Apart from her relations with Religious seeking to follow the Counsels,
Catherine directed the life of a number of devout laymen. Among these was
Ristoro Canigiani, an honourable citizen of Florence, whose younger
brother, Barduccio, became one of her secretaries, and was with her at her
death. In the first letter to Ristoro here given, we see that he had
already become Catherine's disciple. He had evinced his sincerity by
forgiving his enemies--a feat more practical and difficult for most men in
those days than now--by withdrawing in a measure from society--
(ecclesiastical, one notes, as well as secular)--and by embracing the
simple life, selling his superfluous possessions. In the second letter
given, he has evidently advanced in experience. Like many religious souls
since his day, he suffers from scruples lest he be unworthy to receive the
Holy Communion. Catherine handles his difficulties tenderly and wisely, in
words which all anxious souls would do well to take to heart. She has no
reproofs for this excellent man, only applause and encouragement. It is
noteworthy that neither in these letters nor in any others does she seek
to induct Ristoro into that region of ecstatic mystery where she herself
lived, and whither she was wont to expect--often in vain--certain of her
friends to follow her. The standard which she sets for this devout layman
could not be better summed up than in the familiar words: "A sober, godly,
and righteous life."
In other letters to Ristoro she seeks to inspire him with a fervour of
charity by very beautiful meditations, in which she presents the love of
friends and family as sanctified and glorified by its relation to the all-
enfolding Love from which all pure human affection must proceed. In her
attitude toward the natural world and its claims, Catherine again recalls
St. Bernard, who, in naming the degrees of love, starts from an hypothesis
which sets forth natural things, not as evil and destroying, but good, and
waiting their transfiguration. Like poor Francesca, but with a conception
more pure, Catherine rings the changes on the words "amore," "amare."
"Perocche, condizione é del' amore d' amare quando si sente amare, d'
amare tutte le cose che ama colui ch' egli ama. E però, à mano che l'
anima ha conosciuto l' amore del suo Creatore verso di lui, l' ama: e
amandolo, ama tutte quelle cose che Dio ama." "For it is of the nature of
love, to love when it feels itself loved, and to love all things loved of
its beloved. So when the soul has by degrees known the love of its Creator
toward it, it loves Him, and, loving Him, loves all things whatsoever that
God loves." ... As we read, we recognize once more how far is this great
Mystic from the cold asceticism that has sometimes been attributed to her.
In the Name of Jesus Christ crucified and of sweet Mary:
Dearest brother in Christ sweet Jesus: I Catherine, servant and slave of
the servants of Jesus Christ, write to you in His precious Blood, with
desire to see you constant and persevering in virtue; for it is not he who
begins who is crowned, but only he who perseveres. For Perseverance is the
Queen who is crowned; she stands between Fortitude and true Patience, but
she alone receives a crown of glory. So I want you, dearest brother, to be
constant and persevering in virtue, that you may receive the reward of
your every labour. I hope in the great goodness of God that He will
fortify you in such wise that neither demon nor fellow-creature can make
you look back to your vomit.
You seem, according to what you write me, to have made a good beginning,
in which I rejoice greatly for your salvation, seeing your holy desire.
First, you say that you have forgiven every man who had wronged you or
wished to wrong you. This is a thing which is very necessary, if you wish
to have God in your soul through grace, and to be at rest even according
to the world. For he who abides in hate is deprived of God and is in a
state of condemnation, and has in this life the foretaste of hell; for he
is always gnawing at himself, and hungers for vengeance, and abides in
fear. Believing to slay his enemy, he has first killed himself, for he has
slain his soul with the knife of hate. Such men as these, who think to
slay their enemy, slay themselves. He who truly forgives through the love
of Christ crucified, has peace and quiet, and suffers no perturbation; for
the wrath that perturbs is slain in his soul, and God the Rewarder of
every good gives him His grace and at the last eternal life. What joy the
soul, then, receives, and gladness and rest in its conscience, the tongue
could never tell. And even according to the world, very great honour is
given to the man who through love of virtue and magnanimity does not
greedily desire to wreak vengeance on his enemy. So I summon you and
comfort you, to persevere in this holy resolution.
To demand and obtain your own in a reasonable way, this you can do with
good conscience; whoever wants to can do it: for a man is not bound to
abandon his possessions more than he chooses; but he who would choose to
abandon them would reach a much greater perfection. It is well and
excellent not to go to the Bishop's house nor to the palace, but to stay
peaceably at home. For if other people get excited, we are weak, and often
we find our own soul excited, and doing unjust and irrational things, one
to show that he knows more than another, and one from appetite for money.
Yes, it is better to keep away from the place.
