St Catherine of Siena Prayers play online

St. Catherine of Siena, Doctor of the Church. She is one of the greatest female saints of the Catholic Church. She was born in 1347 in the Italian city of Siena. As a young girl the youngest of twenty-five children Catherine was a very joyful person. When she was six, she had vision of God and the saints that inspired her to persist in her vocation to join the Dominican sisters despite her parents wishes for her to marry as a young woman.

St. Catherine of Siena is best known for her influence on Gregory XI during a period that is known as the Babylonian Captivity or Avignon Papacy. During this time the Papacy had become highly politicized. Due to external political influence, Pope Clement V and the next seven popes lived in Avignon, France instead of the downtrodden city of Rome. As a result, the papacy lost a lot of respect including the respect of a Dominican sister, Catherine of Siena. Catherine was not afraid to stand up to the Pope or to let the many European leaders of her time know her mind. In 1376 she traveled to Avignon to convince the Pope to return to the Holy See in Rome and reform the curias abuse of power.

To encourage them to follow Gods will, this humble saint sent letters to many of her contemporaries, including popes and secular rulers. In fact, she was able to persuade Pope Gregory XI to return to Rome after the popes had resided at Avignon instead of Rome for almost 70 years.

This holy saint was a great lover of the Holy Eucharist; Pope Benedict XVI makes mention of this in his Apostolic Exhortation Sacramentum Caritatis. She loved to receive Jesus in Holy Communion.