God of life ------ have mercy on us.

God of mystics - have mercy on us.

God of saints --- have mercy on us.

Catherine of Siena, Italy ---------------------------------------pray for us.

Catherine of Siena, youngest of 25 children ---------------pray for us.

Catherine of Siena, daughter of a mercantile family ----pray for us.

Catherine of Siena, spiritually directed by Dominican friars -

Catherine of Siena, minister to the ill in hospitals -

Catherine of Siena, minister to condemned prisoners -

Catherine of Siena, care giver to lepers -

Catherine of Siena, care giver to cancer patients -

Catherine of Siena, social service advocate -

Catherine of Siena, friend of widows -

Catherine of Siena, teacher of God -

Mystic Catherine who fasted from food & sleep --------------------------inspire us.

Mystic Catherine who became a Dominican at sixteen -----------------inspire us.

Mystic Catherine who learned to read at age twenty --------------------inspire us.

Mystic Catherine who learned to write at age thirty -

Mystic Catherine who aided the spiritually troubled -

Mystic Catherine who preached a crusade against the Turks -

Mystic Catherine who stirred religious revivals -

Mystic Catherine who attempted to reform the clergy -

Mystic Catherine who begged the pope to return from Avignon to Rome -

Mystic Catherine who was gifted as a peacemaker -

St. Catherine, acclaimed for her holiness

- nurture our call to holiness

St. Catherine, blessed with supernatural visions

- help us to see God

St. Catherine, author of The Dialogue

- teach us how to talk with God

St. Catherine, receiver of the stigmata

- help us bear our sufferings for God

St. Catherine, woman, poet, mystic

- surprise us with gifts to praise God

St. Catherine, victim of a paralytic stroke

- may all victims be our hope

St. Catherine, died at age 33 in 1380

- may all the dead rest in peace

St. Catherine, canonized a saint in 1462

- may sanctity be valued

St. Catherine, named patroness of Italy in 1939

- intercede for all to God

St. Catherine, declared a Doctor of the Church in 1970

- praise God for your life of service.


Let us pray,
Loving God, in St. Catherine of Siena you created a woman whose gifts renewed the Church and gave you glory. May she be a model of community service, gospel hope and Christian mysticism for people of the 21st century who seek to live and promote a culture of life for heaven's sake. We pray through Jesus Christ who is our life today and everyday, now and forevermore. Amen.