Introducing My Patron Saint: St Catherine of Siena

First of all, what is a patron saint?  When you come into the Catholic church or when you are confirmed as a child, you choose your patron saint.  It is your special saint; he/she becomes your friend and your advocate. You can pray to them and ask them to pray for you just as you would ask a friend on earth to pray for you.  As believers in the "communion of saints" (see the Nicene Creed), we believe that all Christians who are still living, who are in purgatory, and who are in heaven are members of the Body of Christ.  "Certain Catholic saints are associated with certain life situations. These patron saints intercede to God for us. We can take our special needs to them and know they will listen to our prayers, and pray to God with us." http://www.americancatholic.org/Features/Saints/Patrons.aspx

Biographical info about St Catherine of Siena can be found here:
http://www.americancatholic.org/features/saints/saint.aspx?id=1368

One of her writings is called the Dialogue, written while she was in ecstasy.  I started reading it but it was a bit over my head.  At the time my autoimmune symptoms were raging, so I found it hard to focus.  I hope to pick it up again soon.  At any rate, this quote is one of my favorites:

"http://www.americancatholic.org/features/saints/saint.aspx?id=1368 --> A soul rises up, restless with tremendous desire for God's honor and the salvation of souls. She has for some time exercised herself in virtue and has become accustomed to dwelling in the cell of self-knowledge in order to know better God's goodness toward her, since upon knowledge follows love. And loving, she seeks to pursue truth and clothe herself in it. [p.25]"

St. Catherine of Siena Eucharistic Quotes:

"O eternal Trinity, You are a deep sea in which the more I seek the more I find, and the more I find, the more I seek to know You. You fill us insatiably, because the soul, before the abyss which You are, is always famished; and hungering for You, O eternal Trinity, it desires to behold truth in Your light. As the thirsty hart pants after the fount of living water, so does my soul long to leave this gloomy body and see You as You are, in truth."

This image is in the public domain because its copyright has expired - from Wikimedia Commons.  Description:  St Catherine intercedes for the soul of sister Palmerina // Museo Amedeo Lia, La Spezia. Date: c. 1470

From http://www.domestic-church.com/CONTENT.DCC/19980301/SAINTS/ST_CATH.HTM , is a list of St Catherine of Siena's causes and some other goodies:

Saint Catherine of Siena, Doctor of the Church
Feast Day: April 29, (formerly April 30)

Patron: of Fire Prevention (as are Saint Agatha, Saint Barbara, Saint Eustachius, Saint Florian and Saint Lawrence) against fire, and firefighters, bodily ills, illness, miscarriages, sick people, sickness, nurses, and nursing services, people ridiculed for their piety, sexual temptation, and other temptations
Patroness of: Siena Italy, and Italy
Symbols: stigmata, cross, ring, lily

St. Catherine of Siena, pray for us!

Peace!