St. Catherine of Siena Catholic Church at 2750 E. Osceola Pkwy, PO BOX 450698, Kissimmee, FL 34745-0698 US - The Life of St. Catherine of Siena

     The life of Catherine of Siena unfolds in two periods: the one of a life almost hidden, that goes from her birth to her twentieth year, a period, one might say, of preparation within domestic walls at first, and then in the society of the humble Sienese Tertiaries until the moment in which she feels called by God to the apostolic life. The other period, of only thirteen years, is a continual expansion of the spirit, being shaped by goodness in works of zeal and charity: first in her own city and then in good of the nearby republics, and afterwards, of all Italy, and she ends in a rather striking apostolate for the benefit of the Church and of society: Siena, Florence, Avignon, and Rome are successively the theatre of this wonderful action, and Rome welcomes her last words and her last breath.

     When Nicholas Tommaseo called St. Catherine of Siena the greatest woman of Christianity, he agreed with the praise given to her by Cornelius a Lapide, who caller her the stupor and marvel of the centuries, because, among the women remembered from history (of which the greatest belong to the Christian age), there was no one who resembled her. This estimation is further enhanced if one recalls her humble origin, her education far from every study, and the level she attained as an illumined teacher, a powerful writer, an imcomparable orator, a conselor of princes and pontiff, and almost the arbitrator of the destiny of the Church of her time. And this rapid course was completed by Catherine in only a few years time to the admiration of all who knew her and the true enthusiasm of all those who were close to her.