Paperback: The Dialogue of Saint Catherine of Siena (1907) was dictated by herself, while in a state of ecstasy, to her secretaries, and completed in the year of our Lord 1370, together with an account of her death by an eye-witness.
The book is translated from the original Italian by Algar Thorold in 1907.
The contents of the book comprises
A Treatise of Divine Providence
A Treatise of Discretion
A Treatise of Prayer
A Treatise of Obedience
The Dialogue takes the form of a conversation between God and Saint Catherine of Siena covering four subjects. The treatise on divine providence explains the connection between love and suffering, emphasizing that God wants only our love and the service we give to our neighbours. The treatise on discretion introduces the metaphor of the Bridge from earth to heaven. The treatise on prayer gives instructions for the progress from vocal to mental prayer, and describes the higher degrees of prayer. The treatise on obedience covers the necessity and rewards of obedience.
Catherine of Siena was a third order Dominican in fourteenth-century Tuscany. As a young adult, she devoted herself to prayer, fasting, and mortifications. After this period of solitude, with its accompanying ecstatic visions, she went out into the world to care for the sick and the poor.
Catherine also worked to bring peace and unity among Christians. She was canonized by Pope Pius II and declared a Doctor of the Church by Pope Paul VI.
"The soul cannot live without love," God tells Saint Catherine, "but always wants to love something, because she is made of love, and by love I created her."
About Saint Catherine of Siena: St Catherine of Siena, original name Caterina Benincasa, (born 25 March 1347, Siena, Tuscany and died 29 April 1380, Rome; canonized 1461; feast day April 29), was a Dominican tertiary, mystic, and one of the patron saints of Italy. She was declared a doctor of the church in 1970 and a patron saint of Europe in 1999.
Catherine became a tertiary (a member of a monastic third order who takes simple vows and may remain outside a convent or monastery) of the Dominican order (1363), joining the Sisters of Penitence of St Dominic in Siena. She rapidly gained a wide reputation for her holiness and her severe asceticism. When the rebellious city of Florence was placed under an interdict by Pope Gregory XI (1376), Catherine determined to take public action for peace within the church and Italy and to encourage a Crusade against the Muslims. She went as an unofficial mediator to Avignon with her confessor and biographer Raymond of Capua. Her mission failed, and she was virtually ignored by the pope, but while at Avignon she promoted her plans for a Crusade.
It became clear to her that the return of Pope Gregory XI to Rome from Avignon - an idea that she did not initiate and had not strongly encouraged - was the only way to bring peace to Italy. Catherine left for Tuscany the day after Gregory set out for Rome (1376). At his request she went to Florence (1378) and was there during the Ciompi Revolt in June. After a short final stay in Siena, during which she completed The Dialogue (begun the previous year), she went to Rome in November, probably at the invitation of Pope Urban VI, whom she helped in reorganizing the church. From Rome she sent out letters and exhortations to gain support for Urban; as one of her last efforts, she tried to win back Queen Joan I of Naples to obedience to Urban, who had excommunicated the queen for supporting the antipope Clement VII.
Catherine’s writings, all of which were dictated, include about 380 letters, 26 prayers, and the 4 treatises of Il libro della divina dottrina, better known as the The Dialogue, (c1475). The record of her ecstatic experiences in The Dialogue illustrates her doctrine of the “inner cell” of the knowledge of God and of self into which she withdrew. A complete edition of Catherine’s works, together with her biography by Raymond, was published in Siena (1707–21).
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