Catherine of Siena
Saint Catherine of Siena is patroness of nurses and of the sick because, as a young Dominican tertiary, she nursed the most repellent cases the hospitals of Siena could offer — plague victims, lepers, a cancerous woman whom others abandoned — serving the disfigured and dying with a tenderness that made her their lasting intercessor. She is invoked for fire prevention and against fire by tradition, from the burning ardor of her charity and from an account that she once lay as if in ecstasy on burning coals yet was unharmed. As a Doctor of the Church who dared to summon Pope Gregory XI back from Avignon to Rome, she is honored as patroness of Italy and, named by Pope John Paul II, a co-patroness of Europe.
Saint Catherine of Siena was an Italian mystic, theologian, and Doctor of the Church who lived from 1347 to 1380. A Dominican tertiary, she played a crucial role in persuading Pope Gregory XI to return the papacy from Avignon to Rome. Her Dialogue and letters are masterpieces of Italian literature and Christian mysticism.
