St. Catherine of Siena (1347–1380), a Dominican laywoman who never learned to write until late in life, counseled popes, made peace between warring cities and is a Doctor of the Church and co-patroness of Europe. Her great book, the Dialogue, is a conversation between her soul and God, and it ends with one of the most beautiful prayers in Christian literature: her hymn to the Holy Trinity as “a deep Sea.” Below is that prayer in a public-domain translation, prayers to St. Catherine for the Church, for the courage to speak the truth and for the sick, Scripture and her life.
St. Catherine’s prayer to the Holy Trinity
From the closing prayer of the Dialogue, in the translation of Algar Thorold (1907):
Oh, eternal Trinity! oh Godhead! which Godhead gave value to the Blood of Thy Son, Thou, oh eternal Trinity, art a deep Sea, into which the deeper I enter the more I find, and the more I find the more I seek; the soul cannot be satiated in Thy abyss, for she continually hungers after Thee, the eternal Trinity, desiring to see Thee with light in Thy light. As the hart desires the spring of living water, so my soul desires to leave the prison of this dark body and see Thee in truth. How long, oh Eternal Trinity, fire and abyss of love, will Thy face be hidden from my eyes? Melt at once the cloud of my body. The knowledge which Thou hast given me of Thyself in Thy truth, constrains me to long to abandon the heaviness of my body, and to give my life for the glory and praise of Thy Name, for I have tasted and seen with the light of the intellect in Thy light, the abyss of Thee — the eternal Trinity, and the beauty of Thy creature, for, looking at myself in Thee, I saw myself to be Thy image, my life being given me by Thy power, oh eternal Father, and Thy wisdom, which belongs to Thy only-begotten Son, shining in my intellect and my will, being one with Thy Holy Spirit, who proceeds from Thee and Thy Son, by whom I am able to love Thee.
The prayer continues with the words for which it is best known, calling God “a Sea Profound” and “the fire which ever burns without being consumed.” Pray it slowly, perhaps a sentence at a time, before the Blessed Sacrament or after Holy Communion.
The thirst she describes echoes the Psalm:
As the hart panteth after the fountains of water; so my soul panteth after thee, O God.
My soul hath thirsted after the strong living God; when shall I come and appear before the face of God?
A prayer to St. Catherine of Siena
Written for this page:
St. Catherine of Siena, you loved Christ and his Church with a burning heart.
You were not afraid to speak the truth, even to popes and princes,
and you spent yourself for peace and for the poor.
Pray for me, that I may love God above all things
and serve my neighbor with courage and humility.
Obtain for me the grace I ask: (name your intention). Amen.
A prayer for the Church and the Pope
St. Catherine, you called the Pope back to Rome
and gave your life for the unity of the Church.
Pray for our Holy Father, our bishops and our priests,
that they may be holy, wise and courageous.
Heal the divisions in the Church, and renew us in faith and charity. Amen.
This prayer was written for this page. See the prayer for priests.
A prayer for courage to speak the truth
St. Catherine, give me a share of your courage.
When I am afraid to speak up for what is right,
help me to speak the truth with love, without fear and without harshness,
and to trust that God will do the rest. Amen.
This prayer was written for this page.
A prayer for the sick and for nurses
Catherine nursed the sick through the plague in Siena, caring for patients others had abandoned. She is a patron of nurses and of the sick.
St. Catherine, you cared for the sick when others fled.
Pray for (name) in this illness,
and for all nurses and caregivers who serve the suffering.
Give them strength, tenderness and patience. Amen.
This prayer was written for this page. See the prayer for the sick.
“Set the world on fire”
The popular saying “Be who God meant you to be and you will set the world on fire” is a modern paraphrase of a line from one of St. Catherine’s letters. Writing to a young disciple, she told him that if he were what he ought to be, he would set all Italy on fire. Her point was that holiness is not about doing extraordinary things, but about becoming fully the person God created us to be.
The life of St. Catherine of Siena
Caterina Benincasa was born in Siena, Italy, in 1347, the twenty-fourth of twenty-five children of a wool dyer, Jacopo Benincasa, and his wife Lapa. At the age of six she had a vision of Christ, and soon afterward she privately vowed her virginity to God. Her family wanted her to marry, but she cut off her hair and persevered, and at about sixteen she was received among the Dominican Mantellate, laywomen who wore the Dominican habit and lived at home.
After three years of silence and prayer in her room, she understood that God was sending her out into the world. She cared for the sick and the poor, visited prisoners, and gathered a circle of disciples, priests and lay people, who called her “Mamma.” She dictated hundreds of letters to popes, kings, mercenaries and ordinary people. She worked to make peace between Florence and the Pope, and in 1376 she went to Avignon and urged Pope Gregory XI to return the papacy to Rome, which he did in 1377. In 1375 she received the stigmata, which at her request remained invisible during her life.
In 1378 she dictated the Dialogue. When the Great Western Schism divided the Church, she moved to Rome to support Pope Urban VI and offered her life for the Church. She died in Rome on April 29, 1380, at the age of thirty-three. Her body rests in the Basilica of Santa Maria sopra Minerva in Rome, and her head is venerated in the Basilica of San Domenico in Siena.
She was canonized in 1461 by Pope Pius II. In 1939 Pope Pius XII named her, with St. Francis of Assisi, a patron of Italy; in 1970 Pope St. Paul VI declared her a Doctor of the Church; and in 1999 Pope St. John Paul II named her a co-patroness of Europe.
Feast day and patronage
- Feast day: April 29.
- Patron of: Italy, Europe, nurses, the sick, and protection against fire.
- Symbols: the Dominican habit, a lily, a crown of thorns, a book, a heart, and the stigmata.
Frequently asked questions
What is St. Catherine of Siena the patron saint of?
Italy and Europe, nurses and the sick, and protection against fire.
What did St. Catherine of Siena write?
The Dialogue, about 380 letters, and a collection of prayers taken down by her disciples during her last years.
Is St. Catherine of Siena a Doctor of the Church?
Yes. Pope St. Paul VI declared her a Doctor of the Church on October 4, 1970, a week after St. Teresa of Avila.
When is St. Catherine of Siena’s feast day?
April 29, the day of her death in 1380.
More prayers and saints
- St. Catherine of Alexandria (a different St. Catherine)
- St. Dominic prayer
- St. Teresa of Avila prayer
- Prayers to popular saints
- Trinity Sunday
- Prayers of the faithful for the Church
- Eucharistic adoration prayers
- Saint feast days
Texts and sources
- Prayer to the Trinity: The Dialogue of the Seraphic Virgin Catherine of Siena, translated by Algar Thorold, new and abridged edition (London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner, 1907), A Treatise of Prayer, public domain (archive.org).
- Scripture: Psalm 41:2–3 (42:2–3 in modern Bibles), Douay-Rheims Bible (Challoner), public domain.
- The other prayers were written for this page.