wisely the flock entrusted to them by the Good Shepherd, leading the Church in the increase in faith, hope, and love.

For the whole world, that it may truly know the peace of the Risen Christ.

That our parish may bear witness with great confidence to the Resurrection of Christ, and that the newly initiated hold fast to the faith they have received. 

For our brothers and sisters who suffer, that their sorrow may be turned to gladness through the Christian faith.

That all of our beloved dead and all the souls in purgatory may come to the glory of the Resurrection.

O God, you know that our life in this present age is subject to suffering and need, hear the desires of those who cry to you and receive the prayers of those who believe in you. Through Christ our lord.