Catherine of Siena

by Sigrid Undset

  Raimondo was obviously deeply moved when he read this letter. He was afraid that he had lost Catherine’s love and respect. She wrote a long and detailed letter in reply to a letter from him. Filled with grief she accuses herself—she too could so easily have shrunk from martyrdom: “I am convinced that God is the same for me as He was for the martyrs, that His power is no less, that He can and will provide me with all I need. But because I do not love Him I do not rely completely upon Him; the physical fear which I know I possess shows how lukewarm my love is, how the light of faith is dimmed by my presumption and my faithlessness towards my Creator. I acknowledge and do not deny that this root is not yet weeded out of my soul completely, and it is this which delays the work which God has entrusted to me and prevents me from reaching the great goal which God intended for me when He let me start this work. . . . ” She begs Raimondo in the most touching words to pray for himself and for her, that God may annihilate their old selves and re-create them, so that they may receive the ability to love perfectly and be strong and faithful. “It seems to me, from what I have understood from your letter, that you have suffered from terrible inner strife. The snares of the devil and your own sensitiveness have made you think your burdens were too heavy for you to bear, and that I had measured you with my own yardstick. And you thought that my love for you had diminished; but in this you are wrong, and you show that my love has grown, while yours has diminished, for I love you as I love myself. I had hoped so ardently that God’s goodness would add to you that which was lacking. But it was not to be so, for you decided to throw off the burden which chafed you, and to fall into weakness and unfaithfulness. All this I see clearly, and I wish I had been the only one to see it. So you can see that my love for you has increased and not diminished. But how explain that your ignorance of my love could cause you the smallest grain of suffering? How could you ever think that I desired anything but life for your soul? What has become of the faith you have always had and ought to have? What has become of your conviction that everything that happens is according to God’s providence, not only in great matters but in the smallest trivialities?

  “If you had been faithful you would not have been full of doubt and faint-heartedness towards God and me. But like an obedient son you would have done all that you could, and if you could not proceed on your two feet you would have continued your way on your hands and knees. If you could not travel as a monk you could have travelled as a pilgrim. If you were penniless you could have begged. Such filial obedience would have done more for the cause, for God, and for the souls of men than all the carefulness and forethought in the world.” At the same time she is convinced of his will to serve God and His Vicar, the lawful Pope, and she too has not the ability to bring to a successful conclusion the works she has undertaken, partly because those with whom she works lack zeal, but first and foremost because of her own sins. “Oh, we see in agony of soul how our sins against God rise and overpower us. I live in sorrow, and pray God in His mercy to take me from this dark life.”

  The news from Naples was worse than ever—yet another reason for Catherine to grieve over the fact that he had shirked his duty. She had some slight hopes of this meeting he was to have with the French King, but God’s will be done. An embassy to the King of Hungary had been talked of, but now the Pope had decided that Raimondo and his companions should not go. So she returns to her sorrow for Raimondo and herself: they must be as though dead to everything except the Church’s and the Pope’s cause. “Be strong and kill yourself with the sword of hate and love, then you will not hear the insults and abuse which the enemies of the Church throw at you. Your eyes will not see anything which seems impossible, or the sufferings which may follow, but only the light of faith, and in that light everything is possible; and remember God never lays greater burdens on us than we can bear.” As a cure against the misery of the times Catherine encourages Raimondo again to go to the Source from which all perfection and holy recklessness spring—all that his spiritual daughter desires with the whole of her fiery nature for her beloved son and father.

  It seemed to Catherine that the blood of the martyrs in Rome was still boiling. She had arranged her household expressly so that it should be easy for her family to visit the sanctuaries of the saints and martyrs, especially during Lent. The custom of keeping the “stations” gave another opportunity for great solemnities: every day during Lent the priests from all the parish churches in Rome went in solemn procession to a chosen church—some of them were so dilapidated that they were only opened on this one day of the year—in order to celebrate the Mass with all the pomp and magnificence they could contrive. Catherine was more active than ever; she wrote letters and talked with people, she carried out all kinds of charitable actions, but in her letters from Rome she speaks again of the “cell of self-knowledge” which is built in the depths of the soul—and not by human hands. She advises the friends who have made her their spiritual leader to retire to this cell and never leave it, however busy with outward duties they may be. Few saints have lived such a busy life, or been so occupied with the problems of their time, as Catherine of Siena, but she was absolutely sure that the most important work she had to do was to pray ceaselessly, to suffer gladly and to receive with the humility of love the messages and advice which her divine Bridegroom gave her when she was in ecstasy.

