St. Catherine of Siena and Humility
How does St. Catherine of Siena, spiritual mother of Dominicans and Doctor of the Church, help us to walk in humility?
Caterina di Jacopo di Benincasa (1347–1380) was born in Siena, Italy (the 24th of 25 children!).1 She spent most of her life with her family, but as a teenager became a member of the Mantellates, a lay organization of Catholic women closely associated with the Dominican Order of Friars Preachers.2 She sought truth from a young age through her spiritual marriage to Christ3 and in serving others through her prayers and activities. She loved the Church because it was the Bride of Christ,4 and she dedicated her life to it.5
Bl. Raymond of Capua, Catherine’s confessor, recounts Catherine’s description of God speaking these words: “You are she who is not, and I am he who is.”6
Simply acknowledging that one is not God is to open up one’s life to God who created and sustains us. St. Catherine states that this first step of knowing one’s identity leads to greater knowledge of God, and thus to greater love of God. Since the soul is made in the image of God, one gains knowledge of God through it.7 As we grow in contemplating God within us, we come to love Him more and to grow in charity. This process, beginning with self-knowledge, brings humility: a true knowledge of one’s true identity. St. Catherine teaches us to practice humility as it will grow our charity.8
When I taught fourth-grade catechism, I had the children write on note cards: on one side “I am humble” and on the other side “I need God.” The need for this lesson continues.
Near the end of his life, St. Dominic told his brethren: “Have charity, preserve humility, and possess voluntary poverty.”9 In bringing souls to Christ, in our families, in the workplace, in church, and in society, we must guard humility so as not to be lacking in the eternal virtue of charity.10
St. Catherine of Siena, help us to know ourselves and to know and love our God so as to walk in humility. Amen.
1 John Paul II, Amantissima Providentia, Apostolic Letter for the Sixth Centenary of the Death of Saint Catherine of Siena, no.1, April 29, 1980. Vatican source
2 Benedict XVI, “Saint Catherine of Siena,” General Audience, November 24, 2010. Vatican source
3 John Paul II, Spes Aedificandi, no. 6, October 1, 1999. Vatican source
4 Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2nd ed., no. 796. Vatican source
5 John Paul II, Spes Aedificandi, no. 7, October 1, 1999. Vatican source
6 Raymond of Capua, The Life of St. Catherine of Siena, trans. George Lamb (Gastonia, NC: TAN Books, 2009), 62.
7 Catherine of Siena, The Dialogue, ch. 13. Online text
8 Catherine of Siena, “To Gregory XI” (T185), in Saint Catherine of Siena as Seen in Her Letters, trans. and ed. Vida D. Scudder (London: J. M. Dent & Co.; New York: E. P. Dutton & Co., 1905). Online text
9 Blessed Jordan of Saxony, Libellus of the Order of Friars Preachers, no. 92.
10 1 Corinthians 13:8, 13, RSV-2CE.
Julie Krogmeier, O.P. is a member of the St. Mary Magdalene fraternity in West Lafayette, Indiana, and is currently serving as President.
"I think I can go way back in time to find my call to Dominican life by starting with the grace received at my baptism by a Dominican priest in 1963 at St. Vincent Ferrer Church in River Forest, Illinois. I spent 8 years at the parish school, celebrating all the sacraments through the consecrated hands of Dominican priests, and later attended nearby Dominican University (formerly Rosary College.) Jim and I were married at SVF in 1989. In 2014 I was invited to attend a lay Dominican fraternity meeting in West Lafayette, Indiana and was finally professed in 2020. It was a homecoming as well as a call to mission. Flowing from the peace of obedience to our rule and the gift of the Holy Spirit’s fire of charity which sustain me, I hope to continue to be at the service of the gospel of Jesus. Thanks be to God."
