4/29 St. Catherine of Sienna Feast Day

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St. Catherine of Sienna is Patron of Italy, and one of the greatest of Christian mystics.  She began to have mystical experiences at the age of six. She was a Dominican tertiary, and beginning when she was 16, she experienced visions of Christ, Mary, and the Saints interspersed with diabolical visions and periods of spiritual aridity.  She ministered to the ill and condemned prisoners, and was acclaimed for her holiness and abilities as a peacemaker.  St. Catherine received the invisible stigmata, which was clearly apparent at the time of her death, and she has been declared a Doctor of the Church.

 On October 16, 1888, in the presence of the Blessed Virgin and of St. Catherine of Siena, Luisa received a mystical ring from Jesus as a sign of their union.  St. Catherine of Siena assisted at Luisa’s Mystical Wedding by encouraging her, as Luisa wrote in the Book of Heaven, Volume 1:

“The morning of the aforesaid day, Jesus made Himself seen again—all affable, sweet, and majestic—together with His Most Holy Mother and St. Catherine.  First a hymn was sung by the Angels; St. Catherine assisted me, my Mama took my hand, and Jesus put a ring on my finger.  Then we embraced each other and He kissed me, and so also did my Mama . . .”

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