RBWords

     One of the greatest figures in the Dominican Hall of Fame was not a friar, nun or apostolic sister.  She was a lay person who joined a Dominican-sponsored group of women who were dedicated to works of charity.  They were called the "Mantellate" from the head scarves  they wore.  Initially they were not happy about her joining because she was very young and they were mostly widows in what would have been considered old age in the 14th century!  They were afraid she would get married and leave in short order!  She joined them after years of seclusion in a small cell in the family home.  She had undergone a vision that told her to become active in caring for the poor.  Well....the poor might have included the state of the church at that time.  It definitely included those who suffered as a result of the continued outbreaks of the Black Death which decimated European population.  The pope was living in "captivity" in Avignon, France.  Hope for the reform of the church was sliml  Yet this one woman became not only a servant of the poor, but a diplomat and a mystic.  Her Dialogues is one of the spiritual classics of the Western Church.  Her stubborn determination in all that she did was based on her unshakeable conviction of the call she had received, and she lived it in accord with the words from today's gospel quoted above: ,,,(N)o slave is greater than his master nor any messenger greater than the one who sent him.  If you understand this, blessed are you if you do it.

     Catherine's efforts were not all successful!  She did have an influence on the decision of the pope to return to Rome.  but her diplomatic efforts to reconcile warring city-states in Italy were, at best, partially successful.  These efforts capture attention (e.g. B. Tuchman's rather savage portrait of her in A DISTANT MIRROR) but leave out her care for the sick and poor and her extraordinary relationship to Christ, "the sweet truth."  We Dominicans rightly celebrate her as one of our greatest preaching heroes.  AMEN