SIGRID UNDSET
Age Range: 14 and up
Catherine of Siena is a remarkable and well-written biography of a famous doctor of the church Saint Catherine of Siena. The book starts with information about her parents and family and then goes right into her birth and life as a child. All people including the not holy and non Catholic admired Saint Catherine for her holiness and piousness. As she grows older and becomes a third-order Dominican, Catherine is called by God to help her people to go back to the Catholic faith. Saint Catherine believes that to achieve her goal, the Pope must return to Rome, who was living in France at the time. Catherine of Siena was an inspiration to all (men, women, and children) through her sacrifice, prayer, and wisdom, and she was constantly being called upon to make allies of enemies and help the poor and sick. Throughout their book, there are details and information about the time Catherine lived in, the political views, and the troubles in the Catholic Church.
Catherine of Siena is the extraordinary true story of one of the greatest Saints of all time, St. Catherine of Siena. This beautiful, holy, and pious Saint lived her life in sacrifice and prayer and is now one of my favorite Saints!! The story is well written and powerful to the point that I don't think my review can do it justice. St. Catherine is another example of what a true woman living in the presence of God looks like. Her ways of sacrifice were so extreme that Catherine of Siena only slept for 30 minutes a day so she could have more prayer time with Jesus, and Catherine got to a point where she could only eat the Host or she would become gravely ill. She secretly bore all of the signs of the stigmata, but they were only visible to the world about her death at the age of 33 (by the way, that is the same age Jesus died)!
Saint Catherine wanted to live the life of a hermit, spending her days praying and meditating, but Our Lord had different plans for her. St. Catherine ended up being one of the most active Saints politically in the Catholic church, writing and talking to the Pope, many great Royals, Nobles, and the laity. She performed many miracles and exorcisms and always gave glory to God! I heard about St. Catherine of Siena, but I didn't know much about her, so I was so exhilarated when I read this book! Though there is some violence and torture, I recommend Catherine of Siena to all people of all ages so they can learn what a holy and pious life should look like by a great Saint!
Things to Mention: St. Catherine does some strong and hard penance on herself, but none of it is gory. Some of it includes wiping her back when she was a child and some other things that aren't that bad so that I won't mention so I don't spoil the story. Catherine sees the devil and gets tempted, and she performs some exorcisms. Catherine could see into people's souls and knew what their sins were; the worst soul she saw was of a woman who was the mistress of a priest but pretended to be holy. There is talk of people dying and being tortured.
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