Saint Catherine of Siena

Saint Catherine of Siena was born in 1347 in Siena, Italy. She was the youngest child of a very large family and grew up an intelligent, cheerful, and intensely religious person. At age six, she began having mystical experiences, seeing guardian angels as clearly as the people they protected. Saint Catherine was very in touch with God, even as a child.

When Saint Catherine was twelve, her parents thought of engaging her in marriage. She wanted to devote her life to God, not to her husband. She disappointed her parents by cutting off her hair as a protest, thinking it would lessen her appearance and not attract a husband. She doubled her prayers, knowing that only God to protect her from marriage. When she was eighteen, she entered the Dominican Third Order and spent the next three years in seclusion, prayer, and austerity. These two experiences were the most important character decisions in Saint Catherine’s life.

Saint Catherine’s values influenced her character decisions. She valued God’s unconditional love over anything else. She valued service and served the sick and the poor liberally. Saint Catherine also valued solitude, because she lived for three years only involving herself with God. She valued virginity because as a child, she consecrated her virginity to God by a prayer vow. A value of Saint Catherine’s that I admire is solitude, because I don’t think I would be able to live like she did for three years. Some