Catherine of Siena

I am impressed by Catherine. She died in 1380.  She was a laywoman who rejected the few paths that were open for young girls back then, marriage or the nunnery.  Staying single allowed her talents to be more fully manifested.  She was challenged by her parents when she did not marry young.  Her Mom had 25 kids and Catherine was #24.  She did not care for that path.  At first, she was made a servant in her own home.  Instead of whining and victimhood she developed an interior spiritual life to escape from the drudgery.  This led to a much more public career which she could pursue, since she was no man’s property.  She began to care for the poor and sick, but did not get sick herself.  At age 27, she saw her mission as wider.  Work to heal the world and the church.  She became a letter writer to powerful men, challenging them as to their duties to work for peace and unity.  She even wrote and then tried to visit the Pope who was living in France at the time, to return to Rome.  She dictated a book of her religious instincts.  She died young, but free of demands put upon her by her culture.  She is now one of the saintly patrons of Europe, one of three women.  Spunky!