The central image in this window is of Saint Catherine of Siena. Saint
Catherine of Siena (born March 25, 1347 in Siena, Italy, died April 29, 1380 in
Rome) was a Dominican Tertiary (lay affiliate) of the Dominican Order.
Catherine was the 23rd child out of 25 (her twin sister, the 24th, died at birth);
her parents were Giacomo di Benincasa, a cloth-dyer, and his wife, Lapa
Piagenti, daughter of a local poet.
Catherine
received no formal education. At the age of seven she consecrated her virginity
to Christ despite her family's opposition; in her eighteenth year she took the
habit of the Dominican Tertiaries. As a tertiary, Catherine lived at home
rather than in a convent, and she practiced acts of mortification there, which
a prioress would probably not have permitted. She is especially famous for fasting
by living for long periods of time on nothing but the Blessed Sacrament.
In about 1366,
Catherine experienced what she described in her letters as a 'Mystical
Marriage' with Jesus, after which she began to tend the sick and serve the poor.
In 1370 she received a series of visions of Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven, after
which she heard a command to leave her withdrawn life and enter the public life
of the world. She began to write letters to men and women in authority,
especially begging for peace between the republics and principalities of Italy
and for the return of the papacy from Avignon to Rome. She carried on a long
correspondence with Pope Gregory XI, also asking him to reform the clergy and
the administration of the Papal States.
In June of 1376
Catherine went to Avignon herself as ambassador of Florence to make peace with
the Papal States, but was unsuccessful. She impressed the Pope so much,
however, that he returned his administration to Rome in January of 1377. During
the Western Schism of 1378 she was an adherent of Pope Urban VI, who summoned
her to Rome where she lived until her death in 1380.
Catherine's letters
are considered one of the great works of early Tuscan literature. More than 300
letters have survived. In her letters to the Pope, she often referred to him
affectionately as "Papa" or "Daddy" ("Babbo" in
Italian). Her major work is the Dialogue of divine providence.
Pope Pius II canonized Catherine in 1461. Her feast day is April 29 in the new Roman calendar and April 30 in the traditional Roman calendar. Pope Paul VI bestowed on her in 1970 the title of Doctor of the Church - making her the first woman, along with Saint Teresa of çvila, ever to receive this honor. In 1999 Pope John Paul II made her one of Europe's patron saints.
The central image of
Saint Catherine offering her heart to Jesus in an ecstasy is taken from a
statue of her in Saint Catherine's Church in Little Compton, R.I. Above the
central image is a fiery dove representing the Holy Spirit. Immediately
surrounding the central image are red-yellow-orange shapes that represent the
fire of divine love that the Holy Spirit infused into Saint Catherine and which
she wrote about so profoundly. Past these fiery shapes are twenty small aqua
blue circles that represent the twenty mysteries of the rosary, the
contemplation of which have a Dominican tradition. On either side of the
central image are two large circles each containing eight smaller red circles.
The small circles on the left represent the corporal works of mercy and those
on the right represent the spiritual works of mercy, which St. Catherine
performed to a heroic degree. The large circle in the lower left of the window
contains the Dominican Shield surrounded by the words "to praise, to
bless, and to preach"(in Latin).
The oval in the lower right of the window contains the Eucharist (host
and chalice) that Saint Catherine lived on for extended periods of time.