Feast of the Stigmata of St. Catherine of Siena, April 3

St. Catherine receiving the Stigmata

Among the many supernatural privileges granted by Our Lord to His chosen spouse, Saint Catharine of Siena, one of the greatest was unquestionably the impression of the sacred Stigmata. This mysterious favour was granted to the Saint on the Fourth Sunday of Lent, April 1, A.D. 1375, in the little Church of Saint Christina at Pisa, to which city she had been sent by the Pope on an important embassy. Already, five years previously, whilst in her native city of Siena, Our Lord had vouchsafed to imprint on her the wound of the right hand, in token of having granted the prayer she had offered to Him on behalf of her Confessor, Father Thomas della Fonte, and others. This wound caused excruciating pain but was visible to no eyes except her own. We cannot better give the account of her reception of the five wounds than in her own words and those of Blessed Raymund of Capua, who had by that time become her Confessor. He had celebrated Mass and administered Holy Communion to the Saint and her companions, after which, as was usual with her, Catharine remained a long time in ecstasy. "We waited," says Blessed Raymund, "until she should recover her senses, hoping to receive some spiritual consolation from her; when suddenly we beheld her, who until then had been lying prostrate on the ground, rise a little, then kneel and extend her hands and arms. Her countenance appeared all on fire, and thus she remained for a long time perfectly motionless. Then, as though she had received a deadly wound, we saw her fall suddenly and a few moments later she came to herself. She immediately sent for me and said to me in a low tone, 'Father, I have to make known to you that, by the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ, I now bear His Sacred Stigmata in my body.' I replied that I had guessed as much from what I had observed during her ecstasy and asked her in what manner it had come to pass. She replied, saying, 'I beheld Our Lord fastened to His Cross coming down towards me, surrounded by a great and wonderful light. Then my soul was all ravished with the desire to go forth and meet its Creator, so that by the very force of my spirit, as you might see, my body was constrained to rise. Then there came down from the holes of His Blessed Wounds five rays as though of blood, which were directed towards the same parts of my body, namely, my hands, feet, and heart. I understood the mystery and cried out, saying, 'Ah! Lord God, I beseech Thee, let no signs of these holy marks appear outwardly to the eyes of men!' And, whilst I was yet speaking, those rays, that were before of a sanguine red, changed to a marvellous brightness; and so in the form of most pure light they rested upon those five parts of my body.' Then I asked her if no beam of light had reached her right side. She replied, 'No; it fell on the left side, and directly above the heart; for the ray of light that came from the right side of Our Lord did not strike me obliquely but directly.' Then I inquired if she felt any sensible pain in those places; on which, sighing deeply, she answered, 'I feel in those five places, but specially in my heart, so great and violent a pain, that, unless Almighty God be pleased to work a new miracle, I cannot live.'"


Blessed Raymund goes on to tell how he and her other disciples united in prayer that their spiritual Mother might be spared to them and how they implored her to join her prayers with theirs for this intention, and how, on the following Sunday, after the Saint had received Holy Communion, she regained strength and vigour.

During the lifetime of Saint Catharine the stigmata remained invisible, but after her death they were seen by several persons; and in the centre of the palm of her hand, now preserved as a sacred relic in the Convent of SS. Domenico e Sisto in Rome, there is an appearance as though all the substance of the hand under the skin had in that part been pierced or removed; so that, when a lighted candle is placed behind it, a spot of light becomes distinctly visible, shining as it were through the thin integument.

 

The Office of the Stigmata of Saint Catharine was first granted by Pope Benedict XIII. to the whole Order of Saint Dominic, and afterwards, at the request of the Dukes of Tuscany, was extended to every part of their dominions.


From the fact that April thus opens and closes with festivals of Saint Catharine, the custom has arisen amongst her clients of dedicating the whole month in a special manner to her by daily devotions in her honour.

Prayer

(As on the Feast of the Translation.)

O God, who didst grant to Blessed Catharine, adorned with an especial privilege of virginity and patience, to overcome the assaults of evil spirits and to stand unshaken in the love of Thy Holy Name, grant, we beseech Thee, that, after her example, treading under foot the wickedness of the world and overcoming the wiles of all our enemies, we may safely pass onward to Thy glory. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Source:

 

Fr. John Procter, O.P. Short Lives of the Dominican Saints. London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner, 1901.