But I add one thing: that when such poor men and women as are clearly in
the right, and have no one to help them, show us the reason why they have
no money, it would be greatly to the honour of God for you to undertake
their cause, from the impulse of charity, like St. Ives, who in his time
was the lawyer of the poor. Consider that the deed of pity, and
ministering to the poor with those faculties which God has given you, is
very pleasing to God, and salvation to your soul. Therefore St. Gregory
says that it is impossible that a pitiful man should perish with an evil,
that is, an eternal death. This, then, pleases me much, and I beg you to
do it.
In all your works put God before your eyes, saying to yourself when
intemperate appetite would lift its head against the resolution you have
made: "Consider, my soul, that the eye of God is upon thee, and sees the
secret of thy heart. Thou art mortal, for thou must die, and knowest not
when; and it shall befit thee to render account before the highest Judge
of what thou shalt do--a Judge who punishes every fault and rewards every
good deed." In this wise, if you put on the bit it will not slip off,
separating from the will of God.
You ought to give satisfaction to your soul as soon as you can, and
unburden your conscience of what you feel it burdened with. Give it
satisfaction, either for the trouble it has felt in giving up temporal
possessions, or for the other annoyances that others have given it. And
have pardon asked fully from everyone, in order that you may always remain
in the joy of charity with your neighbour. As for selling the goods which
you have over and above, and the showy garments (which are very harmful,
dearest brother, and a means of penetrating the heart with vanity, and
nourishing it with pride, since they make a man seem to be more and bigger
than others, boasting of what one ought not to boast of; so it is great
shame to us, false Christians, to see our Head tormented, and to abide
ourselves in such luxuries: so St. Bernard says, that it is not fitting
for limbs to be delicate beneath a thorn-crowned Head),--I say that you do
very well to find a remedy for this. But clothe you as you need, modestly,
at no immoderate price, and you will greatly please God. And, so far as
you can, make your wife and your sons do the same; so that you may be to
them example and teacher, as the father should be, who should educate his
sons with the words and deeds of virtue.
I add one thing; that you abide in the state of marriage, with fear of
God, and treat it with reverence as a sacrament, and not with intemperate
desire. Hold in due reverence the days ordered by Holy Church, like a
reasonable man, and not a brute beast. Then from yourself and her, like
good trees, you will bring forth good fruits.
You will do very well to refuse offices; for a man seldom fails to give
offence in them. It ought to weary you simply to hear them mentioned. Let
the dead, then, bury themselves, and do you exert yourself, in liberty of
heart, to please God, loving Him above everything in the desire of virtue,
and your neighbour as yourself, fleeing the world and its delights.
Renounce your sins and your own fleshly instincts, ever bringing back to
memory the favours of God, and especially the favour of the Blood, shed
for us with such fire of love.
Again, it is needful for you, if you wish your soul to preserve grace and
grow in virtue, to make your holy confession often for your joy, that you
may wash your soul's face in the Blood of Christ. At least once a month,
since indeed we soil it every day. If more, more; but less it seems to me
ought not to be done. And rejoice in hearing the Word of God. And when the
season shall come that we are reconciled with our Father, do you
communicate on the solemn Feasts, or at least once a year: rejoicing in
the Office, and hearing Mass every day; and if you cannot every day, at
least you must make an effort, just as far as you can, on the days which
are ordered by Holy Church, to which we are bound.
Prayer must not be far from you. Nay, on the due and ordered hours, so far
as you can, seek to withdraw a little, to know yourself, and the wrongs
done to God, and the largess of His goodness, which has worked and is
working so sweetly in you; opening the eye of your mind in the light of
most holy faith, to behold how beyond measure God loves us; love which He
shows us through the means of His only-begotten Son. And I beg that, if
you are not saying it already, you should say every day the office of the
Virgin, that she may be your refreshment and your advocate before God. As
to ordering your life, I beg you to do it. Fast on Saturday, in reverence
for Mary. And never give up the days commanded by Holy Church, unless of
necessity. Avoid being at intemperate banquets, but live moderately, like
a man who does not want to make a god of his belly. But take food for
need, and not for the wretched pleasure it gives. For it is impossible
that any man who does not govern himself in eating should keep himself
innocent.
But I am sure that the infinite goodness of God, as regards this and all
the rest, will make you yourself adopt that rule which will be needful for
your salvation. And I will pray, and will make others pray, that He grant
you perfect perseverance until death, and illumine you concerning that
which you have to do for your salvation. I say no more to you. Remain in
the holy and sweet grace of God. Sweet Jesus, Jesus Love.