  XXV

  IN THE MEANTIME it seemed as though the schism would lead to a great war. Most of the Christian countries were still loyal to Pope Urban VI. The German Empire, Hungary, Poland, Norway, Sweden and Denmark acknowledged him as the rightful Pope. Some time later the young King of England, Richard II, drew up a document, Rationes Anglicorum, which he in vain challenged the University of Paris to refute. It had not yet come so far that the schism divided nations internally, and split the monastic orders into parties and factions, rival princes declaring themselves for Urban or Clement, bishops and their chaplains supporting different sides, and the religious orders dividing themselves in favour of Urban or Clement. It was not the first time there had been schism in the Church, but it had never meant so much before: on previous occasions everyone had known that the rival Pope had been set up by the German Emperor or some political group, and politics and force of arms had decided on the support given to the Pope or his rival. But this time the reason for the schism was really a problem concerning the Church: had the election of Urban VI been valid or not? Even people of good will, even saints like St. Colette, who reformed the order of the Poor Clares, and the Dominican St. Vincent Ferrer supported the Pope in Avignon. St. Vincent indeed ended by acknowledging that he had made a mistake and denied the authority of the Avignon Pope from the pulpit: the rival pope at that time was Benedict XIII, who had once been the Cardinal Pedro de Luna.

  The Master General of the Dominicans, Fra Elias of Toulouse, went over to the Clementists, and, not long after, the Dominicans in the countries loyal to Urban were given a new Master General, Fra Raimondo of Capua. The three Italian cardinals had retired to Tagliacozza and demanded that a general council should be held to decide the question. Cardinal Orsini on his deathbed in the summer of 1379 repeated this demand. Cardinals Brossano and Corsini as well as Pedro de Luna ended by joining Clement’s party.

  The Tuscan republics would have nothing to do with the rival French pope. But they were in no hurry to help Pope Urban with either money or troops, although both the Pope and Catherine wrote urgently to both the governments and several men of influence in the various republics. Catherine knew well enough that peace cannot be created in Christ’s Church by the sword, violence, and bloodshed. But the schism led to consequences which had to be met with force of arms.

  On April 17 the rival Pope in Avignon sent out a bull in which he gave most of the Papal States in Italy in fee to Duke Louis of Anjou—the man whom Catherine had once visited in his castle in Villeneuve-lez-Avignon to persuade him to become one of the leaders of the crusade planned by Pope Gregory. The rival Pope commanded him to go as quickly as h
e could and occupy his Italian territories. This was neither the first nor the last time that Robert of Geneva tried to divide up North and South Italy by the sword into prizes for the princes he wanted to win over to his cause; and each time he urged them to hurry off and occupy them.

  A Clementist army of mercenary soldiers under the command of Louis de Montjoie, the rival Pope’s cousin, was in the Campagna outside Rome. The French garrison at St. Angelo was holding out against the Romans, who had besieged the fortress since the preceding autumn. So the Pope was unable to move into the Vatican, and the troops he had were not enough to guard the town while so many of them were needed for the siege of the fortress of St. Angelo. One of Montjoie’s officers, therefore, managed one day to force his way into Rome with a handful of men and storm the Capitol, where several hundred citizens were gathered in consultation. They were massacred, and the enemy managed to retire before the Romans had recovered from the shock. The people took their revenge on the foreigners in the town, and murdered many of them. Catherine felt herself entitled to demand of her Tuscan countrymen that they should come to the help of the lawful Pope with money and soldiers.

  The Pope took into his service a certain Alberigo di Balbiano, a professional condottiere, famous for his abilities as a military leader. His army of four thousand infantry and as many cavalry was, of course, also an army of mercenaries, but his picked troops were Italians who called themselves the “Compania di San Giorgio” and had sworn to give their lives to driving all the foreign troops out of Italy.

  The fortress of St. Angelo surrendered to the Romans on April 27. The victors poured into the fortress and immediately began to demolish it. Urban’s hope of taking it over came to nothing. But two days later Count Alberigo attacked the French camp at Marino, killed most of the men and took Montjoie and his officers prisoner. “The Holy Church and the Pope could begin to breathe a little more freely, and our saint found some consolation”, writes Raimondo.

  According to Raimondo, it was Catherine who advised Pope Urban to go barefoot from Santa Maria in Trastevere to the Vatican, to take up residence beside the grave of St. Peter. An enormous crowd of people, wild with joy, followed the thanksgiving procession. Many considered that they could thank the Seraphic Virgin from Siena for the victory. Like Moses in the Old Testament she had plucked victory for her people from heaven, with her hands, which she held up in ceaseless prayer.

  A day or two later, on May 6, she wrote to the government of Rome. Since the days of Cola di Rienzi Rome had remained a republic under the Holy See, and chosen its own government, the Seven Flagbearers, one from each district of the town. There were moreover four “good men” whose duty it was to attend to what we would call social services. Catherine exhorts them to show gratitude to God who has saved their city from the danger which threatened, and, besides her usual advice regarding love for oneself and love for Life, she offers particular advice regarding the sins of ingratitude: blasphemy, swearing, scandal, and wicked attempts to ruin the names and reputations of one’s neighbours. Only men who have learned to love God humbly and sincerely can govern their fellow-men with righteousness and human love, remain faithful to Christ in His Church, and faithfully protect the honour and happiness of their neighbours. As a suitable object for their neighbourly love she names the wretched soldiers who were wounded at Marino. She accuses the government of ingratitude towards Senator Giovanni Cenci, who was chiefly responsible for the taking of St. Angelo. Not only has he received no sign of their gratitude, but envy has caused him to be an object of slander and all kinds of scandal. “You offend God and hurt yourselves, for this town greatly needs wise, thoughtful and conscientious men.” She reminds them that she is a stranger in Rome, so they must understand that when she gives them advice it is not because she supports any particular party, but only because she is concerned for their welfare.

