The Catholic Defender: Eucharistic Miracles of St. Catherine of Siena
many priests reported witnessing various times when the Eucharist moved to her on its own, even flying across the church.
Her friends witnessed that whenever she received communion, she would go into an ecstasy of deep union with God and would levitate above the ground.
Throughout the life of St. Catherine of Siena she also experienced numerous visions as well as other miracles, including many surrounding the Eucharist—to which she had a great devotion.
for the last seven years of her life, Catherine ate nothing besides the Eucharist by a special miracle she was literally nourished by Christ alone and was able to carry out her many works of service and counsel with surprising energy.
her confessor allowed her to continue her fast, eating only the Eucharist, and only then was she satisfied, happy, and somehow filled with energy. She lived for another seven years For the seven year period prior to her death, Saint Catherine of Siena took no food into her body other than the Eucharist.
She was completely satisfied physically and spiritually by receiving the Eucharist, and hungered greatly when she was unable to receive.
During the Consecration of the Eucharist at Mass, she saw the Priest transform into Jesus, and another time the Eucharist became the Baby Jesus in the Priest’s hands.
One day, a Priest who did not believe in Catherine’s Visions and her special relationship with the Eucharist gave her an unconsecrated host, under the guise it was Holy Communion,”[10] and she immediately knew that it was not the Body and Blood of Christ.
many priests reported witnessing various times when the Eucharist moved to her on its own, even flying across the church.
Her friends witnessed that whenever she received communion, she would go into an ecstasy of deep union with God and would levitate above the ground.
Pope Gregory XI, who Catherine convinced to return to Rome from Avignon, later decreed a papal bull allowing her to receive daily, her Lord in His "Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity", the Eucharist.
The value Catherine makes central in her short life and which sounds clearly and consistently through her experience is complete surrender to Christ. What is most impressive about her is that she learns to view her surrender to her Lord as a goal to be reached through time.
She was the 23rd child of Jacopo and Lapa Benincasa and grew up as an intelligent, cheerful, and intensely religious person. Catherine disappointed her mother by cutting off her hair as a protest against being overly encouraged to improve her appearance in order to attract a husband. Her father ordered her to be left in peace, and she was given a room of her own for prayer and meditation.
She entered the Dominican Third Order at 18 and spent the next three years in seclusion, prayer, and austerity. Gradually, a group of followers gathered around her—men and women, priests and religious.
An active public apostolate grew out of her contemplative life. Her letters, mostly for spiritual instruction and encouragement of her followers, began to take more and more note of public affairs.
Opposition and slander resulted from her mixing fearlessly with the world and speaking with the candor and authority of one completely committed to Christ.
She was cleared of all charges at the Dominican General Chapter of 1374.
Her public influence reached great heights because of her evident holiness, her membership in the Dominican Third Order, and the deep impression she made on the pope. She worked tirelessly for the crusade against the Turks and for peace between Florence and the pope.
In 1378, the Great Schism began, splitting the allegiance of Christendom between two, then three, popes and putting even saints on opposing sides.
Catherine spent the last two years of her life in Rome, in prayer and pleading on behalf of the cause of Pope
