Saint Catherine of Siena

Saint Catherine of Siena - The Story of the Girl Who Saw Saints in the Sky (LF)
By Mary Fabyan Windeatt

The story of the Girl Who Saw Saints in the Sky.

Ages 10+

"Oh, but I must hurry!" thought young Catherine very early one morning as she picked up a loaf of bread and a jug of water from the kitchen. "No one must suspect anything:"

Catherine had made up her mind to run away. She wanted to become a hermit in a cave so she could pray and think about God all day long. Catherine slipped out the door and into the court-yard, then out into the cobbled street, then out beyond the city gates.

Farther and farther she walked. Several hours went by. The countryside was growing wilder and stranger. "I am miles and miles away from home now,' said Catherine to herself.

Suddenly, there it was! A beautiful cave! It looked like the perfect place. Catherine was overjoyed.

But was Catherine really old enough to be a hermit? And wouldn't her father come looking for her to take her home? Most of all, was it really God's will for her to be a hermit?

This book gives the answers. It also tells how Catherine cut off her hair, how she cared for a rude old woman, how she saved her dear father from Purgatory, and how she advised the Holy Father himself. All in all, this is the wonderful story of how little Catherine became one of the very greatest saints in the Catholic Church.

Lay Siege to Heaven By Louis de Wohl (BCCLS)

For teens to adults.
Louis deWohl devotes his considerable talents to an interpretation of one of the most unusual women of all time, St. Catherine of Siena. The daughter of a prosperous dyer in fourteenth-century Siena, Catherine never forgot the mystical experience of her extreme youth; at that time she devoted herself to Christ. It was, however, a shock to her family when, refusing marriage, she insisted on giving her life totally to God.
Her career was extraordinary. In that confused and dangerous era of history, the Pope was living at Avignon: Catherine persuaded him to return to Rome. The City-States of Italy were at war with each other: Catherine subdued them. There was pestilence: Catherine served and saved. She performed miracles, she received the stigmata, she drew about her a crowd of devoted men and women.

A saint who would not let the Lord God alone, she really did lay siege to heaven - and changed the face of her world. This novel, which is also a vivid biography, brings Catherine of Siena to life in a remarkable way. She lives on every page.

Saint Catherine of Siena
By A. Forbes

Suitable for teens and older.
A short, popular biography of the Saint who cut her long beautiful hair, lived on the Eucharist alone, convinced the Pope to leave Avignon and return to Rome, converted thousands, and received from the Heavenly Father a book of dialogues.

Catherine of Siena / Giuliana Cavallini. (BCCLS)
London ; New York : Geoffrey Chapman, 1998.

Catherine of Siena (BCCLS)

by Sigrid Undset ; translated by Kate Austin-Lund.

The Dialogue of St. Catherine Of Siena
By St. Catherine Of Siena Dictated by St. Catherine while in ecstasy and speaking with God. One of the great literary treasures of the Church. For this work and her letters, St. Catherine was named a Doctor of the Church. A classic. Impr. 344 pgs, PB

This is the crowning spiritual work of the only woman other than Teresa of Avila to be granted the title of Doctor of the Roman Catholic Church. This volume was simply called "my book" by the fourteenth-century Italian saint. The aim of her book (one of the first books to see print in Spain, Germany, Italy, and England), says Dr. Noffke in her Foreword, was "the instruction and encouragement of all those whose spiritual welfare was her concern." Catherine was "a mystic whose plunge into God plunged her deep into the affairs of society, Church and the souls who came under her influence." Professor Noffke goes on to call The Dialogue "a great tapestry to which Catherine adds stitch upon stitch until she is satisfied that she has communicated all she can of what she has learned of the way of God." In this, the sixth centenary of the great Dominican's death, we live in a time so badly in need of her sense of institutional reform as flowing from Divine truth, love and charity. Dr. Noffke says: "In the opening pages of The Dialogue Catherine presents a series of questions or petitions to God the Father each of which receives a response and amplification. There is the magnificent symbolic portrayal of Christ as the bridge. There are specific discussions of discernment, tears (true and false spiritual emotion), truth, the sacramental heart ('mystic body') of the Church, divine providence, obedience…. It is not so much a treatise to be read as it is a conversation to be entered into with earnest leisure and leisurely earnest."

Catherine of Siena - A Biography By Anne B. Baldwin

The youngest in a family of twenty-five children, Saint Catherin of Siena is one of the most remarkable women the world has ever known. Despite the fact she was almost illiterate, her dictated treasury of spiritual insight has earned her the title "Doctor of the Church," the only woman besides Saint Teresa of Avila and Saint Therese of Lisieux to be so honored. After becoming a Dominican Tertiary at age sixteen, she devoted the rest of her life to caring for the poor, needy, and sick of Siena. Ignoring her own frail health, she found no illness too horrific, no sinner too unrepentent, no criminal too hardened for her to ignore. On the world scene, she almost singlehandedly convinced Pope Gregory XI to return the papcy to Rome after nearly three quartes of a century of exile in Avignon. Because of her intense prayer life and the ability to perform miracles, Saint Catherine of Siena became known as a woman filled with the Holy Spirit. Her spiritual intuition and wisdom span the centuries to inspire, motivate, and encourage Catholics today and in the years to come.

15 Days of Prayer - Saint Catherine of Siena
By Chantal Van Der Plancke and Andre Knockaert

Includes a brief biography, a guide to creating a format for prayer and retreat, 15 meditation sessions with focus points and reflection guides.

Life of St Catherine of Siena
By Blsd. Raymond of Capua

This is the classic life of St Catherine by her spiritual director. He tells of her only what he experienced firsthand, or of what he learned firsthand from her mother, her sisters, her family members and friends. An incredible life, told simply and straightforwardly, without embellishment and without dodging her many miracles, and miraculous conversions. This book puts you squarely in the presence of one of Holy Mother Church's greatest saints. Imprimatur.

St. Catherine of Siena
By Alice Curtayne

One of the greatest, most interesting, most influential and most popular saints in Church history. She was a stigmatist, miracle-worker, Doctor of the Church, Patroness of Italy, she brought the Papacy back to Rome from France, lived many years without eating, and brought thousands of souls to Christ, yet she died at only 33--an amazing story! 288 pgs, PB

Three ways of love. (BCCLS)

Keyes, Frances Parkinson, 1885-1970.

Agnes, Saint, Martyr.
Frances, of Rome, Saint, 1384-1440.
Catherine, of Siena, Saint, 1347-1380.
Christian saints--Italy.

St. Catherine of Siena - Growing in Love (CDs) By Ralph Martin
Throughout the history of the Church, God has raised up men and women to boldly proclaim the Gospel message of salvation and communicate its truths to others. These people-often times uneducated yet devout believers-lived intense lives of prayer and penance and devoted themselves completely to the service of Christ and His Church. By their inspiring words and heroic witness, they made an unbelievable impact on others and inspired fellow Christians to greater lives of holiness.
God's Instrument of Healing, Unity & Peace

In this exciting six-CD series, St. Catherine of Siena: Growing in Love, Ralph Martin will introduce you to one such special person. The twenty-third of twenty-four children, St. Catherine exerted incredible influence on the Church of the Fourteenth Century. And although she was only a laywoman, God made use of St. Catherine to persuade Pope Gregory XI to leave France and return to Rome, and also to direct kings and queens to use their authority for the good of others.