We celebrated the feast of our patron, St. Catherine of Siena, this past Wednesday and, as I reflected on her life, I also turned to our stained glass window in church for inspiration. Like so many of our stained glass windows, this one is filled with symbolism that teaches us about our patron saint. So, I would like to tell you about this window. First, however, allow me to offer you a brief biography of our patron saint; you may be surprised how much our time has in common with hers.
Catherine de Benincasa was born in 1347 in the town of Siena, the 24th and second-to-the-last child of her family. She was born in the middle of the Black Death, a terrible plague that began in 1333 and swept through Eurasia and northern Africa, killing 100 to 200 million people. Half of her siblings, including her twin sister, did not survive childhood. From a very early age, Catherine began to have visions and at the age of seven, Catherine consecrated herself to Christ. When she was sixteen, she became a Third Order Dominican. She experienced a mystical marriage to our Lord when she was 21 and began her service to the poor and sick, often giving away her family’s food and clothes without asking for it. Understandably, her family was not pleased with her behavior but her charismatic personality won them over. In fact, she began to gather followers, forming a wonderful spiritual community united by the bonds of divine love. When she was 23 years old, she had another series of mystical experiences, including visions of Heaven, Hell and Purgatory. She also received a command from God to enter the public life and began to write letters to people around the world, including popes and princes. Since she could hardly read and write herself, she had a secretary write her letters to people with influence and power, calling them to peace and justice at a time of great civic and ecclesiastical discord and injustice. She wrote more than 400 letters over the course of her life. Her letters to Pope Gregory XI may have helped to influence him to return to Rome. You will recall that seven popes had lived to Avignon, France from 1307 until 1377 due to political wrangling, leading to much confusion and discord in the Church.
Catherine had long prayed to share in Christ’s suffering and, at the age of 28, she received the stigmata; at her request, it remained hidden. The next year, Pope Urban VI summoned her to Rome to help heal the rift that had developed when an anti-pope was elected in Avignon, resulting in two popes – the Great Western Schism, as it is called. It is at this time that Catherine wrote her famous Dialogue. Finally, on 29 April 1380, after a prolonged illness which she endured with unusual joy and peace, she died at the age of 33. She was canonized by Pope Pius II in 1461 and declared a doctor of the Church in 1970. Due to her many struggles with her health and her care for the sick, she is the patron saint of the sick and nurses; how appropriate for us at this time! She was a remarkable woman, strong in her faith and in her resolve to do God’s will, regardless of the difficulties entailed in doing so. Surviving a plague and calling on reform in the Church during one of its darker times, she is truly an inspiration for us today.
Now, allow me to offer some explanation of the stained glass window you will find in the eastern transept – next to her shrine – in our church. St. Catherine is clothed in the habit of Dominican nuns, a consecrated community of women. The black and white crest below her image belongs to the Dominican Order. The lilies depicted in the upper left and lower right corners are the heraldic badge of Siena, her home town. St. Catherine holds a stalk of lilies as a sign of her virginity. The book that she holds and the large feathered plume at her side symbolize her inspired writings which led her to be declared a doctor of the Church.
The golden wedding bands intertwined in the center of a purple cross recall her mystical marriage to our Lord and the two hearts in the lower left hand panel refers to the legend of her having changed hearts with Jesus so she could share in his agony and love for humanity’s salvation.
The red swirls that surround her evoke her invisible stigmata. The green cross to her left, held aloft by red, gold and purple wings symbolize the conferring of the stigmata; you will notice that her hands bear the stigmata.
To St. Catherine’s right, you will see a cracked papal tiara just above the Keys of St. Peter. These symbolize the divided papacy when popes resided for a time in Avignon and then when the election of two popes – one in Rome and the other in Avignon – caused such scandal in the Church.
The life of our patron, St. Catherine of Siena, is a great inspiration for us even today; a study of this beautiful stained glass window can help you to recognize the many aspects of her life. She dedicated herself to God, listened to his direction and accomplished great things for the building up of God’s kingdom. Let us pray to her, as patron saint of the sick and nurses, for her intercession as we struggle with our own plague, COVID-19. And, let us also ask her intercession to continue to heal the Church still struggling from the clergy sex abuse scandal. How blessed we are to have St. Catherine of Siena as our patron saint!