I’ve begun a new (and free) Substack audio blog:
Oremus, Traditional Catholic Prayers for Souls Longing to Become Saints
I’m recording traditional prayers of our Faith—some of them known, but most treasures forgotten. My hope is to reintroduce these classics and reignite the fire of our Faith within souls hungry for the meat, rather than the milk, of Catholicism.
Recently I recorded one of my favorite prayers from St. Catherine of Siena, composed shorty before her death on April 29, 1380.
Watch the intro video:
Transcript:
This prayer of St. Catherine of Siena was prayed in January of 1380, which was very close to her death. She died on April 29th of that sameyear, and she was already very ill at the time that she composed this prayer.
Toward the end of her life, Caterina lost the use of her legs, yet she could still use her arms. Determined not to miss a single day in front of the Blessed Sacrament, Caterina crawled daily to St. Peter’s for Mass . The house in Rome where she lived—and died—is only about a mile from St. Peter’s; for those of us who have two healthy legs, that’s quite a pleasant walk.
But it’s not close for someone of poor health.
It literally would have taken Caterina hours to drag herself to Mass, which causes us to reflect. If there’s ever been a time when you just thought to yourself, “I don’t feel like going to Mass today,” think of St. Caterina of Siena’s sacrifice. If you’re ever faced with the disgruntled or restless feeling of wanting to skip Mass, just remember—Mass is a privilege. It’s an honor. We go for God, not ourselves. And we shouldalways feel like going. We should be full of the divine fire that Caterinahad.
I also reflect on the fact that Caterina had many disciples with her in Rome at that time. They were all able-bodied men and women whocertainly could have carried her to church, yet it’s been welldocumented that she crawled to St. Peter’s on a daily basis. This gives uspause to reflect as well.
Santa Caterina embraced her suffering. It was what the Lord had givenher, and she fully accepted His mysterious will.
She embraced it in order to pour out that suffering for the Church,which was in much need of prayer and sacrifice. The state of the Church in the fourteenth century was in shambles because of the Great Western Schism, which divided Christendom in half. There were two so-called popes at the time, confusing laity and clergy alike. There was only one true pope, of course—Pope Urban VI.
And then there was an anti-pope, so-called “Pope Clement VII,” whoresided in Avignon and, with the backing of the French cardinals, was claiming to be pope.
Antipope Clement VII—Robert of Geneva, also called the “Butcher of Cesena,” who claimed to be pope from 1378-1394—isn’t to be confused with the true Pope Clement VII, Giulio de’ Medici, who was in the Chair of St. Peter from 1523 to 1534.
The history of the Great Western Schism is a long story, and perhaps I’ll get into it in another episode—it’s quite fascinating. But for now, we just need to focus on the fact that the church was utterly divided.
Because of this—and because of her role in bringing Pope Gregory back to Rome, which was the precursor to the Schism—the end of Caterina’s life was mired in sorrow.
She longed for the church to be whole and unified again. And so she prayed.
O God most high! Immeasurable Love! Fire eternal!
You illume the human spirit.
To the extent that the soul lives in You,
You devour whatever she possesses that is hateful to You,
and you warm her with the spirit of Your love.
In You I see that the same love that drove You
to draw us out of Yourself,
with a capacity to know You
for the glory and praise of Your name,
drove You besides to clothe Yourself in our humanity
and to lead us back to You
when we had wandered away.
And today for the first time,
O Lover of us,
You have shown us Yourself as One who can suffer.
You who framed our law,
submit Yourself as one obedient to the law,
to give us an example of humility.
Let us who are your creation, then,
be ashamed for being hard of heart,
for not being obedient to this law,
while You, our God, obey it.
You have shown us today the ashes of our mortality
in Yourself,
so that in the ashes
we may come to know ourselves in You.
You have shown Yourself as one who can suffer,
making the down payment,
so that after Your example we may bear our own passions willingly.
So let every soul swoon—
no, melt!
Let every soul melt in Your inescapable love,
O my Maker and my God!
For You drew us out of Yourself,
so that from that point on we might know
and love
and follow
only You.
But we, ungrateful for Your tremendous blessing,
have been so presumptuous
as to wander away from You,
O Majesty Eternal!
Today, again in Your mercy,
You espouse our souls to You
with the ring of Your flesh,
the ring of Your charity,
to be espoused to You by law
if we but recognize these blessings of Yours.
By that law, I mean,
through which You make us sharers in your eternity.
Today You have given again my soul
remissions of my sins
through Your representative.
You have shown me his power,
which is Your own.
And You have shown me that You who made us
will not save us without our cooperation.
For You who drew me out of Yourself
and made me without my help
have not saved me today without my help.
No, You have used my plea and my confession
to free me from the bonds of my sins
through the grace of Your earthly representative.
For this I,
your undeserving servant,
thank you.
And so, by your grace, may I be cleansed.
In nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti. Amen.
