Triduum in Honor of St. Catherine of Siena

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Leader: Let us prepare ourselves to take part in this Triduum in honor of the seraphic doctor Catherine of Siena, patron and model of the Lay Dominicans, and ask God’s forgiveness in Catherine’s own words:

All: O eternal Father, I well know that mercy is proper to you; hence you cannot refuse it to anyone who asks it of you. Your servants are knocking at the door of your Truth, because in Truth, your only-begotten Son, they have come to know the unutterable love you have for mankind and so they are knocking at your door. The fire of your charity must not, nor can it restrain itself from opening to those who knock with perseverance. Open, then, unlock and break the hardened hearts of your creatures; if not for the sake of those who knock, do it because of your infinite goodness. Amen. (Dialogue, 134)

Leader: Cancel out our sins today, O true God, and cleanse our souls with the blood which your only begotten Son shed for us; so that, dead to ourselves, living for him, we may exchange our passion for his with bright face and undivided soul.

All: Amen. (Prayer VI)

Leader: Prayer for everyday:

All: O God, who sends the light of truth to those who are in error in order to bring them back to the paths of truth and justice, dispel the darkness of our errors and let the dawn of resplendent grace shine forth in our lives. Lord, that we may see our faults, detest our sins, and atone for our offenses, so that, reinstated once more in your friendship and grace, we may be worthy to participate in your Passion and reproduce in our lives the sorrowful and loving mysteries of your life.

Leader: Prayer for the 1^st Day/ 2^nd Day/ 3^rd Day:

All:  1^st Day: We beseech you, O Almighty God, to let the splendor of faith shine over us so that it may shed its light over our frailties, our falls, our works, and our anxieties. Grant to the intercession of St. Catherine of Siena, our sweet mother, that in the frequent fluctuations of fortune, in the tempest of temptations, in the fears of sickness and poverty that cloud and darken our lives, we may see in them a design of love and may rest confidently in the security of your promises. With heartfelt and hopeful prayer we implore her protection and with her guidance and assistance, we propose to traverse the road to heaven, to promote the interests of virtue in our life, to conquer the enemies of our soul, to overcome all hardships and to sincerely aspire for sanctity.

2^nd Day: Most sweet Jesus, who imprinted your five wounds on the virginal body of St Catherine and fed her in Holy Communion with the best in life through your Body and Blood, humbly we beseech you to cleanse us from our sins, to adorn us with your virtues and merits, and to give the grace to receive this Sacrament with humility and reverence, in fear and in trembling, with sorrow and contrition for our sins, with the resolution to avoid sin in the future, and with the love and sanctity befitting such a high mystery.

3^rd Day: Apostolic St. Catherine of Siena, who, having professed in the Third Order of St. Dominic, followed the footsteps of such a sublime Father in the work of salvation of souls and for the exaltation of our Mother the Church; who, at the end, when you breathed forth your last sigh, after exceptional tortures, accepted it for Christian unity and for the liberty of the Roman Pontiff, obtain for us from the Lord, a similar zeal, which will animate us to progress everyday in our personal sanctification and encourage us to sacrifice ourselves for the spiritual welfare of our fellowmen.

Leader: Now ask, through the intercession of St. Catherine, the special favor you wish to obtain from this Triduum. (Pause)

Leader: Let us praise the Blessed Trinity for the prerogatives granted to St. Catherine of Siena.

All: Praised be God the Father for the power he communicated to St. Catherine to defend the Catholic Church. Our Father… Hail Mary… Glory Be…

Praised be God the Son, for the gifts he bestowed upon St. Catherine with the imprinting of his five wounds. Our Father… Hail Mary… Glory Be…

Praised be God the Holy Spirit for the charity with which he distinguished St. Catherine among the souls he loved best. Our Father… Hail Mary… Glory Be…

Leader: Final Prayer:

All: Eternal Majesty! Almighty God! We cry to you, our God and our love, praying that in your great pity you show mercy unto the world. Grant unto it light to acknowledge him, who is your Vicar, in the purity of faith; and do also shed light unto him, that all the world may follow him. And since you have chosen him to be your Vicar, give him wisdom and a courageous heart, and fill him with holy humility. Never will we cease to knock at the door of your mercy, praying you to exalt him and protect him, and to manifest in him your strength. Let his heart be filled with undaunted courage and let your charity, your purity, and your sovereign wisdom shine forth in all his acts that thus he may draw after him the entire world. Amen.

Source:

Fr. Eladio Neira, O.P. Lay Dominicans' Manual. San Juan, Metro Manila: Life Today Publications, 1989

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.