Historical Background
What reached Europe in the same year that St. Catherine was born in 1347?
The Plague
When Catherine was born the pope was residing in Avignon in what country?
France
When the French Cardinals decided they didn't like Pope Urban they began to try to convince people he wasn't the true pope. Catherine wrote to two of the saying, "I hear that discord has broken out between Christ on earth and his followers... I solemnly entreat you by the Precious Blood that has redeemed you, do not separate from your Head... what misery! All the rest seems but a straw, a mere shadow, compared to the danger of ______"
schism
A young man named Niccoli di Toldi had been sentenced to death for a hasty word spoken against the state, had never practiced his faith, and never even made First Communion. A priest told Catherine he was half-mad with rage, so she stayed with him, comforting him so he could receive Confession, Holy Communion, and stayed with him until his death when this happened.
She caught his head in her hands and saw his soul enter heaven.
St. Catherine was what age when she died?
33
During the life of St. Catherine different families were constantly feuding. What is feuding?
warring/ fighting
It was a great sadness for the people of Rome and Italy to have the pope gone, and Dante, the famous writer wrote to the Cardinals, "You, the Chiefs of the Church Militant, have neglected to guide the chariot of the Bride of the Crucified One..." What is the Church Militant?
The members of the Catholic Church/ the faithful on earth.
St. Catherine did not like when people complained too much about the popes, even when they were doing wrong things. In fact she said, "He who rebels against the Church is a rotten _______".
member
A demoniac who was attacking people and biting anyone near him was tied up and was brought to a house where she was staying, and what happened when she prayed over him?
He got up and ate with them.
Who wept bitterly at her side until she died?
Her mother, Monna Lappa
The 1300s, when St. Catherine was born is what century?
The 14th Century
Gregory XI was pope when Catherine started to write to convince him to move the papacy back to Rome, but he was weak and irresolute in character. What does irresolute mean?
wishy-washy, inconstant, weak
St. Catherine wrote, "So it is with the soul that loves virtue. The beginnings are bitter but the waters of grace will draw out the bitterness and it is filled with the strength of perseverance while it is preserved in the honey of patience mingled with humility." to a pope when she gave him a gift of what?
oranges preserved in sugar
Even though she was but an unlearned girl, she was chosen as _______ to broker peace.
ambassador
What began her last days was a vision she had while meditating on the painting by Giotto called ?
The Bark of Peter- Navicella
St. Catherine is patron saint of the country from which she came. What country is that?
Italy
When Catherine convinced Gregory to move the papacy back to Rome, one last person tried to convince Pope Gregory to remain in Avignon by laying himself down in the threshold so that the Pope had to force himself to step over him. Who did that?
The pope's own father, Count Guillaume de Beaufort
When Catherine lost brothers, a sister, and several nieces and nephews to the plague, she prepared their bodies for burial and said, "these at least, I _____ _____ _______"
shall not lose
She was given by the Catholic Church something which is given to saints recognized as having made a significant contribution to theology or doctrine through their research, study, or writing. As of 2022, the Catholic Church has named 37 of them.
Doctor of the Church
What did she see in the vision in front of the painting- feel?
Before Catherine's birth England and France had entered a famous war that was called ______ because it lasted around a century.
The Hundred's Year War
Eventually, Pope Gregory did move the papacy back to Rome, but after his death more troubles came in the form of what horrible period of Church history?
The Great Schism
To whom was she writing when she said, "Dearest Mother in Christ sweet Jesus, I, Catherine, servant and slave of the servants of Jesus Christ, write to you in His Precious Blood, with desire to see you compassionate to your own soul and body... Fear, fear God, and place Him before your eyes, and think that God sees you, and His justice wills that every fault be punished and every good rewarded.. be merciful to yourself.
Queen Joanna of Naples
She carried the marks of Christ in her body, which are called what?
The stigmata
The head/ main church of the Domincans in Rome