  Catherine wrote three more letters that day. To Count Alberigo di Balbiano and the officers of the Compania di San Giorgio she speaks of gratitude to God who gave them victory and perseverance in the good fight—in other words perseverance in the fight against the enemies who persecute the Holy Church and the Vicar of Christ. (Some time later Alberigo abandoned Urban’s cause—when it came to the point he was after all a condottiere.)

  King Charles of France was in reality the head of the Clementist party: he was naturally eager to reinstate the papacy in Avignon and to have a French Pope, even though he were a rival Pope. Catherine wrote to him and hoped against hope that perhaps some of her eloquence could make an impression on this man whom Raimondo called Pharaoh. She had more reason than ever for writing of self-love as the principle of evil, the root of all the evils which were practised against God and one’s neighbour. She repeats all the arguments for the validity of Urban’s election: the interlude with Cardinal Tebaldeschi was the outcome of fear, they tried to say that the election of Urban was caused by fear, but they proclaimed to the whole world that they had elected Urban VI, honoured him, crowned him, and asked him as their overlord for favours and advantages—did they not deserve eternal punishment if they did this from fear? She condemns the schismatics in the most searing words she can find and ends by reminding the King that he has the “source of wisdom”, the University of Paris, at his right hand. The University had at first acknowledged Urban, but in May 1379 it submitted to pressure from the King and went over to Clement’s party. But Pharaoh’s heart remained hardened, and before long Charles’s policy celebrated a triumph: Clement returned to Avignon and took up residence in the papal palace.

  When the news of the loss of St. Angelo and the rout of his army at Marino reached Clement in Fondi, he and the cardinals who supported him withdrew as fast as they could to Naples and put themselves under the protection of Queen Joanna. It is possible that they were still in Naples when the Queen received a letter from Catherine, which, according to one of the copyists, was dictated by Catherine while in ecstasy on May 6.

  She begged Joanna to have mercy on her soul and body: “How cruel is the soul which offers its enemy the sword with which it is killed! For our enemies have no weapons to use against it, however much they want to. Only the will can commit a crime; neither devils nor any other being can force it to commit the smallest sin if it is not willing. Therefore the sinful will which submits to the temptations of the enemy is a sword which kills the soul when it is offered to the enemy by the hand of free will. Which is more cruel, the enemy or the person who is wounded? We are the more cruel, for we agree to our own death.” She quotes a proverb which was current in the Middle Ages: “It is human to sin, but devilish to persist in sinning.” Again she warns the Queen: if Joanna does not return to the true faith, death may take her suddenly. “Oh, do not wait for the time when perhaps no time will be granted you! Do not force my eyes to stream with tears for your wretched body and soul!”

  The Neapolitans were furious at having to have the schismatic Frenchmen in their town. Led by their Archbishop, they were ardent supporters of their countryman, the Pope in Rome, and there was a limit to their love for their Queen. They rebelled, and Clement and his followers were so terrified that they hastened to embark and sail for France. At Whitsun 1379, almost at the same moment that Urban VI took up residence in the Vatican, the rival Pope reached his goal after a stormy and dangerous journey, and moved into the papal palace at Avignon. This was to be the headquarters of the schismatics for nearly seventy years.

  The military defeat of the Clementists gave Joanna food for thought. She sent ambassadors to Urban in Rome, but soon recalled them, before they had achieved anything. It seems that while her ambassadors were in Rome Joanna wrote to Catherine and gave her to understand that she intended to return to Urban’s party. Catherine then sent the Queen her last and most outspoken letter. For the first time she does more than hint that she knows quite well what kind of self-love it is which keeps the much-married woman from repentance and the search for God’s grace, and, when repeating her warning that her traffic with schisma
tics and heretics may cost her not only her eternal life but also her physical life, Catherine is cruel enough to remind her that she is no longer young. She has ruled her people wisely and well for a long time and seen to it that they have lived in peace (no small achievement in Joanna’s time), but now her fall from grace has brought them discord and war; they fight among themselves like wild animals. It should break the Queen’s heart to see the misery she has brought over her people, both physically and spiritually.

  She sent this letter with Neri di Landoccio to Naples. He had also with him a number of letters to titled ladies of the court, with whom it seems Catherine had had contact. In one of the letters, to a high-born lady whose name is not given, she emphasises that she must use her influence over the Queen to convert her. The other letters all concern spiritual things. But Catherine’s opinion was that politics are never anything but the product of a person’s religious life: if the ladies lived lives of sincere piety they would naturally be against the schism.