In the Name of Jesus Christ crucified and of sweet Mary:
Dearest son in Christ sweet Jesus: I Catherine, servant and slave of the
servants of Jesus Christ, write to you in His precious Blood: with desire
to see you free from every particle of self-love, so that you may not lose
the light and knowledge which come from seeing the unspeakable love which
God has for you. And because it is light which makes us know this, and
false love is what takes light from us, therefore I have very great desire
to see it quenched in you. Oh, how dangerous this self-love is to our
salvation! It deprives the soul of grace, for it takes from it the love of
God and of its neighbour, which makes us live in grace. It deprives us of
light, as we said, because it darkens the eye of the mind, and when the
light is taken away we walk in darkness, and do not know what we need.
What do we need to know? The great goodness of God, and His unspeakable
love toward us; the perverse law which always fights against the Spirit,
and our own wretchedness. In this knowledge the soul begins to render His
due to God; that is, glory and praise to His Name, loving Him above
everything, and the neighbour as one's self, with eager desire for virtue;
and the soul bestows hate and displeasure on itself, hating in itself
vice, and its own sensuousness, which is the cause of every vice. The soul
wins all virtue and grace in the knowledge of itself, abiding therein with
light, as was said. Where shall the soul find the wealth of contrition for
its sins, and the abundance of God's mercy? In this House of Self-
Knowledge.
Now let us see whether we find it in ourselves or not. Let us talk
somewhat about it. For, as you wrote me, you have a desire to feel
contrition for your sins, and not being able to feel it, you give up for
this reason Holy Communion. Now we shall see whether you ought to give it
up for this.
You know that God is supremely good, and loved us before we were: and is
Eternal Wisdom, and His Power in virtue is immeasurable: so for this
reason we are sure that He has power, knowledge, and will to give us what
we need. Well we see, in proof, that He gives us more than we know how to
ask, and that which was not asked by us. Did we ever ask Him that He
should create us reasonable creatures, in His own image and likeness,
rather than brute beasts? No. Or that He should create us by Grace by the
Blood of the Word, His only-begotten Son, or that He should give us
Himself for food, perfect God and perfect Man, flesh and blood, body and
soul, united to Deity? Beyond these most high gifts, which are so great,
and show such fire of love toward us, that there is no heart so hard that
its hardness and coldness would not melt by considering them at all:
infinite are the gifts and graces which we receive from Him without
asking.
Then, since He gives so much without our asking--how much the more will He
fulfil our desires when we shall desire a just thing of Him? Nay, who
makes us desire and ask it? Only He. Then, if He makes us ask it, it is a
sign that He means to fulfil it, and give us what we seek.
But you will say to me: "I confess that He is what thou sayest. But how
comes it that many a time I ask, both contrition and other things, and
they seem not to be given me?" I answer you: It may be it is through a
defect in him who asks, asking imprudently, with words alone and not with
his whole heart--and of such as these Our Saviour said that they call Him
Lord, Lord, but shall not be known of Him--not that He does not know them,
but for their fault they shall not be known of His mercy. Or, the man who
prays asks for something which, if he had it, would be injurious to his
salvation. So that, when he does not have what he asks, he really has it,
because he asks for it thinking that it would be for his good; but if he
had it, it would be to his harm, and it is for his good not to have it; so
God has satisfied the intention with which he asked it. So that on God's
side we always have our prayer; but this is the case, that God knows the
secret and the open, and is aware of our imperfection; so He sees that if
He gave us the grace at once as we ask it, we should do like an unclean
creature, who, rising from the sweetest honey, does not mind afterwards
lighting on a fetid object. God sees that we do so many a time. For,
receiving His graces and benefits, sharing the sweetness of His charity,
we do not mind afterward alighting on miserable things, turning back to
the filth of the world. Therefore, God sometimes does not give us what we
ask as soon as we should like, to make us increase in the hunger of our
desire, because He rejoices and pleases Himself in seeing the hunger of
His creatures toward Him.
Sometimes He will do us the grace by giving it to us in effect though not
in feeling. He uses this means with foresight, because He knows that if a
man felt himself to possess it, either he would slacken the pull of
desire, or would fall into presumption; therefore He withdraws the
feeling, but not the grace. There are others who both receive and feel,
according as it pleases the sweet goodness of our Physician to give to us
sick folk; and He gives to everyone in the way that our sickness needs.
You see, then, that in any case the yearning of the creature, with which
it asks of God, is always fulfilled. Now we see what we ought to seek, and
how prudently.
It seems to me that the Sweet Primal Truth teaches us what we ought to
seek when in the holy Gospel, reproving man for the intemperate zeal which
he bestows on gaining and holding the honours and riches of the world, He
said: "Take no thought for the morrow. Its own care suffices for the day."
Here He shows us that we should consider prudently the shortness of time.
Then He adds: "Seek first the Kingdom of Heaven; for your heavenly Father
knows well that you have need of these lesser things." What is this
kingdom, and how is it sought? It is the kingdom of eternal life, and the
kingdom of our own soul, for this kingdom of the soul, unless it is
possessed through reason, never becomes part of the kingdom of God. With
what is it sought? Not only with words--we have already said that such as
these are not recognized by God--but with the yearning of true and real
virtues. Virtue is what seeks and possesses this kingdom of heaven;
virtue, which makes a man prudent, so that he works for the honour of God
and the salvation of himself and his neighbour, with prudence and
maturity. Prudently he endures his neighbour's faults; prudently he rules
the impulse of charity, loving God above everything, and his neighbour as
himself. This is the rule: that he hold him ready to give bodily life for
the salvation of souls, and temporal goods to help the body of his
neighbour. Such a rule is set by prudent charity. Were he imprudent, it
would be just the opposite as with many who use a foolish and crazy sort
of charity, who many a time, to help their neighbour--I speak not of his
soul, but of his body--are ready to betray their own souls, by publishing
abroad lies, giving false witness. Such men as these lose charity, because
it is not built upon prudence.
We have seen that we must seek the kingdom of Heaven prudently: now I
answer you about the attitude we should hold toward the Holy Communion,
and how it befits us to take it. We should not use a foolish humility, as
do secular men of the world. I say, it befits us to receive that sweet
Sacrament, because it is the food of souls without which we cannot live in
grace. Therefore no bond is so great that it cannot and must not be
broken, that we may come to this sweet Sacrament. A man must do on his
part as much as he can, and that is enough. How ought we to receive it?
With the light of most holy faith, and with the mouth of holy desire. In
the light of faith you shall contemplate all God and all Man in that Host.
Then the impulse that follows the intellectual perception, receives with
tender love and holy meditation on its sins and faults, whence it arrives
at contrition, and considers the generosity of the immeasurable love of
God, who in so great love has given Himself for our food. Because one does
not seem to have that perfect contrition and disposition which he himself
would wish, he must not therefore turn away; for goodwill alone is
sufficient, and the disposition which on his part exists.
Again I say, that it befits us to receive as was imaged in the Old
Testament, when it was commanded that the Lamb should be eaten roasted and
not seethed; whole and not in part; girded and standing, staff in hand;
and the blood of the Lamb should be placed on the stone of the threshold.
Thus it befits us to receive this Sacrament: to eat it roasted, and not
seethed; for were it seethed there would be interposed earth and water--
that is, earthly affections and the water of self-love. Therefore it must
be roasted, so that there shall be nothing between. We take it so when we
receive it straight from the fire of divine charity. And we ought to be
girt with the girdle of conscience, for it would be very shocking that one
should advance to so great cleanliness and purity with mind or body
unclean. We ought to stand upright, that is, our heart and mind should be
wholly faithful and turned toward God; with the staff of the most holy
Cross, where we find the teaching of Christ crucified. This is the staff
on which we lean, which defends us from our foes, the world, the devil,
and the flesh. And it befits us eat it whole and not in part: that is, in
the light of faith, we should contemplate not only the Humanity in this
sacrament, but the body and soul of Christ crucified, wrought into unity
with Deity, all God and all Man. We must take the Blood of this Lamb and
put it upon our forehead--that is, confess it to every rational being,
and never deny it, for pain or for death. Thus sweetly it befits us to
receive this Lamb, prepared in the fire of charity upon the wood of the
Cross. Thus we shall be found signed with the seal of Tau, and shall never
be struck by the avenging angel.
I said that it did not befit us, nor do I wish you, to do as many
imprudent laymen, who pass over what is commanded them by Holy Church,
saying: "I am not worthy of it." Thus they spend a long time in mortal sin
without the food of their souls. Oh, foolish humility! Who does not see
that thou art not worthy? At what time dost thou await worthiness? Do not
await it; for thou wilt be just as worthy at the end as at the beginning.
For with all our just deeds, we shall never be worthy of it. But God is He
who is worthy, and makes us worthy with His worth. His worth grows never
less. What ought we to do? Make us ready on our part, and observe His
sweet commandment. For did we not do so, giving up communion, in such wise
believing to flee from fault, we should fall into fault.
Therefore I conclude, and will that such folly be not in you; but that you
make you ready, as a faithful Christian, to receive this Holy Communion as
I said. You will do it just as perfectly as you are in true knowledge of
yourself; not otherwise. For if you abide in that knowledge, you will see
everything clearly. Do not slacken your holy desire, for pain or loss, or
injury or ingratitude of those whom you have served; but manfully, with
true and long perseverance you shall persevere till death. Thus I beg you
to do by the love of Christ crucified. I say no more. Remain in the holy
and sweet grace of God. Sweet Jesus, Jesus Love.